Married too soon

Yesterday the Utah Statesman ran a front page article about a man who had stolen 44 books and sold 40 of them back. When he was arrested he said that times were hard for his family, and that they had just had another child.
This got me thinking, and I believe that the LDS church is complicit in this crime. For years the state of Utah has seen it's age at first marriage be the lowest in the nation. For years the LDS church claimed that it was not doctrine that people marry so young, but this is simply not true. This year during April conference there was an emphasis on marriage. The priesthood session was about men needing to "buck up" and marry. If it is coming from the priesthood itself, that is doctrine.
The man in this story was 24 married with children and a recent graduate of USU. I do not think that anyone would claim that stealing is a decision made by a rational or reasonable mind. I have seen the church stance on marriage change, as well as the church stance on self sufficiency become more extreme. This young man had other options, but if he was raised to think that using public assistance was a sign of moral weakness, he would not avail himself of it.
The simple fact is this.
The LDS church's leadership are engaging in reckless and irresponsible behavior by telling young people to marry while they are too young. We are still in a recession, and to tell college age kids to marry and start having children in this weak economy is terrible advice. Nothing is lost if you let these young people grow up and start a family a little later in life, but so much could be gained. The divorce rate within the church would go down, and these couples would have a chance at bringing children into a more financially stable home.
I am not absolving this young man of his guilt, but the religious and societal pressures to marry and start having kids no doubt played a part in his desperate decision to steal for his family.