Sj. Pawlby et al., VULNERABLE ADOLESCENT GIRLS - OPPOSITE-SEX RELATIONSHIPS, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry and allied disciplines, 38(8), 1997, pp. 909-920
This interview-based study compares the opposite-sex relationships of
50 girls, aged 15-16, identified as being at risk for difficulties in
early adult partnerships, with 50 girls of the same age from an inner-
city school. The high-risk girls had begun solo-dating earlier than th
e school girls, were more likely to have had a sexual relationship, to
have had more sexual partners, to have been pregnant, and to have had
a child. A third of the girls in both groups were solo-dating at the
time of the interview. In contrast to the school girls, the high-risk
girls attached a prominence and permanence to their current dating rel
ationships, which already bore the hallmarks of later unsupportive par
tnerships.