Influential Power of Adolescent Friendship

Coulter Ebbert

The teenage years of a person’s life can quite possibly be some of the most difficult. Between the awkward transition from child to adult, finding one’s identity, and trying to fit in with friends, being a teenager was difficult enough in the past. Now with the emergence of instantaneous communications and social media it must be more challenging than ever to navigate through middle school. As this article from the Los Angeles times suggests, the adolescent teenage years (specifically middle school years) are when teenagers are most impressionable. Possibly the largest factor which influences these young teenagers are their friend groups and the relationships they have with them. In the article written by Valerie Ulene, an emphasis is placed on the positive or negative influence friends can have on teenagers. The author sites a study published in February 2011 by the Journal of Early Adolescence in which more than 1200 middle school students were surveyed. In the survey each student was asked to identify whom they consider their three best friends. The researchers found that those students who identified three best friends who were prone to misbehave and perform poorly in class were likely to do the same, while those students with friends who participated in sports and did well in school typically reflected the same studious and responsible behavior. The article also goes on to give advice to parents on how to help their children through these tremulous years. The article suggests that parents should aid in helping their child secure their sense of identity through positive means. They advise that forbidding an “unhealthy” relationship could be detrimental to the parent and child relationship and give cause to rebellion on the child’s part. The article suggests that parents who are having difficulties with their child should restrict the hang out time of the child to the parent’s terms, only allowing the teens to hang out under supervision and restricting the child from going out at night. Though these measures seem as though they should be used only if a parent is having extreme concern for their child, not all should be so stringent. Being one who has a 14 year old sister and a 12 year old brother, I can speak from experience when saying, in my opinion, that this article is absolutely correct in its aspects of the influence a teen gets from their friend group. My sister, who is a fantastic and caring little girl (she would kick my ass if she found out I called her a little girl), has gone through a noticeable change throughout the past few years of middle school. Granted it is partially due to her becoming older but I believe a large part is due to the friends she associates herself with (I call them the mean girls). The article finishes up by reassuring its readers that this vital stage of vulnerability only lasts for a few years and by the time teenagers reach high school they are much more independent and less susceptible. For a good read and perhaps to learn something check out the article.