10/24/2017
Young Love: The Good, the Bad and the Educational
When they fell in love, she was barely into her teens, and he wasn’t much older. Some saw a star-crossed couple who found understanding, joy and maturity in each other’s arms. Others saw impulsive kids whose reckless passion cut them off from family, friends and more appropriate interests, provoked mood swings, delinquent behavior and experimentation with drugs, and ended in tragedy.
Romeo and Juliet’s story is centuries old, but these two very different views of adolescent romance live on, often simultaneously, in the minds of bemused parents.
Lately, teenage romance has caught the attention of a number of researchers, who are increasingly interested in its potentially positive as well as negative effects — not just on adolescence, but on adult relationships and well-being.
