Saturday 14 May 2011

Age Difference in Marriage

As defined by society, the practice of men preferring to marry younger women and women preferring to marry older men has been in existence since the concept of matrimonial alliance itself came into existence. What has changed over the years is the age difference in marriage. More recently, women seem to prefer marrying highly successful men, who are considerably older than these women. That being said, whether the age difference actually affects a person's marriage or not has become one of the most prominent questions being asked.

Average Age Difference in Marriage Over the Years
A look at the statistical data compiled over the last century suggests that the age difference in a matrimonial alliance has been constantly changing owing to several underlying factors. First it fell from 29 years for men and 26 years for women at the beginning of the 20th century to 26 years for men and 23 years for women by the mid-20th century. This drastic fall of three years was attributed to the emergence of nuclear families in the society. By the end of this century, though, the difference was back to what it was at the beginning of the century. This reversal in the average age difference for marriage was attributed to factors such as education, women becoming more and more independent, better contraception, etc. Today, things have changed considerably as both men and women are giving their career first priority, thus, making matrimonial alliance take a back seat.

Age Difference in Marriage: Problems
New trends also suggest a drastic age difference in married couples, which can be as much as 15 years, today. The best example of this is the rising number of celebrity couples who are getting into matrimonial alliances despite the significant difference in their age. The bad part, though, is that the age difference in relationships can result in a wide range of marital problems between the two partners. Some of the most common problems which can be attributed to extreme age difference in marriage include lack of understanding, infidelity, sex drive disparity, financial problems, etc. A closer look and one would realize that all these problems are related to each other, either directly or indirectly. For instance, generation gap can result in lack of understanding between the two partners and this may result in either of the partners finding solace with a third person, thus, leading to infidelity.

What is the Ideal Age Difference in Marriage?
Ideally, the age difference between two people getting into a matrimonial alliance should be somewhere between 3 - 5 years. Basically, one has to take into consideration the fact that men attain maturity late as compared to women, which implies that men need more time to get accustomed to the responsibilities associated with a family. Marrying late also gives men enough time to get set with their career. This has lately become even more relevant as women folk seem to prefer well settled men over those who are yet to make a comfortable living. Even though women seem to prefer getting married late so that they get enough time to fulfill their ambitions on the career front, they need to be careful as opting for marriage too late can affect the biological cycle and result in medical complications when having children in the future.

Even though there are examples of happily married couples with a significant age difference, the number of such examples is considerably low, and therefore the ideal age difference in marriage should be 3-5 years. Interestingly, the same rule of the thumb applies in case of a situation, wherein a woman marries a man younger to her. However, in the end, these are merely numbers and to make any marriage work, one needs to put in a genuine amount of effort so as to ensure that the marriage is a long and happy one.

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