<p>I got married at 18. My husband was almost 20. We’ll be celebrating our 25th anniversary next month.</p>
<p>Some young people are mature enough to take on the hard work and commitment of a marriage. And some people aren’t ready at <em>any</em> age to do what is necessary to make a marriage work.</p>
<p>My dh and I married when we were 21, and we just celebrated our 24th anniversary. I credit our longevity to two things–a shared sense of humor, and not being able to afford two rents. I stole that from Roseanne Barr.</p>
<p>I missed that part about “soulmates”. If I were a more romantic and less cynical person I could probably talk myself into that because our paths kept almost crossing for a long time, and when they finally did it was a very compelling force pulling us together. Really though, it probably had more to do with our last names both starting with S, so our lockers were really close to each other.</p>
<p>I think much like the Op, I suspect marriages now are likely to be more stable if the people are older. Notice the many examples of people marrying young say “we’re married 21 yrs, we’re married 30 yrs”, etc? Those examples do not show that marrying young now is good or bad. Those that met in 1965, 1970, 1975, dated then married, are not a valid comparison to those who may meet in 2010. More traveling, more freedoms, more opportunities and more challenges now than ever before.</p>
<p>To say my Grampa at 18 married a girl 16 50 yrs ago is a nice story, but it does not relate to what the Op is asking about. I am in agreement with Northstar’s post 17. I doubt the findings have changed if the survey were done today.</p>
<p>After 49 blind dates through my 20’s and 30’s I sure knew what I DIDN’T want! DH was #50…We were both in our late 30’s but were lucky enough to have two kids just under the wire.</p>
<p>DH and I were married at 23 which seems really young now. Both sets of parents required that we graduate college before marriage and we and all of our siblings did. We tell our kids the same thing. Some of the young marriages (like ours) lasted ,some didn’t and I really can’t say why. </p>
<p>Back then (at least in the small town midwest area we are from), no one lived together unmarried. I see a lot of couples now who do and I think that’s a major factor in the later marriages.</p>
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<p>This is exactly the opposite of what I’m seeing among my kids’ friends. They seem to be so focused on college and career that they don’t want to make a commitment to marriage until well after college graduation.</p>
<p>I didn’t marry until age I was almost 28 and have been married 30 years. My older son is still single; however, younger son will marry a girl he met in college next January. They just graduated and have been accepted into grad school, but deferred for a year to work and decide if they really want to take on the extra debt, as career plans have changed within the past year. They will be 23 when they marry, and I really think it will last. Both come from families where the parents are still married to their first spouses, and both have a strong commitment to making it work, despite any problems that arise. And they are realistic enough to know that problems WILL arise, in one form or another.</p>
<p>I believe my son is quite mature for his age. We were talking about the idea of “soul mates” or “The One” recently, and he commented that he knew his fiance was “The One,” not because she was the only one meant for him in some mystical way, but because he made the commitment to her that she would be the one, and he would keep that commitment. He does have a strong faith, but doesn’t necessarily believe that God has just one spouse in mind for each of us. And I see a real maturity in their relationship, which does not seem to contain any jealousy and allows each person to have separate friends and interests, while at the same time cultivating common interests and good communication.</p>
<p>Age may be a factor in how well marriages survive, but it is far from the only, or even the main, factor.</p>
<p>So many things going on in this thread, where do I start. </p>
<p>I came from a family were most in my close family were divorced at least once. My mom is one her 3rd marriage been with him since I was 11 so that is 17 years roughly and that the longest she has been with anyone. </p>
<p>I met my husband when I was 18 1/2. Married when I was 21. We both do not believe in getting divorces. We believe to make a marriage really work you have to work during the hard times. And yes we have had hard times in our relationship. Yes there have been a few times where i wanted to walk, and a few times I did, but in the end we worked through the issues we had and we have been together 10 years and been married 8.</p>