For these reasons most dates tend to be between persons of about the same social level. It is possible to date, and eventually to marry, an individual from another social and economic level; indeed it is done every day. But such relationships are less frequent and can be more difficult to maintain harmoniously than are those within the same general social group.

A high school girl asks, “If your friends do not approve of a boy, can you afford to go with him?” She goes on to tell of how only she, of her whole group of pals, is interested in Joe. She wonders whether she should go with Joe in the face of her friends’ disapproval or whether she should follow their advice and give him up.

The answer to such a question depends upon several factors. First of all, why don’t her friends approve of the boy? What is it about Joe that Marion likes? How much do Marion’s friends mean to her? How much does the boy mean? Could she stand losing her friends if need be over Joe? Or are they so important to her that she couldn’t give them up?

This is not an uncommon problem among both fellows and girls. Often it is tied up with the larger question of dating someone with a bad reputation and can be understood more clearly in that context.

THAT BAD REPUTATION