Influencing Factors

During one's early childhood years, one's parents are highly influential. However, once an individual reaches adolescence, arguably the most important period in one's life, the influence of the family weakens and that of one's peers becomes stronger. This happens for several reasons.

First, teens spend more time with their friends than with their families, whom they only see briefly in the morning and at night. During and after school, young people are surrounded by their friends and classmates. It not surprising, therefore, that teenagers are influenced more by their peers than by their parents. If one needs proof of this fact, just look at the fashion of teenagers. Teens share the same tastes in clothes, music, food, and lifestyle. For example, most teenage girls love boy band music. This liking is obviously not influenced by their parents, who, more often than not, would go for the music of their own era. Teenagers also dress alike. It goes without saying that a teenage boy is far more likely copy the clothing styles of his friends than those of his father. What is true of music and fashion is also true of opinions and beliefs. Teens are far more influenced by each other's ideas than by those of their parents.

Second, teenagers often feel that the only people who can relate to them and truly understand them are their friends. Because they share the same experiences and there is that element of trust between them, teenagers come to each other with their problems, rather than turn to their parents. For example, a teenage boy who is having problems attracting the attention f a girl he likes will most likely go to his friends with this problem. In fact, teenagers so rarely turn to their parents for advice that their parents may not even know what is really going on in their child's life. Thus parents are essentially kept "out of the loop" by their children, and have little influence over their lives.

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