Is it rare for childhood friends to fall in love with each other and become a couple?

[SuperHeroMan]

So is it rare for 2 people who have been friends with each other sometime before the age of 13 years old (13 years old is the first year of someone being a teenager) to fall in love with each other and become a couple as either teenagers or adults?

 

I have read many stories online of people saying that they married their childhood friend, and I have heard many people online saying that they knew a lot of couples who were childhood friends. But however you never know how many of these people are actually lying, since A LOT of people do lie on the internet.

 

I honestly never knew a teenage or an adult couple who knew and were friends with each other before they turned 13 years old. Nearly all couples I know currently right now have either met when they were either teenagers or adults. And also it seems like most life long couples in general have either met and became friends with each other as either teenagers or adults and never as children most of the time.

[snowboy91]

It's very rare. Yes it does happen as evidenced by the stories you've read, but they're the stories that stand out a lot because people see them as cute and aspirational love stories. Most of the time people see their childhood friend as more of a brother/sister than a potential partner. Or, sometimes one does while the other develops romantic feelings and it ends up in a mess.

 

There's a reason why "high school sweetheart" stories are as rare as they are - usually one or both people get curious for who else is out there at some point in their early 20s.

[ExpatInItaly]

I don't personally know of any good childhood friends who later married, no.

 

I suppose this depends on one's definition of "friend", though. I'm from a small town, and a few married couples have known of each other since childhood. Meaning, they attended the same school or lived in each other's neighbourhood. They probably did see each other around at various points in their youth, but I don't think any of them would consider themselves to have been friends, exactly.