Teenage marriage is common among Irish Travellers. Couples tend to marry very young. According to Judith Okely, "there is no large time span between puberty and marriage" of Travellers. Okely wrote in 1983 that the typical marriage age for females was 16–17 and the typical marriage age for males was 18–19. the average age of an Irish Traveller was 22.4 and 52.2% were aged under 20. Yet only 252 15–19-year-old enumerated Irish Travellers identified themselves as married. In contrast, the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (DEHLG) "definition of a family includes unmarried Traveller men over 18 as a unit" because, according to Abdalla et al., "it is understood that they will marry at this age and require an additional unit of accommodation." Irish Travellers generally marry other Irish Travellers. Consanguineous marriage is common among Irish Travellers.