Dating and Courtship

Dating and courtship are part of social relationships that may lead to marriage. However, the practices of dating and courtship vary with the customs of the people. In some groups, the choices of marriage partners are made by parents or others not part of the marriage, and the bride and groom accept the decision made, even though they may not have love for each other. In other societies, dating and courtship give people opportunities to make their own choices of marriage-partners.

Dating was a time for people to get to know each other. Dating was a time for them to have fun in a social context. It was common for people to have a lot of dates with others, because no serious relationships were established. Eventually, people began to have greater interest in certain persons, and they began to think about the other person as one with whom they might want to spend their life in marriage. As their interest grew in a particular person, they entered the courtship phase in which they got to know more about each other. During courtship, they stopped dating others and focused on developing a serious relationship with the other person. If the results of their courtship were positive, they culminated their relationship with engagement, a promise of marriage, and marriage followed engagement. In marriage, they entered a life-long relationship devoted to the companionship and love of their marriage-partner.

However, social customs have changed during recent decades. Dating has almost disappeared, and people are now "going steady" almost from the time they meet someone. That is, they meet someone and soon enter a courtship phase with that person. It is normal for people to become infatuated with a person they have recently met, but as they develop their relationship together, they may find they no longer have a serious interest in the other person. They may find they don't really want to have a close relationship with the other person for the rest of their lives. They stop serious contacts with the other person, and if their relationship had developed into marriage, they terminate the marriage with divorce or sometimes just abandonment. As might be expected, divorce rates have risen as dating has been phased out and going steady and courtships have become the norm for social interactions between people.