I was read an article the other day in which a woman encouraged younger women to look for potential husbands in college- the idea being that they could attract a better quality husband when they are more youthful.
Is this true in your opinion? At what age do you think women are most attractive as marriage partners?
The author is on to something, for all sorts of reasons.
1. Women are more/most attractive to men at that age and will likely parley that into a more advantageous match relative to later in time.
2. No career to interrupt with a marriage.
3. If she wants kids, having them younger is the smart move (birth defects, energy to raise them, career diversion, etc.)
4. The number of similar status male dating options is as high as it is ever going to be.
5. The time available to vet suitors is as high as it is ever going to be.
Part of the problem is the social expectations of later marriage, which the author I presume addresses.
But there are other issues that drive the age at which men & women marry. These factors can be grouped under the label, "Affordable Family Formation."
1. General state of the economy. Harder times push the age out and result in fewer births. The age is pushed out farther for men than women for obvious reasons.
2. College cost/debt. Debt service means poorer/less credit available and hits cash flow. More debt drives up marrying age.
3a. Immigration/immigrants driving down the labor market clearing house price. IOW, higher supply of labor from H1B & similar visas drives down skilled wages. It will take longer to accumulate the capital to put a down payment on a house, for example. Or result in more unemployment.
3b. Immigration/immigrants driving up demand for housing, making it more expensive for new families to afford their own living arrangements. (Can we say, "Sand State Housing Bubble?")
3c. Immigrants taking up STEM grad student slots because the colleges prefer the taste of full-price, out of state tuition on a student visa to local boys who might not be as passive in the face of administrative self-aggrandizement.