Girls have all sorts of reasons why they date older men. Probably because boys develop more slowly than they do: at a time when teen aged females start getting interested with the birds and the bees, the boys of their age are still more concerned with Saturday morning cartoons, building aircraft models, and making gross man jokes with their locker room buddies.

But in a recent study made by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, it was found out that teen aged girls with older boyfriends, and those that mature earlier than their peers, face a higher risk for sex, drug, and alcohol abuse.

During the 1994-1995 school year, students under age 15 were surveyed, and then tracked throughout the years. It was found out that one in five teen girls in the study who started maturing physically earlier than their peers reported having a romantic partner who was older, compared to only one in 25 males who matured.

There were not enough boys with older girlfriends in the study, however, to have the researchers draw any conclusions about whether older partners increase the boys' danger for engaging in risky behaviors.

Said Carolyn Tucker Halpern, associate professor of maternal and child health in the UNC School of Public Health;

Parents of all teenagers have a responsibility for talking to their children and guiding them through romantic relationships and the risks of drug use. But this study shows that parents of girls who reach puberty ahead of the peers and who have an older boyfriend should take a special interest.