In “Tweens: Ten Going on Sixteen,” Kay S. Hymowitz points out the fact that in modern society kids mature too early, creating a negative trend called tween phenomenon; it occurs when kids become teenagers at a young age and skip the preadolescence period. According to Hymowitz, the evidence presents a troubling picture, tweens are too concerned with the way they look, are involved in criminal activities, are having sex, and are doing drugs and alcohol. The author concludes that the causes of the negative trends are complex, and I believe that she states a reasonable case that should be considered by parents, educators, and psychologists. Without a doubt, the three most negative behavioral trends of many tweens are their need for attention, …show more content…
Their search for attention from parents who work too much or just do not care, peers, and others on social networks has an adverse influence on their behavior. Tween may misbehave in many ways in order to bring attention to them. They would seek popularity by smoking, drinking, and having sex, among other things. They would put on makeup and fancy clothes for the same reason. Tweens would misbehave in order to get their parents’ attention, and when they do not get that attention their behavior may escalate. Another problem with tweens’ need for attention is when they get too much of it and as the result believe that “the earth revolves around them.” This also results in tweens’ uncontrollable behavior in demanding attention and disregard for needs and wellbeing of …show more content…
As it feels important for many tweens to be accepted by his or her peers, it makes a tween susceptible to such influence. One of the examples of peer pressure is the way media portraits tweens. Modern television shows demonstrate tweens wearing makeup, concentrating on fashion, dating, and having kids. As the result tweens start wearing makeup, worrying about what they wear, and take an interest in the opposite sex at a young age in order to be more like their peers on television. Tweens watch shows that follow the lives of teen moms and dads, and they decide that it is reputable to resemble them. Another example of peer pressure is its influence on tweens that have the need to fit in due to their own insecurities. They take up smoking, drinking, doing drugs, stealing, fighting, missing school, and having sex in order to feel a part of their peer group. They would engage in bullying others online or in person in order to hide their own insecurities from their peers. Whenever tweens are influenced by peer pressure, their focus is deferred from studying onto taking action to fit in with their
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.
Erica Zhang Professor Nelson Intro to Mass Media & Communications 3/11/2013 Media Analysis Assignment In today’s media, the sexualisation of women has unfortunately also extended to young preteen girls, through a myriad of detrimental social constructs and internalized prejudices spanning centuries. The commodification of their sexuality is unnerving, as it encourages predators to project their fantasies onto unwilling participants that are too young to understand the nature of these harmful actions, and know how to escape or refuse them. In an attempt to shed light onto this issue as a concerned parent, Rachael Combe wrote the article Little Girls Gone Wild as a response to this sudden boom in increasingly sexualised behavior among and towards preteens. While her intentions remain sincere and her concerns as a mother legitimate, the article is flawed in the sense that she is not delving deeper into the causes behind this phenomenon, shaming the young girls for indulging in their outward appearances and for participating in a role that society has forced them into, instead of the predators that reinforce this sexualised image and make it something to be desired and aspired to.
Conformity means a change in one’s behavior due to the real or imagined influence of other people. As a teenager, the pressure to conform to the societal “norm” plays a major role in shaping one’s character. Whether this means doing what social groups want or expect you to do or changing who you are to fit in. During class, we watched films such as Mean Girls, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and The Breakfast Club which demonstrate how the pressure to conform into society can change who you are. In the movies we have seen, conformity was most common during high school.
The attitudes that the tween cohort group possess are of those that they take influence from their surroundings and social groups. Most of this group feel that parents and other adults do not understand them, and if this misunderstanding gets out of hand, the tween will get rebellious. Also this group of people want to make good impressions on members of their social group. They want to impress other tweens or teenagers, so that they fit in. They do this by wanting the best clothes, so that they look cool and just like others. This group can be impressed by social status very easily.
Adolescent years are a time period in a human beings life where we search for a place that we are most comfortable. It is a time where we try to find friends with similar interests and those who will easily accept us for who we are. Once we are accepted by those friends, we tend to do more things with hopes of getting approval from “the group.” Trying to fit in during adolescence is a significant factor for self-motivation because it determines the level of being accepted and popularity amongst our peers. Through our year of adolescence we experiment and try to discover oneself as a person, but we also find what our strongest traits are that are used in order to be accepted, or to feel more popular. Popularity is defined as a state of being liked or accepted by a group of people (cite). As the group of people gets larger, so does that person’s popularity. For some people, popularity may come easy due to their charisma or looks, but there are those children who feel lonely due to their lack of popularity.
A large majority of teens want to fit in and feel like they belong, but how far are they willing to go to fit in? The more they want to fit in the more likely they will be easily influenced by suggestions from others. During my second week of eighth grade, I felt like I wasn’t fitting in and that everyone was silently judging me and criticizing me. Of course now that I think about I don’t think anyone really cared about me, but I was more self-conscious about myself then. One day during lunch my friends and I sat next to a couple of girls who were known as the “popular” girls and I thought that maybe I would fit in more if I was friends with them. I spent the rest of that lunch hour trying to build up the courage to talk to them and at last minute I told the friendliest looking girl, that I loved her shirt and I asked her what store she bought it from. She told me that it was from Free People; she then gushed about the store and told me how everything there was amazing. She suggested that I should check it out sometime so I did. I, of course couldn’t wait to shop there. I told myself that if I shopped at Free People, I could maybe fit in with her and even be a part of the popu...
