My first main argument is that teenagers just aren’t mature enough to be married. Marriage is the centre and core of family life and we believe that teenagers cannot and should not be made to take such responsibility. Why would anyone want to push them out of their safe, video-gaming, roller blade-ing nest so fast? First, I will discuss the science behind my argument and secondly, reveal the findings of a survey that we conducted and follow them with some facts that I hope will be educating.
The human brain controls every single aspect of our body. The cerebrum of the brain is responsible for thought and action. A part of the cerebrum is the prefrontal cortex, which is the rational and reasoning centre of the brain. According to a recent study conducted by the National Institute of Health and UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) the “point of intellectual maturity [or] the "age of reason,"” (Stritof, 2008, ¶2) or cerebrum maturity is reached at about 25. The same research also shows that teenagers think with their amygdala, which is the part of the brain that is responsible for emotions. The study says that “many life changing decisions such as marriage .. are made before adolescent brains are fully ready to make such decisions” (Stritof, 2008, ¶6).
I led a survey on 240 people. One question was asked, “Do you think teenage marriages should be allowed, give a reason.” I questioned 100 girls, 100 boys, which were either teenagers or in their early twenties and 20 adult males and 20 adult females, who were parents. The results showed that:
81% girls, 68% boys, 95% fathers and 100% mothers were opposed to the idea of teenage marriage.
Some of the reason we received from the girls and boys who opposed the notion, were, and I am quoting “Eww..”, “but they’re babies” and “way too much commitment, way too early.”
The dominant reason that we received, from the parents, was that most teenagers just aren’t mature enough to be making such life altering decisions or be made to make just a decision.
Most of the boys and girls who were for teenage marriage classified their choice as being for the “obvious reasons” and some of them said, “if they’re in love, why not?”
Teenagers are physically different; everyone, including them, knows that. We were all teenagers once, remember what it was like? All sorts of hormones going wild.
But let me tell you something about teenage love, having ‘been in love’ many, many times in my teen years. It can be the best feeling ever, like you’re walking on clouds and it’s this incredible high, but did you know, that when in love, a teenager is actually high? The brain secretes chemicals like “dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin” (Fisher, 2004, ¶2), these cause immense euphoria and pleasure. According to researchers at bbc.co.uk, “Falling in love seems to have a similar effect on the brain as using cocaine. It's so pleasurable it's almost like an addiction” (“First love”, ¶4). Even though teenagers are addicted and can’t help such feelings, the same article shows that an average 15 year olds’ relationship lasts between 3 to 4 months. Why is this? According to researchers, the 3 phases of love are “lust”, “attraction” and “attachment” (First love”, ¶5). Most Teenagers do fine with the first two but they have troubles committing long term, which brings me back to my original position, which is, teenagers just aren’t ready to be married.
REFERENCES:
Stritof, S. (2008). Another reason teens should not marry. Retrieved April 22, 2008 from http://marriage.about.com/od/teenmarriage/a/teenbrain.htm
Fisher, H. (2004). Your brain in love - Time. Retrieved April 22, 2008 from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,993160,00.html
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