Reasons for the Emerging Power of Peer Groups in Teenage Years
While children develop, grow, and move into early adolescence, involvement with peers and the attraction of peer identification increases. As pre-adolescents begin rapid physical, emotional and social changes, they begin to question adult standards and the need for parental guidance. They find turning to friends more reassuring. And begin to pay less attention to parents and older caretakers. They begin to trust and seek guidance from friends whom are in the same position. Most primates feel safer in groups, and much like primates people feel protected while in close nit groups. Teenagers feel much safer when their own friends experience the same feelings and same problems. Turning to one who's undergoing the same problem seems more logical to teens.
Groups often times work as one big person. A generally accepted standard become very important in groups. People who oppose the norm often times begin to feel pressure from group members. This is when peer pressure comes along. Teens often times retreat to the safety of friends when troubled or in pressure. If the group standard is much to powerful this is when individuals lose power the power emerges from the group as a whole. Peer groups become small societies and each groups grows stronger with time. Much like structural functionalism groups become entangled with routine and a common belief. One idea pushes another and so forth. Emerging power of peers groups is most powerful in the teenage years. This is because teenagers have not fully developed enough to stand up on their own. They need encouragement or examples from others in order to feel right. After the teenage years people become more independent. They feel more confident and less pressured. Peer groups begin to die out as soon as family starts to form. Families become smaller groups and new standards are formed within. Family breaks large groups into many smaller less powerful groups. But because of such closeness in family, standards become even greater.
The reason peer groups work, are due to many factors. During adolescence, parents and adolescents become more physically and psychologically distant from each other. This normal distancing is seen in decreases in emotional closeness and warmth, increases in parent-adolescent conflict and disagreement, and an increase in time adolescents spend with peers. Increases in family strains: divorce, economic struggles, and other problems have prompted teenagers to depend more on peers for emotional support.
As a teenager we are all looking to be accepted by our peers and will do whatever it is they want us to so we can be accepted. That is to say the feeling of needing to be accepted by ones peers is done consciously; the person starts to do what their friends do without thinking about it. (Teen 3) In fact, teens are more likely to be affected by peer pressure because they are trying to figure out who they are. (How 1) Therefore, they see themselves as how their peers would view them so they change to fit their peer’s expectations. (How 1) Secondly, the feeling of needing to rebel and be someone that isn’t who their parents are trying to make them be affects them. (Teen 2) Thus, parents are relied on less and teens are more likely to go to their peers about their problems and what choices to make. (How 1) Also, their brains are not fully matured and teens are less likely to think through their choices thoroughly before doing it. (Teen 6) Lastly, how a child is treated by his peers can affect how they treat others; this can lead them into bullying others who are different. (Teen 3) Consequently this can affect a teen into doing something good or bad; it depends who you surround yourself with.
Teenagers enter into adolescence feeling insecure and unsure of themselves. They desire to fit in and belong. If they don't, they see themselves as abnormal. Children seek to become independent from their parents and immerse themselves in their own social environment during adolescence. According to Psychologist Erik Erikson “Peer groups fulfill the adolescent’s need for validity and acceptance and provide space and opportunity for exploration and experimentation.” This is likewise to the Protagonist Tracy because in order for her to get Evies acceptance she stole a purse from an old lady and afterwards went on a shopping spree. Tracy explored and experimented many things with her new found peer group however, from there, it all spirals down as Tracy experiences and responds to a variety of pressures and situations not uncommo...
Friendships are vital in helping children develop emotionally and socially. They provide a training ground for trying out different ways of relating to others. Through interacting with friends, children learn the give and take of social behavior in general. They learn how to set up rules, how to weigh alternatives and make decisions when faced with dilemmas. They experience fear, anger, aggression and rejection. They learn how to win, how to lose, what's appropriate, what's not. They learn about social standing and power - who's in, who's out, how to lead and how to follow, what's fair and what's not. They learn that different people and different situations call for different behaviors and they come to understand the viewpoints of other people.
Children create peer groups to gain a sense of belonging and acceptance, alongside with socializing with others who have common interests, jobs, or social positions. At a young age, peer groups show children what is considered acceptable behavior around his or her peers and what is deemed unacceptable behavior. In certain social groups, there are role expectations that people have to be met. When in the peer group, often children will influence each other to engage in appropriate behaviors that can be seen as right or wrong.
“Emotional regulation can lead to more fulfilling social experiences. Children of the same age argue on about the same socio-cognitive and moral level, face the same transitions and life events. These similarities are expected to improve their understanding of their peers’ situation, perhaps to some extent independent of inter-individual differences due to level of development, personality, or upbringing. The second reason follows from the fact that peers form a group. Being together with a group of likeminded peers should intensify some of the emotions children experience.” (Salisch, 2001) The group they formed was a good social experience for them. Without the group I think the boys would not have gone on to do great things if they had not had the
Also Research shows that even friends can affect the person’s psychological development for teenagers, good friends can be like a personal support group giving them a sense of belonging, a feeling of being valued and help with developing
“In middle childhood, 30% of a child’s social interactions involve peers, compared to 10% in early childhood” (Blume, 2010). Children place a large importance on friendship more when they grow older. In early childhood, friendships are associated with a particular activity. During middle childhood, children focus more on bonds and trust when it comes to making friends. Children start to use selective association meaning that children start to pair off with people that have the same interests as them. Sociable kids are attracted to other sociable kids and children who are shy tend to get left behind.