Many fall into peer pressure that's because of the friends they come across with. Friends can influence them so much once becoming an adult it isn’t the same because your brain has grown out of it. Many also lack confidence while many look like adults their brain resembles a child’s. While their bodies are aging their brain is rearranging itself in a way that temporarily makes it act the same way it did when they were younger. Most teens are overly emotional studies have found that teens have a much harder time speaking and to other people and so they sometimes react irrationally to emotional situations. Many parents wonder what happens to the smart child they use to have many still put in the exact same effort but get different results that's because the brain losses tissue over the years. Losing brain tissue can cause a teen to act immature and not quite like an adult
In example, according to the Euro-Western view, adolescence is characterised by the interaction between the individual’s biological development and the demands requested by the industrial and post-industrial societies. Although adolescence is globally referred to as the period in life that groups individuals from 12 to 18 years, each individual’s development varies within different countries and cultures. According to the Euro-Western world, adolescence is a time in life that is characterised by experimentation, fun as well as personal growth that will later lead the individual to become a full adult. However, not every young individual experiences this positive and fun side of this life stage. In fact, adolescence is characterised by the hormonal changes that occur during puberty, which are argued to influence adolescents’ behaviour. Hall (cited in Drewery and Claiborne, 2010) argued that due to the effects caused by puberty, young individuals often experience tension, conflicts with their parents and peers, as well as critical mood changes. In line with Hall, Freud (cited in Drewery and Claiborne, 2010) argues that adolescence is a life stage in which it is hard to maintain a steady equilibrium. For these reasons, adolescence can still be considered a “problematic” stage in life, yet it is not necessary true that these conflicts are triggered by biological changes (Drewery and Claiborne,
transcends into adulthood (Casey, 2008). During adolescence there are examinable changes in various areas of life. These changes occur physically as the adolescent goes through puberty, as well as psychological changes where high emotional reactivity emerges, and social development is at its height (Casey, 2008). Adolescents are more likely than adults or children to engage in risky behaviour that can subsequently lead to death or illness by drunk driving, carrying weapons, using illegal drugs, and engaging in unprotected sex, which in turn can lead to STD’s and teenage pregnancies (Eaton, 2006). The prior is proof that adolescents do engage in risky behaviour. Through this essay we will explore the various theories of why risky behaviour is at its height during adolescence.
... 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.
Adolescents today are growing up in a totally different setting than the generation before them. New problems and choices are entering these young, and influential kids' lives. There are a lot of different factors in children’s lives that weren’t as common one generation ago. Adolescents today are filled with stress due to everyday problems in their lives.
Throughout our life, it can be marked by developmental changes in every domain of life: our physical, cognitive, social, personalities, and morals. Due to some important researchers such as Erickson, Freud, Piaget we are able to understand the development of each of these domains. Each stage of it’s life has it’s own difficulties and events that can determine a person’s life (Mogler, 2008). During the stages of adolescence, they are very vulnerable to a lot going on in their life such as fitting in, peers, family, school, activities, and society, and not to forget the ups and downs of puberty. Adolescence can be viewed as a huge part of many children’s lives where in this part of their life they try to find teenagers experience physical, cognitive,
An article about childhood development makes a strong statement, “To make sense of the world around them, young adolescents, as learners, build upon their individual experiences and prior knowledge--They also tend to be inquisitive about adults and are often keen observers of adult behavior,” (Caskey). When we are born all we can do is observe to learn. Family, peers, even our pets teaches us so much and mold us to become complex adults. There has never been a doubt in my mind that I would be who I am today without my friends and my parents. We must be be careful choosing who is going to be our friends, since you will be molded by them, “The social environment is perhaps even more crucial for a young person 's future development,” (Csikszentmihalyi). The social environment for adolescents that is around them changes they way they think because we learn from others and what’s around us. Even the music we listen to can how we talk, because again, we learn from our surroundings. The younger we are, the more vulnerable we are to influences and can absorb and act on what we’ve learned from, media, friends etc., “Young adolescents are also socially and emotionally vulnerable due to influences of media,” (Csikszentmihalyi). Even shows like “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” “Real Housewives of Orange County,” ‘portray’ a real life, and children are perceiving that this is how you should and act in daily life. Could you imagine the next generation acting like the people on those reality shows? Clearly, everything that is out in the world, can have some impact on you or others, we are constantly learning from others and even the
Bauman, Lawrence. The Ten Most Troublesome Teen-age Problems and How to Solve Them. New York: Citadel Press, 1997.
Children grow up and move into teenage lifestyles, involvement with their peers, and how they look in other peoples eyes start to matter. Their hormones kick in, and they experience rapid changes in their minds, and bodies. They also develop a mind of their own, questioning the adult standards and need for their parental guidance. By trying new values and testing ideas with peers there is less of a chance of being criticized. Even though peer pressure can have positive effects, the most part is the bad part.