Women who are married before the age of 19 are 50 percent more likely to drop out of high school, wrote Gordon B. Dahl in "Demography." Without a high school diploma, prospects for higher education become unlikely, which makes finding a job more difficult. Without employment, many married teens will struggle to maintain a household separate from their parents'..

Married teens who do find employment can expect to earn less than couples marrying older. Women who marry young are 30 percent more likely to live in poverty. In addition to the strain put on financially insecure marriages, communities are shouldered with the burden of providing support to these households.

Managing the trials and tribulations of any marriage requires solid communication and problem-solving skills. While the teenage brain has developed the ability to process emotions, it is not until someone is in his early 20s that the ability to control impulses is intact. This means that in handling relationship issues, teenagers will have a more difficult time responding to emotionally charged events. This can create high levels of individual stress. In addition, those who marry under the age of 18 have an increased lifetime risk of mental health problems. This could be related to higher levels of stress or higher levels of substance abuse as a coping mechanism.

Many teens decide to marry because of an unplanned pregnancy or marrying earlier simply leads to younger parenting. It has been shown, notably in research conducted by Sara Jaffee, et. al. for Cambridge University and published in "Development and Psychopathology," that children born to young parents grow up to experience higher levels of unemployment and even higher levels of violent crime. In addition, these children more often grow up to be young parents themselves, repeating the cycle.