18 year old married couple

The first time I got married when I was 18 and looking back I was absolutely too young and didn't know what I was doing. My general consensus on this is it is better to wait until you're older and more established.

Most people will say to wait until you're slightly older - There's no reason to jump right into but everyone situation is different for everyone.

Also I'm not sure what the point of this is? Are you very young and engaged?

I was married at 18. It did not end well for me, but it lasted 8 years. We grew up at different rates and grew apart. I have met some people who are still together that got married young, but most people are older. It just makes it really hard. You're still young and learning about yourself and becoming an adult. So make sure you guys communicate well and that you can grow together. Hope this helps.

Why are you asking? Are you 18?

I will say, it's not for everyone. At 18, I was just entering college and could not imagine marrying anyone at that time.

Granted, my mother got married at 19 and divorced after 25 years of marriage so I don't have a good exposure to young married couples lol

But, to each their own! I would say to wait, but that's just me.

My opinion is that anyone who has to ask about getting married isn't quite ready yet, regardless of age.

View Quoted Comment Just came here to say the same thing!

I don’t have an issue with people getting married young because everyone is different. However, I know the person who I am today at 26 is an ENTIRELY different person than when I was 18. I would’ve been way too young and immature to be married. I read a statistic in college while doing a research paper on divorce and it basically said couples who get married AFTER BOTH of them are 25 or older, have a dramatic drop in divorce rate- somewhere around 40% less likely to divorce if you were both at least 25 years old when you got married. Now I was in college years ago so I don’t know if thats changed. But it stuck with me. FH will be 25 when we get married (a few months into 25) and I will be a few days into 27.

If I had married the guy I was with at 18, my life would be drastically different than it is now, and not in a good way. At 18, I would have told you that I was ready and mature enough for marriage. But I have grown up so much since then and am truly thankful I didn't meet FH until we were both matured and really ready for it. Even post-college, things are so different than at 18!

I know a lot of people who married you and are still together. The few that sis get divorced was due to infidelity and finances but that was later on in life around the ages of 30 so they remained marries for many years. So I think this depends on each individual while you have some that do feel like it's to young for various reasons you have others that do. I think everyone matures differently and knows what they can handle. I don't think it's to young.

Like most people, I was a completely different person at 18 than I am now. So it's understandable when people say to wait until you're a little older, know yourself better, know what you want out of life, and out of a partner. Personally, I would advise waiting, but getting married young works for some people and more power to them!

I would google the statistics on teen/young marriages and there will lie your answer.

I dont even consider a 18 year old an adult, let alone old enough to wed.

If you are that in love, you will be in 5 years. My suggestion is wait.

There's no reason two people can't continue their relationship, move in together, etc. without the legal bind of marriage. FH and I started dating when we were 16, moved in together at 22/23, and are getting married at 25/26. We are much different people than we were back then, but we've had the chance to grow into ourselves and our family unit without the pressure of marriage. It definitely changes your attitude towards your relationship, and you don't want that kind of pressure so young.

This really depends on the couple. I know when I was 18 I thought I was so grown up and mature but I had so much to learn about life and I was still growing into adulthood. I thought I would spend the rest of my life with the guy I was with at that age, he was a great guy, I haven't seen or spoken to him since I was 20 (15 years ago).

I hear people say "if you know you're going to spend the rest of your life with someone, why wait?" To that I say, If you have the rest of your life, what's the rush? Take your time, enjoy the little moments.

Typically, not always, at 18 people are still trying to either finish school or settle into a career. Adding a wedding and marriage on to that can be tough but not impossible. I would recommend making sure the couple doesn't get in over their heads financially or emotionally. Marriage counseling and maybe financial counseling would be good to make sure you are on the right track but that's just good advise for anyone.

Somethings that also come with age can be living on your own and learning to be independent as well but those are just opinions and everyone has different experiences.

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This is exactly what I was thinking.

Trust me, wait. I thought I was with the guy I would marry at 18. We had been together for 3 years at that point. We went to college, had major life experiences, and we both changed. Our life goals didn't match up, he became very judgemental of my actions (which was never like him before), I realized I was dreading our dates... As I started to find who I was and realize my life goals, I changed so much. I later met my FH and couldn't be happier.
Trust me, I thought I knew what I wanted in life at 18. My young self wouldn't believe where I am now only 5 years later. Give yourself a long engagement. It will be so worth it.

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Thank you for mentioning school! I totally forgot how important that is at that age. When I was 18-20 I was taking 16-19 credit hours per semester and working/interning on the weekends to set myself up for a good life. At 21 I landed a full-time, 60-hour a week job, while starting my master's program. I can't imagine doing that while planning a wedding and getting married. My degrees have paid off and I am in a comfortable financial place at 25.

I personally wouldn't want to be married at 18, but my mom was. She had me and turned 18 in March and they got married in June. They've been together for almost 22 year. If you ask her now though, she will tell you she absolutely regrets it (not the marriage in general, but doing it so young and because they felt pressured by both families). The first 10 years of their marriage was terrible for both of them and they wish they would have waited. Every time anyone in our family has a baby young she makes sure to tell them not to get married because they feel like they should or feel pressured.

Unrelated, I started dating FH when I was 17 and he was almost 19 and there is NO way either of us would have been anywhere CLOSE to feeling ready for marriage. Granted, I will still be pretty young on our wedding day, just turning 23, but we have both matured by leaps and bounds in the 5 years we've been together and are able to communicate so much better at this point in our lives. It's also nice to be able to be done with 4 years of college and an internship (me), own a house, and have a full time job (him) before being married.

Generally, waiting until a bit later gives you more time to mature and decide what you want to do in life. Many things about me are the same as when I was 18, but I definitely look at the world in a whole different way after attending college and living abroad for two years.

I also think there are a lot of things that could factor into a successful early marriage like both partners having great parental models, generally have the same idea of what you want for your future (big ones would be whether you want kids or not, going to college, etc), if older/wiser people in your life generally see you both as mature individuals, the length of time you've already been dating the person you're with, and your financial status. My mom met my dad when she was still 17 and she knew he was the one, but they waited to get married until they both finished college. They've been married 28 years.