Social influence/peer groups were one of the dominant themes in my observations, survey, and literature. Social influence looks at how individual thoughts, actions and feelings are influenced by social groups (Aronson, 2010).The desire to be accepted and liked by others can lead to dangerous behavior. College life can be an overwhelming experience for first time college students and or transfer students as they struggle to manage class time and social activities in an attempt to fit-in in the new environment that they may not be used to. Students can experience too much anxiety and drop out of college or fall behind classes. Working at the Cambell Student Union information Center, I observed a great deal of students falling into this trap of social influence and peer pressure. A female student tripped as she was going up the stairs to Spot Coffee but did not fall. What appears to be a group of guys who are not popular (guys who are not very well known), were seating where popular students normally seat. The group of guys started laughing at the girl and stopped. One guy kept laughing, but it was obvious he was forcing the laughter as to purposely attract attention. He started making jokes about the girl and carrying on the laughter so he would appear to be funny. Another example, which portrays peer influence, involves parties over the weekend. Multiple students stated they were falling behind in classes on the grounds of their friends wanted to go out the night before and they did not want to seem/appear “lame” so they tagged along. The influence of a group is intensified by the person’s desire to be an accepted member of the peer group. To achieve this desire he tries to conform in everyday to the patterns approved by the grou...
Has there been a time when you suddenly found yourself watching a group of teens communicate and they all seemed to be doing something different from what you can see? How did this make you feel? Did you feel like you had to conform to their way of communicating to each other? If so you just failed victim to your desire to conform. Adolescence, go through different stages of development, these stages are meant to move adolescence between their childhood and their adulthood. These stages are the experiences a teen go through that brings about a variety of changes and emotional issues. Varies cultures play a part in the adolescence development, ranging from their preteens through 19 years of age. “According to the World Health Organization (WHO), adolescence covers the period of life between 10 and 20 years of age. Adolescence is often divided by psychologists into three distinct phases: early, mid, and late adolescence” (World Health Organization).
... instead of following the majority. The issue of peer pressure can relate to teens, as they are in constant pressure to be ‘cool’ or to be in the ‘in’ group. It does not really promote individualism, so people cannot develop their own ideas but rather follow the leader of their group.
In adolescence friendships normally exist within the larger social structure of peer relationships. In this larger social setting each adolescent has a particular role to play and is usually aware of their own status within the group. Close friendships are not independent of such status. Popular or successful youngsters stick together. Those who are 'in' do not mix as frequently with those on the periphery of what is acceptable to the group. Whereas the standards and styles set by the peer group can set highly influential markers around acceptable and unacceptable behaviours for young people, it is in individual friendships that young people find support and security, negotiate their emotional independence, exchange information, put beliefs and feelings into words and develop a new and different perspective of themse...
However not everyone is as fortunate to be socially popular with tons of friends. And with this comes social discrimination, a higher issue for teens, but that doesn’t leave adults out of the picture. For example in schools, we all either hate or love the popular kids, and/or love or hate the socially awkward kids. But purpose of the situation is that they don’t get along with each other. Also since they don’t get along, it causes drama, and even fights in school leaving a school with no peace. Many of these social discrimination conflicts can lead to school kids being bullied, for who they are and what they like. Most of these conflicts usually end in pain by either the popular kid and/or socially awkward one. They could be going through a rough time with family, health, etc. As for adults, they are just known to be grown children, because just like kids, teens, adolescents, parents will go against each other worse than kids. Humans are always trying to be on top of the food chain, a.k.a. the social ladder. But when things aren’t going their way, it can lead to an uproar that doesn’t point in the direction of
Groups influence our everyday lives in ways that we don’t even realize. Most of what is learned from groups are societal norms that are being reinforced on a micro level in everyday life. Group influence on individuals is a clear tangible proof of societal norms by institutions. The groups we become a part of therefore can have a greater influence on our individual actions then we are aware of. As an individual we like to believe we have agency over our actions and what we decide but a lot of our own actions is more a part of a group mentality. Also, individual’s go along with a group’s influence so they feel better about themselves because then they won’t be ostracized. This paper will analyze different aspects of individual behavior and
Adolescence is the bridge between childhood and adulthood. It is the place in development for a transition. In this time period, adolescent’s social life and relationships develop. Social development occurs throughout a person’s whole lifetime. Social development in adolescence marks the beginning of independence, selective interactions, and conformity. This the time where family relationships can be put to the test as well as seeking independence and adult acknowledgment from parents. Due to the development of the brain in regards to plasticity, adolescences are discovering and trying out new things. They are also viewed as risk takers. Social development in adolescence is important because any decision can lead to future consequences. I decided
The adolescent period is a transitional period of physical and psychological development. This is the stage between puberty and young adulthood. It is a stage associated with the teenage years that is characterize by stress, crises and conflicts in resolving identity issues, and keen sense of independence in decision making. The adolescent stage is a difficult developmental stage for adolescents. Friendship is a stage in interpersonal relationship where those concerned share common interest and feelings at a certain level. It is a supportive relationship that provides resources for adjusting and coping with developmental tasks of that stage and even beyond. This is the stage of detachment from parents and learning attachment to others developing