Preview

What Are the Effects of High School Students Having a Boyfriend or Girlfriend?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
487 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
What Are the Effects of High School Students Having a Boyfriend or Girlfriend?
Puppy love and childhood crushes turn to teenage dating activities for at least half of all high school students. With the onset of adolescence, teens spend less time with family and more time with peers. In the early teen years, mixed-gender groups predominate. By mid-teens, up to two-thirds of high school students report they have dated or are in a romantic relationship. Having a boyfriend or girlfriend in high school can have significant effects on a teenager's social development and personal identity.

Healthy Relationships
Characteristics of healthy teen-dating relationships are open communication and trust between partners of nearly the same age, says Sarah Sorenson in "Adolescent Romantic Relationships," published online by ACT for Youth Center of Excellence. Experts disagree on the impact of having a boyfriend or girlfriend in high school, with some experts expressing concern for the need for personal identity before becoming involved in a dating relationship, while others believe that teen dating is an important part of the process of establishing self-identity. Benefits of dating while in high school include development of social skills, interdependence, cooperation, empathy and sensitivity.

Dating Age
Although many negative effects of dating during the pre-teen and early adolescent years are noted -- poor academic performance, low educational aspirations, delinquency, enduring poor social skills, sexual activity, depression and drug use, having a boyfriend or girlfriend during the high school years seems to have a more positive effect. With greater emotional development and social skills, dating in later teen years can facilitate the development of personal identity and coping skills. Sorenson reports that tenth graders, becoming increasingly more autonomous from their parents, gain social support from dating relationships, trumped only by close friends.

Parental Influence
Violence among teen dating partners has garnered national attention and
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Bshs/325 Adolescent Presentation Research Paper
    • 1751 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Bshs/325 Adolescent Presentation Research Paper

    Becoming an adolescent is a time where you go from child to adult. At this time you will experience things your body maturing and your sexual identity as a young adult. (Zastrow, C. H., & Kirst-Ashman, K. K. (2010)) When coming into adulthood you tend to have your personality develop more along with your morals. You will find yourself experimenting and evaluating who you are. (Zastrow, C. H., & Kirst-Ashman, K. K. (2010)) In the social perspective teens will become more independent and yet still maintain that need for stability with their parents. Often time’s…

    • 1751 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Human Sexual Behavior and Abstinence
    • 494 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Human Sexual Behavior and Abstinence

    Sexual involvement can seriously impact goals that have been set by teens as it can set the person off path in regards to education and rather than finish school and go to college the person might become pregnant or just stop going to school.…

    • 494 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Causal Argument
    • 1050 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Causal Argument

    Teen romance is like a minefield – very few make it through completely unscathed, and the path is often strewn with the shrapnel of countless broken hearts. According to common wisdom, the reason behind all this affliction is because teenagers are capricious creatures who lack the maturity to resolve relationship issues. However, maturity is not the only key factor playing into why teen couples just are not staying together happily. Social media pressures young people to be in constant contact with one another, meaning they can constantly monitor the other. Maturity and social media are large factors in the way many relationships play out nowadays, but the same people writing articles about the topic are the ones forgetting the most important factor; communication. Building an emotional relationship and being able to relate and interact with your partner is the foundation to a truly satisfying and healthy relationship.…

    • 1050 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Romeo and Juliet
    • 697 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Romeo and Juliet

    Edward Whymper said,” Do nothing in haste, look well to each step, and from the beginning think what may be the end.” Most teens do not have enough wisdom to follow this council. Romeo and Juliet, by Shakespeare, shows prime examples of teens rushing into a relationship. When they first saw each other, they instantly fell in love and made a hasty decision to be secretly married. All seemed well, until he plan to run away together went horribly wrong, and ended in a tragic death. As in Romeo and Juliet, when teens today move too fast into a relationship, it can end in a tragic way.…

    • 697 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Extending High School
    • 387 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Extending High School

    Socially speaking, the school would then be a mix of students between the ages of fourteen and nineteen years of age. Social issues will arise between the younger and the older students because of the age difference between the groups. High school performs an important social role in guiding students through their teenage years. At eighteen years of age, a person is already an adult and should be socialized with adults, such as other college students or fellow employees.…

    • 387 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Disadvantages of Federally Mandated Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs
    • 879 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Disadvantages of Federally Mandated Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs

    Alford negates the issue persuasively through factual statistics and examples she exemplifies in four main points. She bases her arguments on credible sources of research such as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and presents a strong and unique point-of-view by expressing the argument through the eyes of the majority of the American teenagers who have been involved in at least one strong relationship with a significant other by the age of eighteen.…

    • 879 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Critically compare and contrast Freud a
    • 2730 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Critically compare and contrast Freud a

    Critically compare and contrast Freud and Erikson’s stage theories of development, and debate how well each has been supported by research.…

    • 2730 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Healthy Relationships Research Paper
    • 497 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Healthy Relationships Research Paper

    Healthy relationships are fun and make you feel good about yourself. You can have a healthy relationship with anyone in your life, including your family, friends and dating partners. Relationships take time, energy, and care to make them healthy. The relationships that you make in your teen years will be a special part of your life and will teach you some of the most important lessons about who you are. This guide was written to help you understand different kinds of relationships, what makes each relationship special, and how to communicate in a positive way. We have included common stories and fun ways to work on many kinds of relationships.…

    • 497 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Teen Dating Guidelines
    • 749 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Teen Dating Guidelines

