Long-range socioeconomic and marital consequences of adolescent marriage in three cohorts of adult males

On the basis of data from a national population survey, long-term consequences, by 1980, of adolescent marriage were studied in three male cohorts aged 30-35, 40-45, and 50-55 years. Black and white males who married as adolescents completed fewer years of education, earned less income, and held lower-status occupations than same-aged, same-race peers who first married as adults. In all three cohorts, black and white males who married as adolescents had experienced more marital disruption than males who married as adults. These results support and extend those of previous investigations of younger cohorts in finding pervasive, negative socioeconomic and marital consequences of adolescent marriage, even over periods of 30 to 40 years.