Relationships as young adults can be tricky. What do I mean by tricky? Well, we're somewhere in between a high school relationship and the age of marriage. It's scary to think about marriage as twenty-somethings because most of us are just barely balancing friends, family and getting a degree. When you throw in a long-term relationship to that mix, things can be quite complex.
Couples are getting married earlier than you'd think. Some get married as early as their college years, and that's quite alarming to couples in college. Not everyone can be like Zack and Kelly from "Saved By The Bell" (although that would be pretty freaking adorable). The pressure to find "the one" is ensued at a relatively young age. I remember having pretend weddings for my Barbie and Ken dolls when I was little, but I thought nothing of it at the time. Looking back on it now, marriage was always a fantasy of mine as well as many other young girls (and even boys).
Now we're at the age in which we're sort of in limbo. We're past the high school relationship stage where the girl wore her boyfriend's jacket around school, but we're not quite at the marriage stage either. Don't get me wrong, plenty of couples our age are getting married -- and all the power to them. However, this can put a lot of pressure on long-term relationships at our age, too. If I'm a 21-year-old in a year–or two–long college relationship, marriage is probably not the first thing on my mind. However, the average age for women to get married right now is 27, and for men it's 26. In 1990 it was 22 and 23, and in 1960 it was 20 and 22 (The Atlantic).
College educated women are now getting married much later than in previous years. Statistics show that women who get married in their late twenties to early thirties have an increase in income compared to those that get married earlier.
The statistics for men did not show the same trend. Men who were married in their twenties have been shown to make more money by the time they're in their thirties. Compared to the men that get married in their thirties, the younger bachelors acquire far more money.
Now this comes down to the age old question of whether to put work or marriage first. Well to that I say,
All jokes aside, marriage is not something to be rushed. Forget the "biological clock" or the statistics–get married when YOU are ready. Don't let "The Bachelorette" pressure you into thinking you need to be married by 26 like JoJo (I won't lie, I felt the pressure). We're far too young to be worrying about marriage, in my opinion. All I'm trying to do right now is have a good time being young while getting my degree. In the words of Drake, "You only live once, that's the motto...YOLO". So let's try to enjoy life while we're young. My parents are always telling me how much they miss being my age, so let's not waste it on worrying about establishing a life just yet (save that for after college).
Now I'm not saying screw relationships and sleep with everyone you meet. That's not YOLO, that's STD's. All I'm saying is keep in mind that we're young and that we don't need to be too concerned about getting married just yet. Enjoy who you're with if you're in a relationship, and if you're not you have a whole lot of time to figure it out.
