I've been thinking about this thred. I think there are 3 ways a 16 year old can fall in love:
1) they honestly fall in love. Like Wombat's mom, it can be a lasting love.
2) they fall in love with the idea of being in love. They might not have much self confidence and a guy can take advantage of that. Whether they are 20 years older or the same age, a guy can manipulate their insecurity and make the girl think they are the greatest thing going and the girl falls hard for the guy pretending to be everything she ever wanted. I think this is part of Ashley's thing with Cameron's dad.... I'm sorry to admit she had pooor self-confidence. I think this is also where my coworker's ex-wives fall. He simply wanted the youthful figure they had
3) they pick a guy who excites them and makes the parents cringe. Teens are good at rebelling and good at picking out boyfriends who make mom and dad see red. (I also swear this is another part of why Ashley chose Cam's father.)

Now, if they fall in love with option 1, there's nothing we can do but sit back and watch their love grow. If they fall in love with #2 or 3, then we can sit back and watch everything fall apart. If we interfere (especially with reason #3) we only make the guy more attactive. It'll only be a matter of time before she realizes her mistake. It'll be up to her how long she take to admit and rectify her mistake. Thankfully Ashley didn't take too long (only 1 year - yahoo the jerk is gone!).