4/26/2016 Online Debate: Early marriage leads to the early divorce | Debate.

org

Home > Debates > Early marriage leads to the early divorce

Arts (1,055) Cars (223) Economics (1,496) Education (4,703) Entertainment (3,711) Fashion (195)

Funny (1,016) Games (1,326) Health (2,705) Miscellaneous (5,598) Movies (333) Music (582)

News (615) People (1,987) Philosophy (4,324) Places-Travel (136) Politics (12,449) Religion (8,199)

Science (3,568) Society (6,754) Sports (2,028) TV (320) Technology (1,466)

Follow

Big Issues

Abortion Aᴀ甇rmative Action Animal Rights Barack Obama Border Fence Capitalism

Civil Unions Death Penalty Drug Legalization Electoral College Environmental Protection

Estate Tax European Union Euthanasia Federal Reserve

All Big Issues

The Instigator

Pro (for)
Aliya_n

Losing
1 Points
http://www.debate.org/debates/Early­marriage­leads­to­the­early­divorce/1/ 1/9
4/26/2016 Online Debate: Early marriage leads to the early divorce | Debate.org
1 Points

The Contender

Con (against)
Ore_Ele

Winning
6 Points

Early marriage leads to the early divorce

Add to My Favorites

Report this Debate

Share with My Friends

Do you like this debate? No Yes +1

Vote Here
Pro Tied Con

Who did you agree with before the debate?

Who did you agree with after the debate?

Who had better conduct?

Who had better spelling and grammar?

Who made more convincing arguments?

Who used the most reliable sources?

Reasons for your voting decision - Required

http://www.debate.org/debates/Early­marriage­leads­to­the­early­divorce/1/ 2/9
4/26/2016 Online Debate: Early marriage leads to the early divorce | Debate.org

1,000 Characters Remaining

Cast My Vote

The voting period for this debate does not end.

Voting Style: Open Point System: 7 Point

Started: 8/31/2011 Category: Society

Updated: 4 years ago Status: Voting Period

Viewed: 12,261 times Debate No: 18131

Tweet Like 3

Debate Rounds (3) Comments (10)  

Votes (1)

Nowadays early marriages became a very actual problem, while in some Asian and
African countries it is a tradition that has a harmful eᴀ洅ect on the young women. To
solute this problem it would take too long time in this countries, meanwhile in other
Pro countries it could be possible just to rise the marriage age. Unfortunately, it also
would take a lot of time to create it. That's why lots of young couples at 18 years (often earlier)
marry and begin to live as a family. From this side it is wonderful, but statistics shows that the
vast majority of these marriages end with the early divorce. In my point of view it is just the
consequence of young people's marriage problems.

For example, early marriage often leads to the early pregnancy that could have negative eᴀ洅ect
on young women. In addition, children it is a new responsibility. I think that at age of 18 people
are like children themselves. That's why it would be hard to up bring children without any
experience and adults help. Further, if the young couple has a baby, as a result mother would
stay with the child at home. It means that education will suᴀ洅er or she just leaves it. For those
who don't have a child, it would diᴀ甇cult to study too. Another main point it is the ᴀ밄nancial
problems, because every family needs to have a budget to live. To decide this problem it
necessary to ᴀ밄nd a job, but the job that would be possible to combine it with the education. In
addition it would be job limitation because of the lack of knowledge and unᴀ밄nished education.
As a result, young couple would face with ᴀ밄nancial problems. How you could imagine two
married students, especially with a baby, that don't have enough money to live as a real family
in their own home with all of the conveniences. In addition both of them miss the fun of

http://www.debate.org/debates/Early­marriage­leads­to­the­early­divorce/1/ 3/9
4/26/2016 Online Debate: Early marriage leads to the early divorce | Debate.org

teenage life and there is big responsibility shouldered on them. I don't think that this couple
would live together for a long time. Of course, there are exceptions, but they are too rare and it
would be incorrect to generalize all young couples by this example.

To sum up, I strongly believe, according to these facts that the vast majority of young marriages
leads to the early divorce.

http://www.instah.com...
http://marriage101.org...
http://ezinearticles.com...

Report this Argument

I would like to thank my opponent for this interesting topic, and hope that we both
can have a lot of fun with it.

Con
It should be noted that in the 50's and 60's, the USA was at it's lowest average age at
ᴀ밄rst marriage (20.3 years old [1]). It should also be noted that the 50's and 60's also had the
lowest divorce rate in US history (9 - 10 per 1,000 [2], compared to modern times at around 20
per 1,000). This clearly shows that divorce inversely tied to age. Now, I would accept that many
other factors play a role and that this is nothing more than coincedence, that still would show
that age does not eᴀ洅ect divorce, and so that is still an argument for Con.

My opponent states that young marriages lead to young births, however, we can see that in the
60's, the US was at it's lowest average age at ᴀ밄rst baby (about 23.5 years old [3]). This still
complies with the lowest divorce rate period.

