If you like it, put a ring on it.
Many college students plan to do just that and get hitched by their mid-twenties.
A recent national study published in The Journal of Social and Personal Relationships discovered that many college students intend to take the plunge into marriage by the time they are 25 years old. However, the study also found that a majority of parents think 25 is too young to get married.
According to the study, the main reason parents hesitate to send their children down the aisle is the idea that they should get an education first.
Peter Sherrard, an associate professor in the Counselor Education Department, said there is no “right age.”
“I think it has more to do with why you’re getting married,” he said.
Sherrard said it is better if young people become stabilized in their careers and life choices before they settle down and have a good grounding about who they are as individuals.
“Marriage often stabilizes the people who are involved in marriage,” he said. “Some people are seeking that stability, and they want to gain that stability sooner rather than later.”
However, Sherrard said, the divorce rate is higher when you marry earlier in life. The average national divorce rate is a little more or less than 50 percent, he said.
Sherrard said one’s family background also has an effect on young marriages.
“Each heritage is a little bit different in shaping how a marriage is both chosen and unfolds,” he said.
Brittany Seamon, a 22-year-old family, youth and community sciences senior, said her parents wanted her to earn a college degree before she got married. Technically, she will.
In August, Seamon became engaged to her now fiance, David Kline. She will graduate in May and in June will marry Kline, whom she dated for almost five years.
Seamon said her fiance is in the U.S. Coast Guard in Connecticut, which partially influenced their decision to get married. “We’re kind of under a time crunch,” she said.
