The marriage of young John Luke Robertson from hit television show Duck Dynasty to his bride of nineteen Mary Kate McEacharn made a big statement against how society views young marriage. Knowing they would receive criticism from the media, the couple was more than prepared to defend their decision when they announced their engagement to the public last October. When interviewed John Luke commented that “The divorce rate is 50% for everyone. But, for Christians who are active in their faith, it is 35% less than that.” While this statistic is not entirely accurate, Robertson and his situation bring up an excellent point. According to the U.S. Census Bureau the age at first marriage has risen to 28.4 for men and 26.5 for women with 63% or
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These studies are key in determining which factors affect the success of young married couples. The majority of the surveys collected data in a series of waves, or groups of participants, in order to maximize the accuracy of their results. The research used for this essay consists primarily surveys done to analyze different aspects that effect marital success like education, economic stability, psychological maturity, and religious affiliation for marriages both young and otherwise. It is also important to understand what constitutes as a young marriage. For the purposes of this paper young marriages will be classified as any unions taking place after the age of sixteen but before the average age at first marriage; this will exclude child marriages from the …show more content…
While harder to analyze quantitatively, psychological maturity is important in explaining why a marriage does or does not flourish. Paul Popenoe, author of Marriage is What You Make it, explains in detail the five stages that lead to psychological maturity: the infant stage, the mama stage, the “gang” stage, the crush stage, and the dating stage (28-36). He elaborates on the fact that being stuck in one of these five stages upon marriage can lead to marital disaster; for example, say a husband was stuck in the mama phase. In his mind his mother can provide him with everything he needs; consequently, his attachment to his mother takes away from his relationship with his wife. This can be true in any stage with either spouse and sometimes both. Marriage without maturity is destined for trouble. In a study called “Later First Marriage and Marital Success,” this phenomenon is referred to as the “maturation thesis” (Glenn, Uecker, and Love 788). They point out previous studies concluded that young people are maturing more slowly than they did in the past, so young adults may not be mature enough to marry at the ages they were in previous
These studies are key in determining which factors affect the success of young married couples. The majority of the surveys collected data in a series of waves, or groups of participants, in order to maximize the accuracy of their results. The research used for this essay consists primarily surveys done to analyze different aspects that effect marital success like education, economic stability, psychological maturity, and religious affiliation for marriages both young and otherwise. It is also important to understand what constitutes as a young marriage. For the purposes of this paper young marriages will be classified as any unions taking place after the age of sixteen but before the average age at first marriage; this will exclude child marriages from the …show more content…
While harder to analyze quantitatively, psychological maturity is important in explaining why a marriage does or does not flourish. Paul Popenoe, author of Marriage is What You Make it, explains in detail the five stages that lead to psychological maturity: the infant stage, the mama stage, the “gang” stage, the crush stage, and the dating stage (28-36). He elaborates on the fact that being stuck in one of these five stages upon marriage can lead to marital disaster; for example, say a husband was stuck in the mama phase. In his mind his mother can provide him with everything he needs; consequently, his attachment to his mother takes away from his relationship with his wife. This can be true in any stage with either spouse and sometimes both. Marriage without maturity is destined for trouble. In a study called “Later First Marriage and Marital Success,” this phenomenon is referred to as the “maturation thesis” (Glenn, Uecker, and Love 788). They point out previous studies concluded that young people are maturing more slowly than they did in the past, so young adults may not be mature enough to marry at the ages they were in previous