Another thing to note, is that if we actually look closely at these graphs, we'll notice that in
recent times, the average marriage age is going up, while divorce is going down. Some might
suggest that this proves that divorce is tied to age, however, if we look back before the 70's,
we'll see that the divorce rate was dropping WITH the marriage age, suggesting that they infact
beneᴀ밄t each other.

These two piece of conᴀ밄icting evidence only leads to one logical solution, that age is not a real
factor in divorce.

Looking at other statistics, we ᴀ밄nd that people (both boys and girls) that get married when
under 20 years old are not at the highest risk of divorce, but the 20-24 group is [4]. We can also
see that 2nd marriages and 3rd marriages are more likely to end in divorce than 1st marriages,
suggesting that personal issues, rather than simple age is the cause. Since if it was a person's

http://www.debate.org/debates/Early­marriage­leads­to­the­early­divorce/1/ 4/9
4/26/2016 Online Debate: Early marriage leads to the early divorce | Debate.org

age, then as they get older (you have to be older in your 2nd marriage than in your 1st), your
odds would be better, not worse.

Also, to go back to people with children, we ᴀ밄nd that couples with children are less likely to get
divorced [4], since they feel an obligation to tough it through for the sake of the kids.

I will allow my opponent to respond before posting more.

Thank you.

[1] http://www.infoplease.com...
[2] http://www.google.com...
[3] http://www.google.com...
[4] http://www.divorcestatistics.org...

Report this Argument

Thanks to my opponent for such interesting arguments and facts. However, I

disagree with the statement that the vast majority of early marriages don't lead to
the early divorce.
Pro

In my point of view, young people, they are still teenagers until 21, make decisions according to
their feelings and emotions. If they feel that it is right they will do it and the marriage question
is very easy for them. "What will go wrong if we love each other and want to life together
forever?"- it is the most common argument for young couples and without any hesitation they
create families. The most general problem for most of families independently of the age they
married is the "house" problems, such as the housework duties, cleaning, cooking, etc. If "elder"
families couldn't cope with it, what will the youngest do? Of course, there are many exceptions,
but lots of families suᴀ洅er from that kind of problem. In addition, young couples have diᴀ甇culties
with housework because of the lack of experience. It might be seemed that it is not a real
problem, but, according to the statistics it is one of the main reasons for divorcing.

Another main point it is that "adult" life begins immediately for early married couples, because
of the big responsibility and seriousness, and young people missing all the fun of student's life.
Maybe they participate in diᴀ洅erent parties, but they are already married persons and they have
duties in front of each other and to be faithful. However it is not a secret that young people,
especially men, have a necessity to socialize with another-sex people and friends to be more
conᴀ밄dent in its attraction. That's why today more and more people prefer to marry closer to
thirty, because to that time young people experienced their life, tried lots of things, had many
love stories and now they really know what they want from life and future husband or wife.
Also, according to the statistics there are about 65% of new marriages end in divorce[1].
"Number of divorces within the previous 12 months per 1,000 women -- tends to be high in
http://www.debate.org/debates/Early­marriage­leads­to­the­early­divorce/1/ 5/9
4/26/2016 Online Debate: Early marriage leads to the early divorce | Debate.org

states where women marry young, such as Oklahoma and Idaho"- according to the Pew
Research Center. (http://pewresearch.org...)
It becomes clear that young families are in the high risk to be divorced addition, "above-
referenced article concludes that states with the youngest brides and grooms such as Arkansas
and Oklahoma had higher than normal divorce rates in 2007 and 2008. Meanwhile,
Massachusetts and New York had a higher percentage of older ᴀ밄rst-time married couples and a
corresponding lower rate of divorce".
Social scientists even go as far as saying that early marriage is the" No. 1 predictor of divorce",
according to a recent column by David Lapp in The Wall Street Journal."(http://online.wsj.com...)

But why? Mr. Lapp attempts to answer this question by quoting a group of unnamed Penn
State sociologists:

"In industrial countries, young people age 18 to 25 are expected to explore their identity, work
and love by delaying marriage and parenthood. . . . Those individuals who fail to postpone
these family transitions miss out on better career opportunities, make poor choices on
partners, and may experience problems..."
Further,according to the researchers at the University of Texas who found that people who
married between the ages of 22 and 25 had the best prospects for a lasting marriage.

That's why it is better to wait for convenient time and marry when you are morally strong and
mature; consequently it is less advantageous to marry at young age, because it is a high risk of
being divorced soon.

[1]- http://www.divorcereform.org...
http://pewresearch.org...
http://chicagofamilylawyersblog.com...
http://www.theologicaleditions.com...
http://www.divorcereform.org...

Report this Argument

Ore_Ele forfeited this round.

