When Teenagers Start Dating

The Purdue Opinion Panel Poll of high school students reported that 31 per cent of the boys and 40 per cent of the girls started to date before they were fourteen years old. This means that a good many teenagers begin to date before they get into high school. It also confirms the observation that girls, in general, tend to mature earlier and start dating earlier than boys, age for age.

But still another finding of the Purdue Poll of tenth, eleventh and twelfth grade high school students is that one out of eight teen-agers doesn't date at all! How come that some young people start having dates even before they're in high school, and others have no dating experience whatsoever during their teens?

What do teenagers themselves have to say on this subject?

The Teens Talk

When thousands of representative high school students were asked the question, "At what age do you think teen-agers should have their first date?" 41 per cent answered thirteen to fourteen, and 46 per cent said fifteen to sixteen. Such replies indicate that most students feel that the first date should occur in the middle or early teens. It also suggests that many teen-agers appear to date earlier than they really think they should. Why? Who is it that starts dating earliest?

The Early Bird

The Purdue University survey found that high school students living in the western part of the United States start dating at earlier ages than do southern young people (47 per cent of those in the West as compared with 34 per cent of the southerners). Even more interesting is the finding that young people from the higher socioeconomic groups start dating at younger ages than do those from either the middle-income or the lower-income groups.

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