Why Teens Marry

Most teens marry because they become pregnant and then feel as if marriage is the right thing to do. Many feel that teens are not mature enough to get married at an age as young as 17 and begin their life rasing a family. However, studies have shown that the upside to teen marriage is that if a teen marries and then stays married she will increase the odds that her and her child will do well in terms of income, health, and well being. This will also help reduce the odds that her son or daughter will end up in jail or drop out of high school. Marriage is often driven by duty, moral obligation, fidelity to community, and by keeping faith within one's family.

Some teens feel the need to get married even if they are not pregnant. Many teens fail to see the challenges of marriage and find marriage to be natural and easy. Many teens get caught up in love and don't look to the future. The passion of youth, the hormones, the obsessive love, the I can't live without you obsession is more evident in the teen age years than at any other time in one's life. This is what causes teens to want to jump into marriage right away.

A perfect example of teenage love, pregnancy, and the desire to be married is that of Sarah Plain's daughter, Bristol Palin. Bristol Plain claims that even before she became pregnant her and her boyfriend, Levi Johnston, planned to marry. Although she is only 17, she claimed that they were truly in love and wanted to spend their life together. Once Bristol became pregnant, her family's morals about pregnancy and marriage played a big role in to her decision to marry Levi. Her pregnancy is what moved the idea of marriage in her life forward more quickly than it would have typically without the pregnancy. However, shortly after the wedding was announced Bristol and her boyfriend broke up, calling off the wedding. This is a visible indication that marriage may not be the best idea for teens. Bristol and Levi are already experiencing marriage problems before they have even tied the knot.