    In this article, “Teen Dating Guidelines”, by Jessica Childs on November 06, 2014, there is a debate about whether teen dating should be allowed or not, I personally believe that it should be allowed. Teenagers need space and freedom from their parents. Their parents shouldn’t get to plan out their whole lives. Parents should understand that teenagers need to experience certain things in their lives to help them when they become adults. Sure, there are also boundaries. Parents should still have a say in what their child does but they should be more lenient when it comes to dating, especially if they want a stronger relationship with their child.…

    • 749 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Identity and Belonging
    • 913 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Identity and Belonging

    Friendships are vital in adolescence as we develop a sense of being individuals. Families continue to be important but we seek ourselves through the relationships we form with our peers. We learn about acceptance and difference. As we get older we learn to value difference from our parents. Our attitudes towards culture and other difference will have a big impact on the way as we growing we treat others who are different to us. We learn that relationships can crumble in minutes or that they can survive conflict. We learn that our everyday lives are enhanced by the presence of our friends, friends are mostly reliable but can also be treacherous. The schoolyard, the hot hub of most schools, is where romance blossoms, friendship are forged, trust is built and…

    • 913 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Gay Adoption Research Paper
    • 1177 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Gay Adoption Research Paper

    On measures of psychosocial well-being, school functioning, and romantic relationships and behaviors, teens with same-sex parents are as well adjusted as their peers with opposite-sex parents. A more important predictor of teens' psychological and social adjustment is the quality of the relationships they have with their parents. (National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, 2004)…

    • 1177 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Changes in Peer Relationships
    • 344 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Changes in Peer Relationships

    Middle childhood and adolescence are from ages 5-12 years old and from 13-19 years old respectively and each have their own psychosocial crisis according to Erikson; middle childhood has industry vs. inferiority and adolescence has identity vs. role confusion. In middle childhood self-concept no longer mirrors the parent’s perspective and the child is much more concerned with the opinions of their peers (Berger, 2011). Peer relationships are beginning to become more and more important and shape the child’s self-esteem. Close friendships are important during this time. The friendships become more intense and intimate as social cognition advances. Children that are in the later stages of middle childhood demand more of their friends, change friends less often, become more upset when a friendship breaks up, and find it harder to make new friends (Berger, 2011). Now in adolescence peer relationships become even more complicated. There is also peer pressure in this stage; which is encouragement to conform to one’s friends or contemporaries in behavior, dress, and attitude (Berger, 2011). Selecting friends becomes very important in this stage because of the amount of impact they have- it can be beneficial or harmful. During the adolescent years, teen peer groups become increasingly important as teens experience more closeness in friendships and more gratifying relationships with their peers and teens now turn to one another, instead of their families, as their first line of support during times of worry or upset (Oswalt & Zupanick, n.d.). The number of close friendships decline from middle childhood to adolescence but the number of casual acquaintances rises. Sex is also an issue in adolescence and many of the information adolescents learn is from their peers. Teens discuss their relationships with other peers and seek advice and approval.…

    • 344 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Hooking Up And Dating Essay
    • 637 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Hooking Up And Dating Essay

    For just a little over a century now, the date has been a vehicle for creating lifetime lovers. A date could be defined as two people getting together for an activity when the possibility of romance between them has been broached but not ruled out. Dating took rise with the rise of the automobile. This allowed for young courting couples to experience new things together- away from the eyes of their parents and outside of the home. Dating soon replaced courtship, and became the main path to finding love. Throughout the twentieth and early twenty-first century, groundbreaking events like the feminist movements of the 1960-70s, the legalization of the birth control pill, 1973’s Roe v. Wade, and more recently with the 2016 election year- having the first female candidate nominated in a major party to run for president, have all shaped American society toward a more equal, empowering, and uplifting place for women (CITATION FOR DECLINE OF THE DATE). These infact have also changed the dating world, especially in college. The thought of students graduating with a degree AND a significant other…

    • 637 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Abstinence Programs
    • 1411 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Abstinence Programs

    “Abstinent teens report, on average, better psychological well-beings and higher educational attainment than those who are sexually active” (1 The Heritage Foundation). Teens that have not had sexual intercourse seem to do better psychologically, than ones that have had sex. With abstinence programs it is “good for keeping the families steady and bringing down the divorce rate” (William Wan). Abstinence is also a good idea to make family life better and closer as well as not getting a divorce. Many think that abstinence is mostly based on not having sexual intercourse, abstinence can also be based on making families and relationships stronger and better. The programs itself is mainly focused on getting people to refrain from sexual intercorse; although, the programs are also focused on certain skills people can use in later life. With these…

    • 1411 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Leland High School Adolescents: Case Study
    • 1196 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Leland High School Adolescents: Case Study

    That notion, may by itself, say something about adolescents. When considering the general parts of life and aspects that appear to most strongly affect adolescents, it seems as though they agree in many ways. Aside from the contrasts between girls and boys, the impression is given that there may not really be any other major differences. At least with respect to the students questioned, any other differences in opinion about school, their home life, and social interactions were minimally expressed. Through observation and polling, adolescents can be seen as highly socially active with their peers; interested in dating; caring about their education; and wanting for relation, reasonability, and engagement with their teachers. From this we can gather and conclude that adolescents largely feel the same about the general issues relative to their lives at the time and educators would do well to keep such factors in…

    • 1196 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More

Related Topics