Peer groups dominate adolescent life

Peer groups dominate adolescent life There is so much change in society today, however the fundamental tasks of growing up still exist. An adolescent seeks to find a place in a valued group to have a sense of belonging, to identify and master skills that are recognized of having value and earn the respect to cope with them, to acquire some self-worth and to develop relationships with others. Adolescents have an enormous amount of pressure today and seek a place of acceptance. Peer groups are a place where adolescents can find that sense of belonging, negatively or positively. We each know from experience how compelling peer groups are. It is almost impossible to go against a peer group, whose rules are to conform or you will be rejected. If one tends to sway they become an outsider or an outcast. For adolescent children who are just learning their way in the world, unsurprisingly they get sunk into peer group rules. For boys their athletic ability, coolness, and physical strength gain them popularity. In girls, as long as they had a beautiful physical appearance and an ability to attract popular boys they gain popularity. Oddly enough if a boy succeeds academically his popularity would decrease and if a girl made good grades that would increase her standing among her peers. Standards of peer groups dominate adolescent life. If your fellow peers listen to a certain genre of music, it is almost inevitable that you will also prefer that kind of music, It is the same for clothing styles, movies, video games and dating styles. Peers can influence you other ways as well, if your peers Adolescent Peer Groups 4 are going off to college and striving in the world, it is more than likely you will be also. However, if your peers are using drugs, drinking alcohol, lying, stealing, you are also likely to do so. At an early age, children become less dependent on their parents and caretakers. Children become self-reliant and begin to prefer playing with their friends. At first, play is a time of independence, however later children interact with one another, modify one anothers behavior and exchange roles in play. At the school age period of development social interactions begin to follow set patterns and become more frequent. They participate in games with more rules. The play is more then just entertainment but a way to mature in social interactions with others. Play allows children to think of others, their thoughts and feelings. Social interaction does allow children to interpret others behavior and how to respond to different situations. Children learn physical and emotion self control too. When a child losses at a game, for instance, they learn to avoid hitting their playmate. (McWhirter, Newman 2007) Social interactions are healthy. Situations that provide an opportunity for a child to grow socially may enhance their social development. Through the developmental childhood years and adolescence, peer groups play an important role. Parents have a crucial influence on whether a child plays a negative or positive role in peer groups. If a family is not close or unsupportive, a peer group will become of more importance. If a childs parents work long hours, and rarely see their child, this can cause the child to look for emotional Adolescent Peer Groups 5 support within a peer group. Also, if a child is constantly arguing with his parents, this may drive them away for emotional support. Children and adolescents show no discrimination when finding a peer group. As long as the child feels some sort of acceptance they will join a peer group, even if illegal and negative activity occur within the group. A common antisocial, organized peer group is a gang. Youths in gangs is not a new concept in the United States. Gangs have been present since the 1800s. In 1791 the city of Philadelphia had a problem with adolescents roaming and disrupting the city. New York City has acknowledged gang activity as early as 1825. (Focus Adolescent Services) Unfortunately, gangs will always be around or at least hard to eliminate. Gang involvement is full of youths who come from broken families due to alcohol or drugs, financial burdens and broken relationships. Gang affiliation is more important then anything else for the adolescent because the gang creates a family image taking away all feelings of abandonment and isolation. Being in a gang provides adolescents with acceptance and security which is not provided from home or other peer groups. There are signs that a teen has been introduced to a negative peer group. If the teen no longer spends time with his old friends and hangs out with a new group of friends. If there is a drop in his grades at school or even skips classes, if there is a change in appearance, mannerisms or the child seems withdrawn and secretive. Phone calls at odd times and if a teen wants to go places that was Adolescent Peer Groups 6 never an interest to him before could all be signs of having negative peer group membership. A parent should have non-judgmental talks, encourage other interests, show love and support and to get help if grades are dropping. A parent should not ignore the problem at all. Make sure a parent introduces himself to friends and parents and do not restrict the teen from seeing friends. Forbidding contact with other teens will only attract the teen to want to see them more often. Peer groups can have a positive effect on adolescents also. Positive peer relationships have an effect on a childs academic motivation and performance, emotional well-being and their overall state of mind. A positive peer group member has a less likelihood of being bullied or harassed. In such a peer group children will look out for one another and they simply do not participate in such behaviors that are verbally or physically abusive. There are key principles that can promote an adolescent to steer towards positive peer groups. Making sure a youth has leadership, attends and participates in positive youth activities. Civic involvement and engaging in every element of the community; school , church, and home. (Find Youth Info) Adults and adolescents can work together and frame our communities. Preventing an adolescent from joining negative peer groups and having more positive roles with peers can occur with some key environmental factors. Any youth program can integrate factors so our youth develop positive development skills. Structure, creating the opportunity where youth can engage Adolescent Peer Groups 7 in healthy relationships, creating a respectful environment to implement diversity and culture in activities, having opportunities to explore workforce and personal goal settings, and creating an environment where adolescents can have a sense of belonging are key factors. More importantly, programs should develop ways to involve parents in considering the above factors in programs. Society has created adolescence, it is a social invention. Adolescents create their own subcultures with distinctive apparel, hairstyles, and music. In this industrialized world, adolescents must make an identity for themselves. Being that society is a social creation, it is a contemporary society, not a biological age, that makes the adolescent years a time of turmoil. ( Henslin, 2003) Peer groups assist children in becoming healthy adults. Having a reduction in risk and an increase of resiliency along with positive relationships can create positivity in our youth. Parents and communities have the power to play an active, loving and supportive role in our youths lives to steer them in a positive direction into young adulthood. We as a society can join together to make adolescence a period of positivity instead of negativity. Adolescent Peer Groups 8

