When we think about high school relationships, we all think about romance, sweet time spent together with our loved ones, and nice memories of the places we visited and things we used to do.
However, as you probably know, most romantic couples that were formed at high school tend to break up even before the sweet doves enter college!
Why does it happen?
How long does a high school relationship last at all? And what is the percentage of high school relationships that last after graduation? All these questions will be answered today.
From this article, you will learn not only about the duration of high school relationships. You will also find out what perks such relationships have and why (despite of all perks and benefits) our high school romance doesn’t tend to last long.
How Long Does the Average Relationship Last at High School?
High school relationships are romanticized in movies and books, so no wonder every schoolgirl is dreaming about her own romantic story at high school!
However, if we take a look at high school relationship statistics, we will see that such relationships don’t last very long. So all the dreams about “happy ever after” usually end up after the couple graduates from school.
The average length of high school relationships is usually from 1.5 to 1.8 years if the teenagers are between 16 and 18 years old. Most such couples split up when both a boy and a girl enter college, and only a few high school couples manage to make it through college and end up being a married couple!
But why does it happen?
Why does something that started as wonderful and full of love and affection interaction end, leaving both parties disappointed and hurt? Let’s try to figure this out.
Why Do High School Relationships Fail?
Of course, when we think about the reason why high school couples split up, the very first idea that we would have is that they simply entered different colleges, perhaps even located in different parts of the country.
It may even happen that one of the teenagers stayed in the home country whilst another one moved to study abroad! For sure, such a distance will not make these relationships stronger in most cases.
But distance is not the only reason for the breakup. The average high school relationship length depends on several factors:
- The priorities of both partners
- The start of college life
- How serious they are about the future
- Whether they fight often with each other
- Lack of trust
- Change of their feelings
- Not enough space
Now let’s take a closer look at each of these factors to better understand what could put a border between the two young lovers.
They Have Different Priorities
When you are a teenager graduating from school, you need to think about lots of stuff. For example, preparing for your college entry exams, choosing classes that you will be taking there, etc. And this is when clashes start between a boyfriend and a girlfriend.
For example, she might want to prep for the exams together during the weekend but her boyfriend wants to go to the movie with his friends instead.
While getting older, teenagers face more and more daily life challenges, and defining your priorities (as well as being able to balance between yours and your partner’s) is one of them. Unfortunately, not all couples manage this challenge.
The Start Of College Life
When teenage couples enter college, they often end up in different establishments, sometimes those are located in different parts of the country! Of course, it makes their communication challenging.
In addition, college life comes up with its temptations and responsibilities. No wonder many young couples break up at this stage of their adult life!
They Are Not Serious Enough About the Future
Let’s be honest, almost no teenagers are serious about their future and their relationship! They start dating just to have fun and experience that romantic flow, hoping that it will carry them on. In most cases, teens don’t want to work on their relationships much.
However, such an attitude has serious downsides. Such young couples typically never talk about their relationship, they don’t try to learn more about each other and almost never try to get to know each other better and deeper.
They just take what’s lying on the surface without making attempts to dig a bit deeper. Naturally, if you don’t know what kind of person your partner is, it will be hard for you to develop your relationship and make any plans for the future.
They Fight Too Much
Teens are very emotional beings and this often results in fights between the love partners at high school. Of course, you will have fights now and then with your romantic partner, but you should be worried if you are fighting constantly for no reason.
If the two are always arguing because they can’t correlate their plans or because one of them didn’t pick up the phone once or twice, this is the reason to think about it.
For a 17-year-old one, it is rather hard to manage all the demands that may come from the partner, such as love, romance, communication, sharing interests, etc. So they tend to focus on small pity things and miss the whole picture
Lack of Trust
You can’t build a strong and long-lasting relationship if you don’t trust each other. If the two are constantly suspecting each other in being insincere or having love affairs with someone else, such a couple won’t last long.
Teenagers are emotionally vulnerable and they tend to take everything that’s going on in their lives way too close to their hearts. Especially if it has anything to do with their boyfriend or girlfriend!
