How people respond to stress matters.
Whether partners respect one another matters enormously.
Addiction, abuse, betrayal and major life changes can overwhelm relationships regardless of the age at which the marriage began.
Likewise, young couples who communicate well, share realistic expectations and grow together can remain happily married for decades.
Statistics describe probabilities within populations, not individual futures.
What the Numbers Really Tell Us
The most useful takeaway from the research is not that everyone should postpone marriage until a certain birthday.
It is that there is little evidence supporting the idea that people need to rush into marriage while they are very young.
For someone in a healthy relationship, waiting can provide time rather than take something away.
It can provide time to see how a partner behaves under pressure.
Time to understand each other's finances.
Time to discuss children.
Time to establish careers.
Time to experience disagreements.
Time to see how both partners respond when life becomes difficult rather than exciting.
And time to understand whether the relationship works once the intensity of early romance settles into everyday life.
That may be one reason later marriages, on average, have shown greater stability in major U.S. datasets.
The additional years are not necessarily valuable because people have reached some magical age.
They are valuable because life experience can create better conditions for choosing a partner and sustaining a partnership.
The Bottom Line
Research following thousands of Americans over decades provides strong evidence that marriages beginning at very young ages have historically faced a higher risk of divorce.
The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data analyzed by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that approximately 58 percent of marriages beginning between ages 15 and 22 ended in divorce within the study period, compared with substantially lower proportions among marriages beginning later.
Later BLS research following the same generation into their mid-fifties confirms that divorce remains common and that marital outcomes are influenced by many interconnected social and economic factors.
The evidence therefore supports a careful conclusion rather than a simple rule.
Waiting to marry does not guarantee a lifelong relationship.
Age alone cannot create compatibility, communication or commitment.
But rushing into marriage extremely young appears to carry considerably greater statistical risk.
For some people, waiting provides the opportunity to become financially steadier, emotionally more mature and clearer about the kind of partnership they want.
And when a commitment is expected to last for decades, taking more time before making it may be one of the most valuable choices a couple can make.
Sources
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Monthly Labor Review (2013), “Marriage and divorce: patterns by gender, race, and educational attainment.” Based on National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 data, this analysis documents the relationship between age at marriage, educational attainment and subsequent divorce.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Monthly Labor Review (2024), “Patterns of marriage and divorce from ages 15 to 55: Evidence from the NLSY79.” This updated analysis follows the NLSY79 cohort through age 55 and examines marriage, divorce, remarriage, education and employment histories.