<p>How old were you when you first got married? 36 (wife was 28)
In what Decade was your first marriage? 80’s (1988 to be precise)
Did it last? Of course. When you wait that long it had better last.</p>
<p>How old were you when you first got married? 27
In what Decade was your first marriage? 80’s
Did it last? Yes - we just celebrated our 25th.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Are there any recent statistics around that actually bear that out?</p>
<p>I found this excerpt from WiseGeek.com. I count vouch for its accuracy, but some of the statistics surprised me.</p>
<p>"The average age at marriage has risen in most industrial countries. Even countries with less development, or who have come lately to industrialization show a rise in the average age at marriage for women. These statistics may reflect a greater feminist stance in most countries, with more women working and completing college. As well they reflect a trend away from marriage in the US. Fully one-half of the US population is now unmarried.</p>
<p>If one looks at US statistics over the past 100 years for example, one sees that men had an average age at marriage of 25.9 years in 1900. Women in 1900 had an average age at marriage of 22 years. For some this shatters an illusion that women 100 years ago were sold into marriage as young children.</p>
<p>Currently the average age at marriage in the US is 26.8 years for men, and 25.1 years for women. It is interesting that though this represents an increased age for men, it is not significantly higher than the rate 100 years ago. Actually age rates at marriage for men declined from 1910 through 1960. Lowest average age for marriage in men was in 1960, when the mean age for marriage was 22.8 years.</p>
<p>There are negligible declines in average age at marriage from 1910-1960 in women. However the difference between the 1910 figures and figures in 1960 are less than two years. In men, the difference is a more significant four year spread. However by the 1970s both figures increased. The largest jump in a decade was women’s average age at marriage in 1980 and 1990. In ten years the age rate jumped from 22 years to 23.9.</p>
<p>In fact in the last 20 years, both men and women show a considerable increase in age at marriage. Men are now on average two years older when they marry than the mean age of marriage for men in 1980. Women are three years older on average now, than the mean marriage age in 1980."</p>
<p>I was 32 my wife was 28.
Married in 1975.
Still together.
One and only child came along when I was 42 and wife 38.</p>
<p>We turned out to be conservative in everything except our politics.</p>
<p>Age at marriage: 27
Decade: late 80’s
Still married. :)</p>
<p>19 (yea I know - smart huh?)
1980
No didnt last </p>
<p>remarried later to a wonderful guy, together 27 years till death us do part…</p>
<p>24; 1987; yes. But we were the first of our crowd, too, by a long shot.
I wonder how the OP’s observations tally with the much-touted perception that more kids are moving back in with their parents after graduation. It could be a choice, essentially to save money–move in with your parents, or marry to combine households; but since you don’t have to marry to combine households, that doesn’t seem likely. I suppose marrying early might be a response to financial uncertainty, and a desire for permanence in a scary world, but it seems a stretch to me. In the 1500s, in England, a society much more uncertain and scary than this one, most people married at an older age rather than a younger, because they had to save up to marry and begin their own households (rich people married younger, usually, because for them marriage itself was a way of transferring wealth–but then, they rarely moved into their own households until they were older, and sometimes not until their own parents were dead). Perhaps what has changed is the idea that marriage represents adulthood; rather than a long, long adolescence/period of service, which ended with marriage and a formal assumption of status as an adult, we have a long, long adolescence and “young adulthood,” in which marriage is merely a token of commitment to another individual, rather than an indication of independence as an adult.</p>
<p>23 a few days from birthday, so 24
1977
still married</p>
<p>20, mid-80s, still married.</p>
<p>I was 21, my husband was 22, it was 1977, and we are still married. For school and job reasons, however, we could not live together for a good deal of the 1980s, and we did not have children until the 1990s.</p>
<p>We were anomalous among our friends, all of whom (including us) headed to graduate, law, or business school after their undergraduate years. The general reaction when we announced our engagement was, “WHAT? Why would you do THAT?” The general rule was to marry in one’s late 20s.</p>
<p>Husband and I were both 25. 1980. Still married.</p>
<p>How old were you when you first got married? 20 (Husband 23)
In what Decade was your first marraige? 70’s
Did it last? Yes! Celebrated our 35th in August of this year.</p>
<p>I just read this article in today’s news and thought of this thread. This “couple” may “win” for youngest age…</p>
<p>[Young</a> love? Girl, 3, gets engaged to 5-year-old - World news - Mideast/N. Africa - msnbc.com](<a href=“http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39773393/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa/]Young”>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39773393/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa/)</p>
<p>We had both just turned 27</p>
<p>Late 80’s</p>
<p>Still together, but I LOVE Violadad’s response! :)</p>
<p>24 and my husband was 26
1980
Yes; 30 year anniversary this Dec.</p>
<p>4 kids, ages 26,26, 20, 15- yeah, we really spread them out</p>
<p>26 yr. old daughter married at 24 and her husband was 26. Have not moved back in with us; in fact bought their first house 6 mos. after marriage.</p>
<p>28, wife was 28
1989
still together</p>
<p>S just celebrated his one-year anniversary with his girlfriend and made a comment about how quickly the year seemed to go. My comment was “one year is an instant, 20 years is an eternity.” For some reason my wife whapped me on the head. ;)</p>
<p>Married at 34, husband 36
1991
Still together</p>
<p>We lived together for about 4 or 5 years but got married to have kids - first one born 10 months after wedding.</p>
<p>These ages are much younger than I would have thought; I wonder where everyone grew up/lived when they got married. No one I knew was marrying so young but I’m from NYC.</p>
<p>amtc - my H and I were a lot like you.</p>
<p>Married at 30, H was 33. Still together and very happy.</p>
<p>We knew each other for six years and lived together for 4 of those years before getting married in 1990. First D was born 14 months later. </p>
<p>I grew up in SoCal and was one of the last of my friends to get married, although most of my friends were in their later 20’s before getting married.</p>
<p>amtc: same here. Maybe that explains it.</p>
<p>I was 26, my husband 25
married in 1982
still together</p>
<p>married on the East Coast- NJ
moved immediately to Houston for job opportunities- been in Houston since</p>