Teen Marriage, Where the “Odds Against Success Are Huge” Have you ever watched the show “Teen Mom” and wondered why most mothers aren't with the father of their child? Well, most teenagers who get together don't last very long, just like teenage marriages don't last. While not all of the couples on the show were married, most of them were together at one point and even separated at some point. This is just one example that proves that most teenage marriages don't last. Even though they always seem to fail, teenage marriages were very common in the past. Gordon B. Dahl states that “in ancient Rome, the appropriate minimum age was considered 14 for males and 12 for females” (Dahl 689). Because these early marriages are so likely to fail, it leads to divorce. Dahl also states that “women who marry while they are teenagers are two-thirds as likely to divorce within 15 years of marriage than women who postpone marriage” (Dahl 691). Such an early marriage was more appropriate then than it is today. Nowadays, in most places there are laws that prohibit marriage under a certain age, without a certain type of approval. Teenagers might think that getting married at that point in their life is a good idea, but there are some things they don't consider. Some of these things that cause teen failureDahl adds that “children of teenage mothers also have lower birth weight, have a higher rate of child homicide, are often victims of child abuse and neglect, have academic and behavioral problems at school, and are likely to commit crimes” (Dahl 691). The same failure of teen marriages has caused a decline in teen marriages. Garber states that “the number of such marriages has decreased, perhaps because young people realize that the chances of success are enormous”.”