Con

Let's turn to the ᴀ밄nal pert of the debates. My opponent said that according to the
statistics early marriages are tend to be stronger that 22-25 marriages. However,
they are mostly too generalized and we could't use it as a certain exaple or
Pro evidence.

http://www.debate.org/debates/Early­marriage­leads­to­the­early­divorce/1/ 6/9
4/26/2016 Online Debate: Early marriage leads to the early divorce | Debate.org

It is well known that marriages lead to the wedding and its organization.According to The
Wedding Report, a Tucson, Ariz.-based research ᴀ밄rm, "the average amount couples are
spending on a wedding is expected to drop in tandem with the economy, decreasing at least
10% in 2009. In 2008 the average price for a wedding rang in at $21,814. (That's down from
$27,490 in 2007.)"-by Maggie Overfelt, CNNMoney.com contributor. Despite the fact that the
number of money spend on the weddings decreaases slightly, it is still a big amount. it is
obvious that young family doesn't have such money. Even if their parents would pay for
wedding, it would't be a solution, because young people ᴀ밄rst of all want to show their
independence. In addition, this family wouldn't feel themselves conᴀ밄dent and able to supply
themselves.
Also, according to by Graeme J. Davidson, March, 2003, number one factor of divorces is the
end of thr honeymoon period, that lasts approximately 2 years. It means that young people
should have relationships for about a year in order to know more things about each other and
about habbits. After that the marriage is really possible.

Norval D. Glenn, the Ashbel Smith Professor and Stiles Professor in American Studies at the
University of Texas at Austin, headed the research project and wrote the report. The Oᴀ甇ce of
Survey Research at the University interviewed, via telephone, a representative sample of 1,503
Americans over the age of 18.
...
According to the ᴀ밄ndings of the survey, it appears that for both men and women there may be
a "peak marriage age" in the mid-twenties. People who get married between the ages of 23-27
are much less likely to get divorced than those who marry as teens; they are also much more
likely to be in high-quality marriages than people who marry in their late twenties or later.
...
69% of respondents said their marriages were very happy.
88% said they were completely or very satisᴀ밄ed with their marriages.

That's why eraly marriages are unstable and young people could meet a lot of diferent
problems. Consequently, it is better to marry when you are not very young for it.

http://o53xo.orugk33mn5twsy3bnrswi2lunfxw44zomnxw2.biglu.ru...

Report this Argument

I would like to thank my opponent again for allowing me to post my last round in
the comment section after missing my deadline. Since this is the ᴀ밄nal round, I will
address my opponent's arguments and provide a summary.
Con

The ᴀ밄rst thing my opponent says is that the real numbers I provided back in Round 1 are "too

http://www.debate.org/debates/Early­marriage­leads­to­the­early­divorce/1/ 7/9
4/26/2016 Online Debate: Early marriage leads to the early divorce | Debate.org

generalized and we could't use it as a certain exaple or evidence." My opponent provides no

reason or logic why the real world numbers should be dismissed, as such, they still stand.

The second thing my opponent brings up is the average cost of a wedding. While average costs
are high, they are not an obligation, and poorer people tend to have cheaper weddings. This is
a basic fallacy of averages [1]. Just because the average is high, does not mean that all
weddings are expensive.

The third thing my opponent brings up is that according to Graeme J. Davidson, the #1 factor of
divorces is the end of honeymoon stage. This is not true. While the #1 listed reason for divorce
is "irreconcilable diᴀ洅erences," only 15% of marriages will not make it their 3rd year [2]. This
means that 70% of divorces (the vast majority) occur after the honeymoon period has worn oᴀ洅.
And 60% of divorces occur after 5 years, well after the honeymoon period is long over.

Finally, my opponent brings up a phone survey by Ashbel Smith. There are two things wrong
with this. 1) Apparently his survey found a large number of people that were "very satisᴀ밄ed"
with their marriages but were not "happy," at least 19%. Second, his "survey" suggests that
people that marry in their mid-twenties are the least likely to get divorced, however (as pointed
out in R1) the reality has shown from actual divorce records, that, for both men and women,
getting married in your mid twenties has the highest probability of divorce.

In summary, my opponent has not been able to provide any reasoning against the real divorce
statistics that getting married in your teens has a lower divorce rate than getting married in
your twenties. Nor have they provided any reasoning against the real statistics that in the 50's
and 60's, when average age of ᴀ밄rst marriage was at its lowest, the divorce rate was at its lowest.

Although diᴀ洅erent surveys say diᴀ洅erent things, the real world statistics are clear. Early marriage
does not lead to early divorce.

[1] http://www.ise.ncsu.edu...
[2] http://www.pobronson.com...

Report this Argument

Debates Polls ABOUT HELP

http://www.debate.org/debates/Early­marriage­leads­to­the­early­divorce/1/ 8/9
4/26/2016 Online Debate: Early marriage leads to the early divorce | Debate.org

Opinions Blog Company FAQs

Forums People Demographics Articles

Elected Oᴀ甇cials Contact Us

Privacy Policy | Terms of Use

Sitemap | View Desktop Version
© 2016 Debate.org. All rights reserved.

http://www.debate.org/debates/Early­marriage­leads­to­the­early­divorce/1/ 9/9