What’s the best age to get married?
The age you get married could be a predictor of whether or not your marriage will last, according to an analysis by Nicholas Wolfinger, sociologist at the University of Utah who reviewed the National Survey of Family Growth survey administered by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The divorce rate is highest for those who get married in their teens and it steadily declined for those tying the knot in their 20s. Those married between 25 and 29 years old have a 15 percent chance of divorce compared to a 32 percent chance of divorce for those married before the age of 20. Those between the ages of 30 and 34 are likely to get divorced just 14 percent of the time, but after the age of 32, the divorce rate begins to increase by 5 percent each year.
Getting married at a young age or waiting until later on in life does not mean your marriage is destined to fail, experts caution.
“The perfect age to get married is the age you are comfortable with, and this is different for everyone,” says Donna Parris, registered nurse and case manager at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington, Ill. “Our grandparents got married in their early teens and many of them lasted forever. Others marry later in life and that can also be lasting. Forgiveness, hard work and love are key elements to a good marriage.”
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About the Author
Laura Messerschmidt, health enews contributor, is a public affairs and marketing intern at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital. She is studying marketing and business analytics at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, where she will be a sophomore this fall. Laura enjoys hiking and running. She hopes to do service work and go on a trekking adventure in South America before graduating.
“The perfect age to get married is the age you are comfortable with, and this is different for everyone,”
I feel a lot better knowing that a nurse at Advocate weighed in on this important topic.
Jefferson, have you ever considered a case management nurse can specialize in a social work function? Please do not belittle her comment.
Rose,
You must be new to the Advocate health enews. Please allow me to welcome you. My comments have less to do with belittling Ms. Parris, and more to do with the fact the in every article published within this newsletter, there appears a quotation from an Advocate faculty or staff member and with most of the time very little relevance to the overall discussion. Please pay close attention to the next round of articles to understand what I am stating.
Thank you.
Jefferson, thank you for being a regular reader of health enews. You’re correct in that nearly every article quotes an Advocate physician or clinician offering insight on the topic. The goal of our site is to take news and headlines in the media and have our experts give their thoughts, opinions, recommendations, etc.
In many cases, our experts are critical of certain study findings. Even if they don’t support the researchers conclusions, they will offer general health advice on the topic in a more broad way.
So I was married at age 56, that means I have about a 150 percent chance of getting divorced. Hmm, doesn’t seem worth it, does it? I’d better tell my husband that now we have Marriage Equality, statistics are still against us.