Married too young? Saying "I do" at early age is leading cause of divorce later in life
Before the age of twenty-five, the brain's frontal lobe is not fully developed, yet many young adults are making life-changing decisions, including getting married. Many people meet someone in high school, middle school or their early twenties, leading them to think they are "the one." While some have a good outcome and live happily ever after, others do not. Studies have shown that the main cause of divorce is due to getting married too young, due to the brain not being fully developed.
The statistics of the divorce rate with couples who got married at a young age are significantly high. In the research of The National Center of Family and Marriage Research, Bowling Green University examined divorce rates throughout different ages. What the study found was that in 2021, couples between ages 15-24 experienced approximately 19.7 divorces per 1,000 marriages. But the study also shows that the divorce rate from ages 15-24 has decreased since 1990. Even though the study shows a decrease in divorce, these ages still have a higher divorce rate than adults aged 35-44. The main cause is because young adults are still trying to figure out who they are and what they want in life, with many life-changing experiences.
These experiences in young adulthood are the time to figure out what one really wants in life. Major changes happen, like job opportunities, family issues, school, debt, and more. This stress leads many couples to divorce due to having different views on what they want in life; but this can also lead into the future with one person resenting the other since they might have had to stop their dreams from happening in order to make the marriage work. Resentment can easily ruin a relationship in young people because it's harder to communicate and simply easier to avoid conflict, leading to issues and fights between the two partners.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, getting married before completing higher education can set people up for divorce as well. The Bureau states, "Among those who did not earn a bachelor’s degree, at least half of first marriages ended in divorce," compared with a much lower rate of those with bachelor’s degrees.
One of the biggest reasons why many young adults get married at such a young age is pregnancy. Many times, a young couple gets married simply because they are expecting a child, which has been a trend for a long period of time. Families sometimes even tell the two to get married if they are expecting a child since it’s the “right thing to do” and leads to two people getting married because of pressure from family. This puts even more stress on the couple to not only figure out a wedding, but also with how to be new parents. The expectations from one partner may not be met by the other, causing a let-down about the way they thought life would "look."
Statistics from the CDC show that nearly 126,000 babies were born to mothers aged 15 to 19 in the U.S. in 2025. While this number is considered low when compared to years past, it's still a substantial number of women who could potentially enter into a marriage that, according to statistics, is doomed to fail.
