Study: No Dates Correlates to Less Depression.

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The Journal of School Health published a study from survey-based research of 594 students in the 10th grade and concluded that students who weren't dating had significantly higher teacher ratings of social skills and leadership.  Additionally, it found that those students also had lower ratings of depression compared to peers who were dating.  All students had similar scores of positive relationships with friends and showed no difference in frequency of suicidal thoughts...

Source: "Teens Who Don't Date Are Less Depressed, New Study Finds"

What are your thoughts on this?

Not in my culture. Starting dating at 15 was considered early, many people I know didn't date until like 19 or even later.
I've stressed many times that continental European dating culture differs a lot from American.

Good point, Magz.

The study covered only 594 students at only one school. Without a control group or duplicate studies in other schools (especially in other countries), the study may be valueless (e.g., a typical fluff piece for the American Broadcasting Corporation -- a Disney Corporation subsidiary).

Do this study with adults and then get back to us

I think this tends to be teens who are making an active choice not to date because they are either aware they aren't ready, have larger goals dating would interfere with, or have values they strongly believe in that ask them to wait, etc.

My son dated a little in high school and then put himself in limbo (long story). He was happy in that limbo back then. It was easy. No stress, no worry, no figuring out who likes who. He did eventually ask a girl to Prom, but it wasn't really a date; their mutual friends simply told him he needed to ask her because she didn't have a date, and he did as ordered. They had fun; no stress, no worry, just friends.

I really wasn't thrilled to have no dates when I was 15 years old. I was pretty depressed about it.

I would agree with this. If there's any validity to this study, it would have to be about teens who aren't dating, and who are fine with the fact that they're not dating. I can see how a group like that would do better than those who are dating.

But if you're talking about teens who want to be dating, and nobody wants to date them, my own experience in conjunction with other experiences I've heard would indicate to me that individuals in this position probably generally do worse than the teens that are dating in these metrics mentioned by the study. Having a strong desire for a romantic partner and not being able to get one can derail your life, no matter what age you are.

Not being able to get dates or romantic partners at 15/16 was largely the origin of my depression. Funny how I've still never had a romantic relationship and the depression has never gotten any better, no matter what magic pharmaceutical pills I try to throw at it.

It almost seems like there's a link between not being able to get a romantic partner despite wanting one, and being depressed. But no, that can't be it. Being "forever alone" is never a reason to be depressed. Just focus on your hobbies and interests and making platonic friends and it'll be all better!

Agreed.

I also don't think I was very clear, but I also think "time of life" is going to make a big difference. There simply are life phases in which being single is more respected than in others, which also makes it easier. In certain life phases more people choose to be single than in others, and the factor of choice is no doubt important.

I still think it mainly has to do with what you want though. There might be phases in life where people generally don't want or are not looking for a relationship, but if you do and you can't get one, I think it's tough no matter how old you are. Having had good past relationships and thus knowing that you're capable of getting a good relationship might soften the blow compared with someone who's wanted a relationship a long time and never had one, though.

I went through a lot of depression when I was in high school. I was the "pariah" even of the "pariahs."

My solution was to just sort of go with the flow, do my schoolwork, talk to teachers, and sing opera on the subways. Later on, I started hanging out in Greenwich Village with people who shared my enthusiasm for writing.

There is something to be said for the use of "distraction" to deal with depression.

I never done the dating thing & never had a romantic relationship until I was 20 & I've been slightly depressed since I was little. Looking back thou, I don't think dating when I was in high-skewl would of been good for me. At least not at 1st. It's quit possible thou that dating when I was in high-skewl would of been bad for me at 1st but good for me in the long run. One major way it would of been bad for me is cuz I was a loser compared to my peers so I'm pretty sure none would of been interested in dating me except out of pity which I world of mistaken for real interest &n the girl likely would of blabbed to others about what a loser I was on the date.

Distraction works well with depression that will pass with time, like with unrequited love, a break-ups, maybe even the death of a pet or someone close to you. Time heals those wounds at least to some extent.

But not being able to get a relationship despite wanting one doesn't get any more palatable with time. Maybe you can distract yourself for 1, 2, 3, 4 hours, but when that's over, the pain is inescapable. It's certainly not a permanent solution, and it would be hard to classify it as even a temporary solution given that you're lucky if you can distract yourself from it for a matter of hours.

I've never been on a date or had a relationship. I'm not bothered about it. I had better things to do. I was too busy with my art, friends and my family.

Most dates end in failure and our culture has a real issue when you don't "win." Logically this would lead to more depression.

The article seems to specifically address teens who are in relationships, rather than teens who ask each other out on dates and accept such invitations, just to be clear. Unfortunately, the term "dating" can easily confuse the reader unless the definition is made clear.

I think there are multiple levels in the hierarchy:

1.) Lowest are those who desire relationships but can't have them for a number of reasons that should seem obvious to most people.
2.) Next come those who are in relationships that are doing more harm than good to their emotional health. I think most of us will agree that having a successful relationship between two people is challenging. Many adults struggle with this so how can we expect teenagers to succeed?
3.) Next come those who choose to stay out of romantic relationships, again for all sorts of reasons, however observation of those in group 2.) might be one major reason.
4.) Finally there are those teenagers who are in successful, happy relationships. The ones destined to marry their high school sweetheart. My in-laws were in that category as teens, although being in a high-school relationship back then (the mid 40s) had significantly different implications as compared to today.

Without the resources or credentials to conduct a formal study, I would conclude that teens in group 1.) are in fact the most miserable, and those in group 4.) are the happiest, however groups 2.) and 3.) greatly outnumber the other two, so they dominate the results found in the report.

It could be that today's society tends to discourage serious romantic relationships between teens, whereas this wasn't true in my in-laws' day. For example, a girl's boyfriend might have been treated as a member of the family then, whereas today that same family might regard any boyfriend as a delinquent who basically just wants to use their daughter for his own ends.