Blood Ties and Families Essay

Many social scientists reject the idea that ‘families can be defined only by blood ties. ’ Discuss. The Oxford Dictionary meaning of family is noun (plural families) 1 [treated as singular or plural] a group consisting of two parents and their children living together as a unit. There are many different ideas about what makes a family, and is this idea of what a family is universal and the children’s perspectives. There is a lot of debate with social scientists about the family. Functionalists say that the term family is a universal institution performing functions for society’s survival. Sociologist Murdock suggest that each family has for functions in order to be classified as a family. They are, a common residence, however there are many cases in which families do not share a common residence for example if a child is at boarding school or a parent is in the armed forces. (Murdock, cited by Gittins, D, p. 2). (Gutman 1976) found that it was common among black slave families in the USA for a husband and wide to live on different plantations and see one another for a few hours once or twice a week. Soliende de Gonzalez cited by gittins) found this type of household very common in black Carib society: â€Å"there are groupings which I have called â€Å"dispersed families† in which the father, even though he is absent for long periods of time he still retains ultimate authority over a household for which he provides the only support, and where affective bonds continue to be important between him and his wife and his children†. (Mudock cited by Gittins p. ) next family function is economic co-operation, it’s a broad term and can encompass a wide range of activities such as sleeping and cooking, it occurs between households as well as between individuals within the household (Murdock cited by Gittins p. 4) third is his definition of sexuality is heterosexuality, even though this is only one of many forms of sexuality. They say that this is the most important function of a family because it leads to reproduction. He also suggests that they get pressured into thi nking that’s heterosexuality is a ‘socially approved relationship’ between two adults. However there are critisms of Murdock as he doesn’t take into account the diversity of the ways in which co-residence, economic relations, sexuality and reproduction. Many sociologists say that they are simply western values and ideas of what a family should be like and assume that everyone will agree. (Jessie Bernard 1973 cited by Gittins pg. 3) Another criticism is that families do not need adults of both sexes, or a heterosexual couple, as same sex couples can adopt or can use medical advances (e. . IVF or surrogacy) to become a biological parent. (Edholm 1982 cited by Gittins p. 4) Anthropologists prefer to use the term kinship rather than family, â€Å"the ties which exist between individuals who are seen as related both through birth (descent) and through mating (marriage). † This theory is concerned with the ways in which parentage us assigned, attributed and recognised, descent is traced, relatives are classified, rights are transferred across generations and gr oups are formed. Unlike the functionalist approach the kinship theory stresses the fact that kinship is a social construction and also it emphasises on the variability of kinship depending on how it is defined. There is a debate about whether kinship is biological or social, many of us believe that its biological because of we know who are parents are and they made us so we simply think that kinship is biological but there are cases where children are brought up by parents who they believe to be their biological parents and then find out that they have been adopted and then suffer an identity crises because they do not know who they are anymore. Their own suffering is caused by the ways in which we define kinship in society and there is a clear difference between a ‘biological’ and ‘social’ parents, we see the biological parent as the real parents and that has the strongest bonds with the child, this is a strong western belief. However in other cultures they believe that it is the person who rears the child is defined as the parent regardless who is involved in the reproductive process, for example in some cultures it is common for a child to be raise by a grandparent. ( R. T. Smith cited by Gittins p. ) fond this was common in Guyana and Jamaica and says that ‘close and imperishable bonds are formed through the ‘act’ of raising a child. Fictive kinship (Rapp 1980:292 cited by Gittins p5) stated that fictive kinship was a serious relationship, and how we turn friends into family. It was also argued that kinship is whatever we chose it to be whether that’s biological, social or fictive, it’s a way of identifying others as in some way special from the rest, people to whom the individual or collectively feel responsible in certain ways. Many anthropologists have argued that kinship is simply a system of meaning and symbols, they also state that animals reproduce, mate and form attachments but they do not have a kinship system. (Marx cited by Gittins p 5) argued that it distinguishes people from animals. In child birth motherhood is always known unlike fatherhood, however apart from carrying and giving birth to the child that is where the biological process stops the rest become socially constructed. Gender also affects the ways that kinship is constructed and defined, they are both universally present as mothers and children are but the content of them and the meanings ascribed to them is highly variable. Age is also an important fact when it comes to kinship as people grow up the household composition and resources change. All relationships are different and with society changing there has become many different norms of society. Families do not have to be blood ties or even live under the same roof all the time or have two sec parents. Family isn’t universal.

