I agree with you that it has to be with the right person, but I think our culture instills in us that it is not the "right" person if we meet them too young. I married my high school sweetheart and as un-sophisticated as that may sound, I know it was the right decision.  

What's interesting about this is that if you look at the plight of the working woman in this (not to be super feminist and idealistic), but the majority of the time when women are placed in a marriage early on they compromise their careers. I am sure that there will be of plenty of people who will argue about this, BUT--this is both sociologically and historically proven via intellectuals I will happily refer you to. In any case, the issue here is that when they marry early, it usually leads to children earlier on. This then leads to women having to share the unequal burden of missing days of work/maternity leave way more so than the husbands. Again, there are specific statistics backing this up. Now, the issue here is that by getting married in their early 20's, these women are then seen as less likely to succeed by their peers (and higher-ups) in the workplace due to their "duty to children/husband/household." What this creates is this familial glass ceiling, leading to a stagnant career, where the women can no longer prepare herself for the workplace accordingly as she has been "mommy-tracked," as these studies deem it. It also creates severe tension in the marriage, as the women are almost curtailed, and their roles are compromised in this new-age world of women as CEO's and world leaders. What I think is so interesting is that if you look at highly successful women, for example--actresses in Hollywood (Halle Berry perhaps or even Courtney Cox) as well as Wall Street managing directors to non-profit presidents, for the most part, they're waiting until their 30's and have an established career to have children and truly "settle" down...not that all marriages necessarily need children by ANY means. On the other hand, there are those successful women who have had children very early and then entered the workplace, thus providing their children with the necessary care while allowing these women to succeed. It's definitely true that there are TONS of success stories that say the opposite, but for the most part, there is this growing decision for women to stay in the workplace and out of marriage/family situations that allow them to first thrive and become bread-winners and then go into their personal lives. Just an interesting take on the situation I think..rather than setting themselves up for failure, there's a complex decision that allows these women to fulfill their goals and aspirations..not to mention the growing popularity of paternity leave (when will that catch on?!) More on that later..  

I have heard that 90% of couples that marry between the ages of 18-22 end in divorce. If that is true, it blows the writer's theory out of the water. The fact is that the traditional theory of marriage is outmoded. It was fine for our great grandparents to get married in their early 20s because the average life expectancy was much shorter. But how can you possibly choose someone today in your early 20s and expect to stay married to them for the next 50 years. Doesn't seem logical.