Getting Married Young- Why?

[KSUViolet06]

I think some of it is regional too.

I'm a So Cal native, but I moved to Ohio.

I noticed that in NE OH, the average marriage age is like 22-23 (like, get engaged senior year of undergrad and married in the year following graduation).

In contrast, VERY few of my So Cal friends were engaged or married at that age. The average age is more like 27-30 (like, post law/grad/med school). The only people engaged/married before that were super religious types who were likely rushing marriage for sex.

Even more different is where my stepdad is from (rural AL). Most of his family got married at 18/19/20. I thought that was weird until he explained it to me. Many of the young people in the town are not planning to go to college. So shortly after graduation, they either head for the military or a factory/plant where they'll work until they retire. So it's no big deal for them to marry their HS sweethearts RIGHT sfter high school. They are settled in their careers and don't plan to do anything else. So most of the girls get married and start families early.

So alot of your marriage outlook depends on where you're from.