Romantic love is alive and well in the hearts of America's young people with fully 78 percent telling the Harris Poll that they believe everyone has a "true love." In addition, half of young people believe in love at first sight.
What do these budding Romeo and Juliets think is romantic? It's the intangibles in life that rate their attention. Fully 90 percent said spending time together, while 70 percent said caring for someone, especially when they are ill--a very mature answer for those who are so young.
Other romantic activities identified by the Harris Poll:
- Getting or giving flowers: 69 percent
- Eating at a nice restaurant: 62 percent
- Asking someone to be your Valentine: 53 percent
- Having a radio station dedicate a song: 51 percent
- Going to a romantic movie: 50 percent
- Going to a dance together: 48 percent
- Getting or giving jewelry: 48 percent
- Exchanging rings: 47 percent
- Getting or giving chocolate: 36 percent
- Eloping: 19 percent
- Getting the same tattoos: 9 percent
- Wearing matching T-shirts: 6 percent
How do today's youth learn about love and romance? Most have learned about love and relationships from their friends, their mothers, and from TV shows, according to the Harris Poll. Other sources of love info are school, fathers, siblings, books, magazines, and religion.
What are the dating rules? Like it or not, kids, Mom and Dad have rules--big time. Fully 56 percent of teen girls have a curfew when they're on a date, compared with 38 percent of teen boys. Almost a quarter of girls say their parents restrict whom they may date, while only 8 percent of boys say that. More girls (34 percent) than boys (16 percent) say that they have to be a certain age before they are allowed to date, and more boys (49 percent) than girls (25 percent) say their parents have no established rules for dating.
