Teen Marriage Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive Relationship Essays

Teen Marriage What is marriage? Marriage is â€Å"the institution whereby men and women are joined in a special kind of social and legal dependence for the purpose of founding and maintaining a family† (Marriage 729). The fact is, marriage, to most of society, is something much more than that. To some, marriage is the uniting of their souls; to others, it is merely an escape from their fear, their pain, and their agony. The sad truth about it is that many of those marriages will end in divorce. So how do couples know if what they have will last forever? It is impossible to know for sure. No one can tell them that they definitely have what it takes to make a marriage last. Marriage is about compromise and understanding. It is also about give and take. If one party in the marriage is unwilling to give, and only takes, the marriage will be short lived. Statistics show that in 1998, 2,256,000 couples became married, and 1,135,000 couples became divorced (Fast 1,2). For every two couples getting married, there is one that is getting divorced. In fact, half of ALL marriages end in divorce (Ayer 41). That is a sad reality to face. Those percentage rates increase as the age of the participant’s decrease. It seems these days, fewer and fewer teens between the ages of 14 and 18 are getting married. This is a change for the better. Teens are usually not prepared for marriage. Marriage comes with many responsibilities; most of which teens are not prepared to handle. â€Å"Early marriage, though possessing certain inherent dangers, is widely practiced in contemporary America† (Teenage 1). Even if teens feel they have the potential for a lasting marriage, they should still wait to become married. One of many arguments against this is that if the teens feel they are â€Å"destined† to be together and they wait to become married, there is a strong potential for pregnancy before marriage. However, just because teens wait to become married does not mean that they wait to share the privileges that married couples share. Today, sex before marriage is widely practiced. Many couples, who are not even considering marriage, have sex. Chances are that if a teen couple is thinking about marriage, they probably have already had intercourse. Allowing the teens to become married would only encourage sex before they are fully prepared to handle the responsibilities that come ... ...ociety; we do not need teens, which are not ready for marriage, to be married. Marriage is all about compromise, understanding, and give and take. Teens have not fully grasped that concept yet. They need to experience more in life before becoming married. They are missing out on so much; it is truly not worth it to rush into marriage. Works Cited Ayer, Eleanor H. Everything you need to know about teen marriage. 1st ed. New York: Rosen Pub. Group, 1990. "Fast Stats A to Z." [online] Available http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/ default .html, March 7, 2001. Holt, Chatal Danino. "The three R's of Relationships." [online] Available http://www.aboutyourmarriage.com/communicating/article/ three_r.html, February 12, 2001. Holtrop, Holly. Personal interview, March 12, 2001. "Marriage." Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary. 1991. "Teenage Marriage: weigh it carefully!" [online] Available http://www.bible .ca/ f-teen- marriage.html, February 14, 2001. Tobin, Dr. Michael. "Personal Responsibility." [online] Available http://www. aboutyourmarriage.com/columns/drtobin/responsibilities.html, February 7, 2001.