Show The push for young unions Leslie Conder Community Reporter Utah is known for its conservative culture dominant religion and polygamy A lesser known fact of Utah is the pressure of getting married Young women and men are feeling the pressure to fin find their significant others everyday Utah's dominant religion preaches to its followers to find do n eternal mate student Heidi last name withheld has felt the pressure of being the old maid in terms of Utah's society Heidi has felt pressured to get married on more than one occasion Being the middle sister of three it was hard for Heidi to see sec her older and younger sisters get married before her and at such young ages When I was 19 and my older sister got married I felt that it was my turn next I Iwas Iwas Iwas was in a relationship It was more out of convenience than love but I thought that I could do worse than this nice guy Along with Heidi's older sister getting married Heidi found she was pregnant The pressure to marry was doubled Heidi's then boyfriend insisted the only way he would tell his parents parent's about their situation is if they planned on getting married We Ve both come from very religious backgrounds but apparently my mother was much more tolerant than both his parents combined Heidi lost the baby four months later and shortly after that the relationship died as well When Heidi turned 20 the pressure returned She was not in school and had no idea as to what she wanted to do with her life I had no direction and andI I am LOS If you are 20 almost 21 living in Utah and are LOS that means two things Find someone fast and get married or go on ona ona ona a mission for my church I tried doing the latter but my past ruled that out The average age for women to get married in inthe inthe inthe the state of Utah is 21 The average age for men is 23 Utah's marriage rate of people per 1000 people is considerably above the national average of 87 In Utah 18 percent of divorces transpire within the first year of marriage An astounding 50 percent of Utah divorces happen within the first five years of marriage I believe young marriage is the reason for the high divorce rate in this country Do I condemn those that get married young No my sisters married young and made it through the transition virtually unscathed They are still both married I am just glad that I waited and didn't give into the pressure said Heidi with no regrets about her life or the decisions that she has made Heidi believes that she is the person she is now because of all the mistakes and non-mistakes non she has made along the way Do I regret not getting married at 19 or 20 Hell no I changed and grew so much I think you should be allowed to learn who you truly are before committing to something that you hope will last forever Heidi eventually got married at 28 years old Now 31 and living her life the way she chooses not the way she feels others would want her to live Heidi currently resides in Bountiful with her husband and three month old sonI sonI sonI son I am glad that I waited I am glad that I got to know my husband before I got married not after I am glad that I held out until I was sure that he was the man I wanted to be with I am glad gladI I found out and knew who I Iwas Iwas Iwas was before getting married A lot of times when people marry young they end up merging two distinct personalities into one which ends up with both people losing part of themselves I love my life I love my husband I am glad that I waited |