Chasing a Greased Pig: How Can We Get a Handle on Adolescent Dating and Romantic Relationships?

Kelly Raley, University of Texas at Austin
Kurt A. Gore, University of Texas at Austin
Jennifer Pearson, University of Texas at Austin

This study uses data from the first wave of the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health) as well as the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth – 1997 (NLSY) to investigate the question of whether dating and romance are essentially the same. Our approach is to first compare the proportion who say they are dating (NLSY) to the proportion who say they are romantically involved in the (Add Health). Next, we will use the Add Health to examine the proportion of adolescents reporting romantic involvement who say that they went out alone or with a group. Finally, the analyses investigate the predictors of dating and romantic involvement to provide greater insight into the differing meanings of dating and romance. We find evidence to support the conclusion that dating and romance do not describe equivalent relationship types.