Research on adolescent romantic relationships is a burgeoning field. It has only been in the past twenty years that researchers have started to investigate normative development in these early, often fleeting, relationships. Teens are often excited to experiment with romantic love and dating. Parents, on the other hand, often find themselves anxious about what to expect, worried about how to manage their teen’s increasing sense of independence without being overprotective and uncertain about how to manage their teen’s increasing distance from the family as he or she spends more time focused on dating relationships.