Too many comments from a girl under her boyfriend’s post can make a teen girl feel suspicious about him. The same as a boy may start feeling jealous if his girlfriend asked another boy for help.
Their Feelings Could Change
Love is not something stable that never changes. Over time, feelings may become less bright and passionate, and adults know that it is normal. But teens believe that their love should be like in fairy tales!
However, since teenagers experience a haywire of emotions, they tend to grow out of their feelings pretty fast. Teens try to spend as much time together as possible, they are always in touch and it seems like they have everlasting love!
But the truth is that this “love” will soon evaporate, being replaced by boredom and even a lack of feelings toward the partner. It’s like eating cakes every day for breakfast and dinner: one day you won’t be able to even look at them no matter how delicious they are and how much you loved them before!
Not Enough Space
You probably know that high school couples are highly centered around each other: they try to spend as much time together as possible, they can’t get enough of each other! However, such close communication leaves them nearly no space for themselves!
With each passing day, things will only get worse since both partners will feel like they are suffocating being next to their boyfriend/girlfriend almost all the time!
This is why it is important to spend some time separately: going for a picnic with your family instead of spending it with your boyfriend/girlfriend in front of a TV, for example.
Now you know how long a high school relationship typically lasts and what can make a young couple to break up. As you can see, the reasons for separation are not all childish!
Superficial communication and lack of deep interest in a partner, as well as jealousy and a constant fight for silly reasons, if not realized and worked on, are usually transferred to adult life. As a result, they keep on spoiling other relationships.
But everything is not so bad! Teenage love also has certain benefits and pers we are sure you need to know about!
What Are the Perks Of High School Relationships?
It may seem to you that a high school relationship is more like torture than romance with all the fights, childish jealousy, scandals, etc. However, they do have some perks and positive sides too! So we suggest you read on to find out what good you can find in teenage school love.
Study Becomes Less Stress
When you’re in love at high school, lessons become less stressful because you are filled with love hormones! You see things in a much more positive way and it helps you cope with difficult school life situations easier and stress out because of it less.
You Have Cute Dates
Romantic dates is what makes high school time so adorable! Walking in a park together in the evening, kissing at the cinema, hanging out alone on a beach during your summer holidays – it all leaves unforgettable memories!
You Can Go to the Prom Night Together
When you have a boyfriend/girlfriend already, you are lucky since you don’t have to wait for somebody to ask you to become your Prom night partner. Besides, visiting such events together as a couple is always chicer than just coming there with some random boy or girl!
So, as you see now, school romance is not all about fights and tears! It has positive moments too, it’s just important that you can notice them and appreciate them.
How to Make High School Love Last Longer?
Since now you know what can ruin love between young lovers, you might be wondering what could be done to avoid this sad scenario. If the two really have feelings for each other, and they truly want to make it work together, they can do the following:
Make Time For Each Other
After you graduate high school and enter college, you will most likely have different schedules. So you both need to make a solid plan on how you could spend more time together.
For example, you could meet every weekend and spend time with each other. It will help you not feel separated and make your relationship stronger.
Talk About Your Thoughts And Feelings
It is important that you and your partner talk to each other about what you feel and your attitude to certain situations between you. Like this, you will learn to discuss your feelings and emotions instead of hiding them behind masks. In addition, it will help you find a better way of communication and develop stronger bonds.
Get a Clear Picture Of the Future
Try to imagine what your future with this person could be. Be sure of what you expect from these relationships and be sure what you want. You need to understand clearly whether it is just a casual fling or there is a perspective for the future. The same, ask your partner about the same thing.
Grow Together
It’s about growing as individuals. If there is anything that makes your relationship hard, find what exactly spoils it and fix it. Work on your relationship day after day, learning to value your partner’s opinion, goals, likes, and dislikes. Only in this case will you be able to grow together.
Now you know how long a high school relationship may last and what could make a young couple split up. In addition, you are now aware of some positive aspects of teenage love.
So we hope that this information will help you when going through this school romance period with your own teenage children, or you’ll at least be able to revise your own teen romance flaws and fix them should they still remain.
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