You're young and in love. Why not seal the deal? But somewhere between pining for white gowns and wedded bliss, along comes Captain Buzzkill with The Stat.



You know the one: Nearly 50 percent of all marriages end in divorce.



And if you're young, look out — it gets uglier. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, about 60 percent of couples who marry between 20 and 25 are destined for divorce.



We knew marriage was hard, but why is it so much harder for young couples?



Most early marriages fail primarily because of emotional immaturity and limited life experience. Science plays a role too.



"In our 20s, sometimes we don't have a strong sense of who we are as an individual," said Elaine Spencer-Carver, a social-work professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.



Young couples may have the chemistry but often lack the history that sustains unions.



"Younger people are more apt to go into marriage with the expectation that the other person is going to fulfill them," said Peg Donley, a licensed marital therapist in Prairie Village, Kan. "Older people are probably a little more seasoned, more realistic."



Additionally, young couples often lack the benefit of time together.



"If you talk to people who have had long-term marriages, they talk about the fun they have together," Spencer-Carver said. "Young people don't have the opportunity to build positive memories to carry them through the difficult times."



Even science is working against you when you're young and in love. Donley attributes brain activity to bungled bonds.



"Women's brains are not fully developed until age 25, and men's brains develop later, between the ages of 25 and 30," Donley said. "I tell my kids, 'You don't want to get married before your brain is fully developed.' "



Endorphins also factor in. "People under 25 tend to think that marriage is going to make them happy," Donley said. "They feel so good when they're with this person, and that's the way it's going to stay. Statistics indicate that endorphins involved in marriage only last three years."



After that, she said, couples who rely on romance are in trouble.



"People who jump into marriage very quickly tend to have unrealistic expectations about what marriage is going to provide over the long haul," Donley said.



So if all signs and statistics point to disaster, why would couples still get married so young?



"All of us get caught up in romance," Spencer-Carver said, "and that often brings about young marriages."



Marriage and divorce by the numbers



The average age for first marriage: 26 for women, 28 for men



50 percent of all marriages end in divorce.



60 percent of all couples who marry between 20 and 25 divorce.



More than 50 percent of all first marriages are preceded by living together.



The dissolution rate for women who live with their future spouse before getting married is nearly 80 percent higher than the rate of those who do not.



Sources: The National Marriage Project/University of Virginia, National Center for Health Statistics, Yale University and Columbia University-American Sociological Review