Too young to get married?

United States
November 28, 2007 6:23pm CST
A friend of mine told me today that someone she knew who was twenty just recently got engaged to boyfriend (fiance now I guess. This seems to be happening a lot around me lately, my sister is twenty four and a large number of her friends have been married for a while now. I'm not really sure if I think that it can last if you get married so young. I feel like you don't really know who you are til you have some time on your own and experiences behind you. But on the other hand, I have a cousin who was married at twenty and has been happily married for 15 years. What do you think, is early twenties to early to get married?
3 people like this
14 responses
• Philippines
29 Nov 07
Too young really matters a lot especially if you get married at a young age and you're not ready enough. There are some consequences that you will face if you're not ready yet to get married. As long as you're mature enough (27 and above), financially stable with stable job, have shelter and house for your future family, then, you're ready and qualified to get married.:-)
1 person likes this
@talisman (1300)
• United States
29 Nov 07
Maturity isn't dependent on age, so you really can't say that 27 is the age that a person is mature. You can be more mature at 20 than another person is at 30.
• Philippines
29 Nov 07
You're definitely right talisman. Even 18 or 19 years old can be matured enough. I have no objection with that. But for the most part of it, 27 and above usually is the best age for marriage.:-)
1 person likes this
@garnet80 (349)
• Australia
29 Nov 07
I don't think early twenties is too young. I got married at 21. Yes my marriage didn't last as 6 1/2 years later my now ex husband cheated on my son and I. But I found that I grew up and he didn't. I think a lot of it depends on maturity. When you look at our grandparents etc most of them were married at the age f 15/16 and are still happily married.
1 person likes this
• China
29 Nov 07
I think it's too early. I don't mean to doubt your love, but nobody can tell what will happen in the future. Thinking carefully before you decide.
1 person likes this
• Canada
29 Nov 07
A person can be married anytime after reaching puberty level and we wait till he is able to take his own responsibilites and he can understand good and bad. He should be able to survive on his own and able to support his wife.
1 person likes this
@subha12 (18441)
• India
29 Nov 07
it depends on people. One thing we may assume too young, but few people think not so. Actually i undersatnd, in average people now marry at an older age now tahn earlier. so this age seems to be younger. I also think its younger. But if they are happy, then what are we to say.
1 person likes this
@sid556 (30960)
• United States
29 Nov 07
i think it is too young but then, I have seen some couples who do make it work. It all depends on the couple.
1 person likes this
@fanji008 (775)
• China
29 Nov 07
Hi,there! Well,I would say twenty is a little bit young for a marriage.But actually it really depends on the two.If they're mature enough in every aspect for a marriage,then of course they can get married.However,if the two don't understand each other and their love too well,they wanna get married just because of a impulse.Then that'll definitely cause problems. So I think two should give each other the time to really check out whether they're suitable for each other and whether they really would like to share the rest life with each other. Thanks for the discussion and best regards^_^
• United States
29 Nov 07
I got married at 23. That was almost 8 years ago. We are still together and have 4 kids. We also never dated. We were friends for about 6 weeks and then he proposed to me after we stayed up talking all night. We were married 7 months later and our oldest daughter was born 1 year and 3 weeks after we were engaged (I was 3 months pregnant at our wedding). When I got married I did not consider myself old. I felt like something was missing and I was so happy to get married and start my family. I think 22-24 is a good age to start settling down. I can't imagine what I would have missed if I had waited. Well, for one, I wouldn't have my 3 oldest kids because they were all born in the first 3 years we were married. By the time I turned 26 I had a 2 1/2 year old, a 14 month old and a 1 month old.
1 person likes this
@supersach (1523)
• India
29 Nov 07
I pretty much agree with you but again I think it is a very subjective thing. It depends on the two people getting married. If they are mature enough to handle something like marriage at a young age then it works out but most often it doesn't because most people who get married young do so out of infatuation and physical attraction and, seldom out of love and when they find this out, they part. Several surveys have been done about this and all of them show the trend that people getting married in their late 20s and above stand a better chance of making the relationship work than people getting married earlier.
• United States
29 Nov 07
I say it is about maturity not about age. But it can take awhile for a person to mature mentally. It all depends on how well they know themself and their fiance. Many times the marriage ends up going down hill but there are few exceptions when it went well. It all depends on how well the couple can get along.
• United States
30 Nov 07
i don't think that early twenties is too young for marriage. i'm only nineteen and plan to wed my boyfriend soon. he's twenty six. it all just depends on the person. if they're really ready for a solid, lifetime commitment. i am. i've never been one for dating around. i waited for the right guy and now i've found him and we plan to be together as long as we live - so marriage is the right choice for us.
• United States
29 Nov 07
I've seen people get married as young as 16 and 50 years later, they are still happily together with 4 kids and 9 grandkids. I've also seen people get married at 28, divorce a year later and then go on to marry and divorce 3 more times and have 4 kids by those 3 other marraiges. It all depends on the person. If they are mature enough to handle marriage, that's fine. Age is just a number.
• United States
29 Nov 07
I got married early twenties and it was a good learning experience for what I consider now to be my real marriage. When you are young all you think about it being beautiful and your perfect wedding day. When you get older you focus more on the persons qualities and you realize a perfect wedding doesn't mean a perfect marriage.
@mz_Ira (1090)
• Philippines
29 Nov 07
Its not the age but it depends on the person. Like others said some got married at young age and apparently they still live together but some couples had a divorce or due to any reasons. There is no age that is too early to get married or how old, its how an individual cope and handle things, how to raise a good family and etc. When I hear of "marriage", the words that comes out of my mind are "responsibility and Maturity".. Getting married is a lifetime responsibility. Maturity, well arguments are always part of our life so in oreder to deal with thing we need to be matured or at least.
• United States
29 Nov 07
That's not too young to get married. A friend of mine is married and she's 16.