In contrast to every movie or television show you’ve ever seen about teenagers in high school, a new study has found that teens who don’t date are happier, less depressed, and more adept at dealing with a variety of social situations.
It’s generally believed that dating is a perfectly healthy part of being a teenager. Forming a romantic connection for the first time can help teens’ grow their self-esteem, mature on an emotional level, and develop important social skills for later on in life. While all of that still holds true, researchers from the University of Georgia say that not dating can be just as, if not more, beneficial for teens.
The research team discovered that teens who had not dated during middle or high school displayed good social skills, low levels of depression, and generally fared equal to or better than their classmates who were dating.
“The majority of teens have had some type of romantic experience by 15 to 17 years of age, or middle adolescence,” explains doctoral student and the study’s lead author Brooke Douglas in a release. “This high frequency has led some researchers to suggest that dating during teenage years is a normative behavior. That is, adolescents who have a romantic relationship are therefore considered ‘on time’ in their psychological development.”
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Yeah the era of teen brides marrying their elder cousins has come and gone.
ReplyDeleteWell girls here on the shore are developing breasts by 10 so they are attracting boys and parents end up letting them date around her at 12.
ReplyDeleteI sure as heck didnt, my daughter was 16 before I allowed her to date. And yes, she developed by 10.
DeleteNorthwest Woodsman: Great way to develop social skills and experience what is is like to deal with the opposite sex. I guess these researchers would rather they learn these skills by playing video games and texting in substitution for actual conversations. My stepson is a great guy. But at 35, after being subjected to social engineering and having feminism forced on him during his school years, he has no idea how to interact with and deal with members of the opposite sex. Truly sad what feminism and Marxist democrat liberals have done to young males. I totally quit watching TV in 1993 and have not watched it since but even back then, advertisements almost all denigrated and made fun of white males who were shown as inept and stupid. Then there would be a minority, a black or a female come along and save him from himself. One of the reasons I trashed my tv and quit watching. Best move I ever made as it significantly lowered my levels of frustration.
ReplyDeleteI think around 35 years old is a good time to start dating.
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