Kids who date earliest do worst at school, study finds

Early dating, worse grades

Young adolescents who start dating earliest do worst at school — and are more likely to smoke, drink, and take drugs, according to a study from the University of Georgia.

Researchers followed 624 US students over seven years, from sixth grade (ages 11–12) to the end of high school. Each year, the students reported whether they had dated and how often, along with their alcohol and drug use. Publishing in the Journal of Research on Adolescence, Prof. Pamela Orpinas found four distinct dating trajectories — and a clear pattern: at every point, teachers rated the students who dated least as having the best study skills, and the students who dated most as having the worst.

Four trajectories

• Never or hardly ever dated from middle through high school — consistently the best study skills
• Dated infrequently in middle school, increasing in high school
• Dated since sixth grade — a large group, with 38% of the study reporting dating at almost every measurement point

Why would dating hurt schoolwork?

Orpinas's explanation: early dating may be part of an overall pattern of high-risk behavior, not a cause in itself. "A likely explanation for the worse educational performance of early daters is that these adolescents start dating early as part of an overall pattern of high-risk behaviours." The early-dating groups were also twice as likely to use alcohol and drugs.

There's also the emotional fallout. "Dating a classmate may have the same emotional complications of dating a co-worker," Orpinas said. "When the couple splits, they have to continue to see each other in class and perhaps witness the ex-partner dating someone else. It is reasonable to think this scenario could be linked to depression and divert attention from studying."

The takeaway isn't that dating causes bad grades — it's that very early dating can be an early signal of a broader risk-taking pattern, worth noticing before the grades, drinking, and drugs all arrive together.

Archive summary, March 2013, based on reporting of the University of Georgia study.