It's Good for Young People to Be in Romantic Relationships

Even when their heart gets broken

Photo by Jonathan J. Castellon on Unsplash

A recent article at The Atlantic by Faith Hill raises the alarm about Gen Z’s trepidation to engage in romantic relationships. Only “56 percent of Gen Z adults said they’d been in a romantic relationship at any point in their teen years.” The article’s main concern is that young people are missing a valuable rite of passage: the high school relationship. Hill notes that plenty of people live perfectly content lives without romantic relationships, so she’s not trying to make an absolute rule, but she (rightfully, I think) acknowledges the good of romantic love (after all, the Word says “He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD” Proverbs 18:22). Instead of dating relationships, many young people find themselves in “situationships,” relationships which stand in limbo, undefined and undefinable, without commitment. Hill argues that these situationships leave young people in a constant state of anxiety and uncertainty, which makes total sense. I can’t imagine how teenage Alan would have handled a situationship. Badly, I can say that much. Very badly. I fear that many young people, and some older people, have given up hope in romantic relationships and in so doing have lost something beautiful and good. While acknowledging the difficulty of dating in the modern world, we need to encourage young people to pursue romantic relationships and the good of marriage.