Madeline Coleman

Emerging adults enveloped by the so-called “decade of decisions” must consider different priorities like marriage, education, building a career, identity exploration, and more, all competing for top of the list. It’s becoming more common for marriage to get kicked down the list—something to be prioritized later. As a consequence, many emerging adults today are waiting to say “I do.” The U.S. Census Bureau reports the median age for marriage is now 30.8 for men and 28.4 for women. This trend mirrors shifting ideas about marriage from a starting point to a finish line.1 In contrast to this rising popular opinion that later marriage is qualitatively better, researchers have actually found that marrying later does not appear to increase marital success but, rather, be a slight risk factor for a lower quality, less stable marriage.2