I Blame the Economy

As promised, here is the sequel to my previous post.


I'm not sure how many of you have noticed the alarming new trend of 21 to 25 year old engagements/marriages/pregnancies, but I have been shocked by the numbers in recent months. A trend that I'm convinced is new, based on conversations with older friends who have told me that this did not take place in their early 20s. I'm going to preface this entry by saying that the following is purely my opinion. I don't want to be misinterpreted as disapproving of my friends' choices. I absolutely believe that every one of my engaged and married friends are intelligent, passionate people who have been lucky enough to find love early on in their lives. That said, I can't ignore the fact that I have few to no single girl friends at this time- a fact which has disturbed and (sometimes) annoyed me as of late.

So here goes.

It's no secret that economic dips and fluctuations have historically affected national birth rates, exhibit A: the Baby Boomers. During the post WWII era, as the American economy began to rise from the Depression and War decades, there was an enormous leap in the number of little bundles of joy. Why? Because people wanted to be happy. People wanted to forget about the difficult times, and cling to matters of personal importance, like family. So what's to say that a similar trend couldn't be taking place at this very moment in time?

I don't anticipate my generation bringing about a new Baby Boom, considering the vast differences in culture, traditions, and not to mention birth control between the 1950s and 2010. However, I think I've come up with a theory to explain why in the past year I've celebrated the engagements and marriages of fifteen+ 22/23 year olds. And yes, I did just stop typing for a moment to make a list, but decided to stop after fifteen names. I think you get my point.

In an attempt to reserve my strongest personal opinions on this matter, the explanation I am about to offer is the most sensible one I can come up with. This is a generation that has undergone ridiculous politics, a confusing and highly controversial war (or should I say wars?), we've witnessed and remember episodes like Columbine, 9/11, and Hurricane Katrina, and have personally dealt with a transition into financial independence during a time of massive economic instabilities. We all have debt, whether it be from school loans or credit cards, and a startlingly low percentage of us have achieved employment or acceptance into higher education. So what else is there for us to celebrate upon our arrival into the world of post-graduate adulthood? Our personal relationships.

I think that in order to distract ourselves from the big bad scary economy right now, it just feels good to have someone at the end of the day to make us happy. And as much as I'm probably going to offend some people by saying this, I really do think that some of these very young people are jumping into a serious life-altering decision a bit too early. I hope I'm wrong about this, and that there is secretly some other reason for this current trend. A secret that will prove these relationships to be more successful than statistics say they will be...

I decided to publish this post after months of conversations with people, of all ages, who are shocked at the number of my engaged and married friends. This theory began as a sort of joke, but I've had too many people agree with the legitimacy of the argument to keep quiet. But, then again, what do I know?