In high school, there’s a lot of “love” in the air. However, that love never lasts that long though, why is that?

Whether you’re in high school right now, or were there however many years ago, if you dated in high school you know how it ended. High School relationships give a sense of loyalty and experience. Although it may be complicated, these relationships teach a teenager the art of a relationship and how it works.

The Beginning

When a relationship starts out in High School, there’s usually a stage called “talking” before anything becomes official. During this time, the official, but not official couple get to know each other more and basically just hangout. This stage might be confusing for some, because they don’t know what they are or what’s happening between them and this person. There is either two things that happen after the “talking” stage, you become a couple or go back to just giving a friendly smile whenever you see them.

If their relationship becomes official, it’ll become very important to them. Whether the couple is public or private about what’s happening between them, it’ll most likely get out. In high school, people will attach to drama like leeches and will suck until there’s nothing left. This is typical, it’s intriguing until something better comes. Some relationships can’t handle this, though, and that can be the ending for them.

Breakups

No matter how a relationship ends, it’ll still hurt. This is especially the case for teenagers and their relationships. Being a teenager, there are a lot more hormones and emotions you feel. Even if the breakup was for the best, that’s not what’s on your mind. You’ll constantly think about them and all the good times,  but that’s unhealthy.

Now the question is, why don’t high school relationships normally last after high school ends? Now this isn’t always the case, being that sometimes couples last outside of high school and sometimes even get married. However, most of the time it is. When you’re in high school, there are so many other factors to your relationship than it just being a relationship. Between school work, extracurricular activities, friends, family, etc., a relationship can feel like a lot to handle.

According to MensDivorce.com, “Today, only 2 percent of marriages are from a high school relationship, with only 25 percent of women saying that they married their first love.” So, that relationship probably wasn’t going to last a lifetime anyway.

Setbacks

Having a lot on ones plate may be the reason, but the immaturity level is definitely a big reason. As a teenager, the maturity of loving and caring for another person isn’t there. It’s not as big of a deal to a sixteen/seventeen year old, then it is to a twenty-six/twenty-seven year old. Age has a huge take on relationships, as well. When you’re fifteen years old, there’s not much you can do without having a ride to and from the place, which can be hard for some.

Parental restrictions are a huge setback for a teenage relationship as well. Some parents aren’t comfortable with their teenager dating, and that might lead the teenager to hiding the relationship from them. Not only will this lying hurt the parent-teenager relationship, it’ll hurt the relationship in general. Sneaking around their parents back might be okay for some time, but it’ll end up falling apart because of the constant lies.

According to Men’s Divorce.com, “High school sweethearts do not marry often, but when they do, the likelihood of divorce increases.” Brandon Gaille Marketing found that “Divorce rates for those within the first ten years of marriage for a high school sweetheart were at 54 percent and were much higher than the average American couple at 32 percent.” So in a way, breaking up in high school or just after high school can lessen your chance of divorce and increase your chance of finding that right person for you.

High School relationships are a blessing in disguise. The complications that the teenagers face might be hard, but it gives them memories that will last forever.