Romance Better than Drugs, Alcohol for College Students

College students in a romantic relationship during the first two years after high school are less likely to abuse alcohol or drugs, according to recent research. The University of Washington study supports similar findings from an earlier study that showed lower rates of drug and alcohol abuse among married youths in the same age group.

Romance seemed to protect youths against drug and alcohol abuse, even when the couple did not live together. By contrast, youths who were in a romantic relationship during the last two years of high school had higher rates of smoking and drinking than their peers. Single colleagues more than caught up during the first two years of college. The study was published in this month’s issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.

“I’m not saying that we should set up dating services,” says primary author Charles Fleming. “But it’s something for parents to know and it’s something for other people who are working with young adults of this age to know.”

Beginning in the early 1990s, the study followed some 900 boys and girls from first or second grade to the second year of college. Single young adults were 40 percent more likely to smoke marijuana than youths in a steady romantic relationship. The same findings extended to young people who were 19 or 20 and not currently enrolled in college.

Researchers theorize that single youths spend more time in bars and at parties, where they encounter more substance abusers, and have more opportunities to abuse drugs or alcohol. Another theory suggests that young adults are simply happier when they are in a relationship and less attracted to drugs or alcohol.

Despite the protective effects of romance, the study shows that young adults in a romance with a heavy drinker or drug user were more likely to smoke marijuana or illegally drink alcohol.

Many parents assume that a son or daughter heading to college is better off single, able to fully experience the friendships, flirtations and cornucopia of new experiences that university life offers. However, this study suggests that a steady romantic relationship with a partner who does not abuse drugs or alcohol may have a stabilizing influence.

By Joni Holderman, [email protected], contributing reporter for Mental Health News.