March 28, 2011
Updated Mar 28, 2011 at 9:09 PM EDT
(WKBW/ABC News) Not since the star-crossed love of Romeo and Juliet has there been bad news like this about young relationships.
A huge study of real-life adolescents in love shows in general that falling in love makes adolescents more depressed, and more prone to delinquency and alcohol abuse than if they avoided romance.
Researchers from Cornell University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found the reported effect of depression is small, but it's bigger for girls than boys.
The researchers say it could be one reason teen girls show higher rates of depression than teen boys do. It's a difference that continues into adulthood.
