The biggest factor in a couple's divorce may not be their personal compatibility, but rather the age they first get married.
A new analysis of family growth information suggests that getting married before 20 years of age and beyond 30 actually increases your odds of divorce rather than decreases it, University of Utah sociologist Nicholas H. Wolfinger explained for Family Studies.
In 1995, the older you got married the better. However, this new data shows that the ages to get married with the lowest risk of divorce are your late 20s.
This reversal in previous trends may show that the dating pool for people 30 and over is less than ideal.
Consequently they delay marriage, often because they cant find anyone willing to marry them. When they do tie the knot, their marriages are automatically at high risk for divorce, Wolfinger writes. More generally, perhaps people who marry later face a pool of potential spouses that has been winnowed down to exclude the individuals most predisposed to succeed at matrimony.
In addition to higher rates of divorce for people marrying beyond 30, the numbers for people marrying in their early 20s or before arent great either.
Wolfinger reported that prior to age 32 each year reduced the odds of divorce by 11 percent. However, those couples marrying between the ages of 20 and 24 still faced a 20 percent risk of divorce.
The greater divorce risk of younger couples makes some intuitive sense in your teens and early 20s, you're still figuring out who you are and what you want out of life, Christopher Ingraham explained for The Washington Post. That person who was perfect for you at 19 may seem a lot less perfect by the time you're 30.
Thats not to say every couple that marries either before or after their late 20s is doomed to divorce.
Out of couples marrying between the ages of 20 and 24 and after 35, there is still an 80 percent chance of not divorcing, the data shows.
Blogger Natasha Craig said getting married at 19 was the best choice she ever made, despite the way her family, friends and acquaintances responded.
If anything, I wish I had began this incredible journey called marriage sooner, because nothing I have ever done, or could ever do, has filled me with as much love, happiness and peace as this, Craig wrote for The Huffington Post.
On the other hand, author Kristin Harmel wrote for Redbook that her marriage at 35 was what she needed, but that shouldnt sway anyone else to marry later in life.
That's not to say everyone should get married at the same age I did, she wrote. There's no one-size-fits-all advice that dictates when you should or shouldn't expect to find the love of your life.
A new analysis of family growth information suggests that getting married before 20 years of age and beyond 30 actually increases your odds of divorce rather than decreases it, University of Utah sociologist Nicholas H. Wolfinger explained for Family Studies.
In 1995, the older you got married the better. However, this new data shows that the ages to get married with the lowest risk of divorce are your late 20s.
This reversal in previous trends may show that the dating pool for people 30 and over is less than ideal.
Consequently they delay marriage, often because they cant find anyone willing to marry them. When they do tie the knot, their marriages are automatically at high risk for divorce, Wolfinger writes. More generally, perhaps people who marry later face a pool of potential spouses that has been winnowed down to exclude the individuals most predisposed to succeed at matrimony.
In addition to higher rates of divorce for people marrying beyond 30, the numbers for people marrying in their early 20s or before arent great either.
Wolfinger reported that prior to age 32 each year reduced the odds of divorce by 11 percent. However, those couples marrying between the ages of 20 and 24 still faced a 20 percent risk of divorce.
The greater divorce risk of younger couples makes some intuitive sense in your teens and early 20s, you're still figuring out who you are and what you want out of life, Christopher Ingraham explained for The Washington Post. That person who was perfect for you at 19 may seem a lot less perfect by the time you're 30.
Thats not to say every couple that marries either before or after their late 20s is doomed to divorce.
Out of couples marrying between the ages of 20 and 24 and after 35, there is still an 80 percent chance of not divorcing, the data shows.
Blogger Natasha Craig said getting married at 19 was the best choice she ever made, despite the way her family, friends and acquaintances responded.
If anything, I wish I had began this incredible journey called marriage sooner, because nothing I have ever done, or could ever do, has filled me with as much love, happiness and peace as this, Craig wrote for The Huffington Post.
On the other hand, author Kristin Harmel wrote for Redbook that her marriage at 35 was what she needed, but that shouldnt sway anyone else to marry later in life.
That's not to say everyone should get married at the same age I did, she wrote. There's no one-size-fits-all advice that dictates when you should or shouldn't expect to find the love of your life.