The author of From Parents’ House to Husband’s House has decided to attack the lifestyle of myself and the many others who live in the Midwest and marry at a young age. We have certainly seen societal changes which have resulted in two observations that the author pointed out: Average marriage age is 27 for men and 25 for women, and the infamous 50% divorce rate.
The author failed to address co-habitation. If people should wait until their mid-20s and beyond to marry, does that mean they should abstain from dating and sex? Most people I have known which married young did so for sex. Those people are still married many years later because they based their marriage on that intimacy.
I am scared that the author is promoting the use of dating as a source of sexual variety and marriage when it becomes financially optimal. As a philosophy minor, I am surprised to see that the author didn’t correlate the increase in marriage age with an increase in the divorce rate.
For those that marry later in life, here’s something to keep in mind: the risk of having a child with Down’s Syndrome increases from 1 in 1,250 for a female in her twenties to 1 in 100 for a female in her forties (March of Dimes).
I hope this letter will help the author understand why it is perfectly acceptable for people to be married off before they turn 21.
Aaron F. Harmon
Microbiology doctoral student
Related posts:
Follow Us!