Essay Samples for Gmat for Dummies

Essay Samples for Gmat for Dummies Facts, Fiction and Essay Samples for Gmat Notice that there's no correct or wrong answer here. The very first question may be tough. Answering such a question would ask that you introspect. Discover how to craft the ideal answer. If You Read Nothing Else Today, Read This Report on Essay Samples for Gmat Rather than that, you may also come up with two extremely long and comprehensive body paragraphs also. This section tests how well it's possible to take advantage of your analytical skills to fix a complicated issue. Consequently, it can be said that you should take soy foods for total well-being. You should have your reasons, and our principal concern is that you wind up getting an excellent grade. Understanding Essay Samples for Gmat Although this argument appears reasonable, it's nevertheless unacceptable to embrace the trustworthiness of this argument after careful scrutiny. The job is to assess the grammar, logic, and effectivenes s of a certain sentence and to opt for the best of several suggested revisions. When the thesis is completed, you can decide to acknowledging the other side. Get to be aware of the common flaws, which means you recognize them quickly on test day! Though even the very best essay checker software cannot match the truth of the official test, it's still a great way to understand where you stand. If the two scores differ by less than 1 point, both scores will be averaged to receive your final scaled score. During the test, you're going to be asked to reply in. If you want, have a mock test to observe where you stand. The very first step you will have to do in your paragraph is identify what portion of the argument you plan to analyze. There is an immense difference between 9 and 31. Others, obviously, scoff at the idea since they're. A great balance of simple and elaborate sentences is utilized to develop an argument. Things You Won't Like About Essay Samples for Gmat and T hings You Will Essays are a really important portion of the application process, states Stacy Blackman, an MBA admissions consultant. Learn what Wharton searching for in the MBA essay and the way it is possible to write an effective one to increase your odds of gaining admission. MBA essays are a vital component of your application package. An MBA admissions essay is a significant portion of the MBA admissions process. Essay Samples for Gmat - Is it a Scam? There's, obviously, a limit on the variety of pages even our finest writers can produce with a pressing deadline, but usually, we can satisfy all the clients seeking urgent assistance. The most often encountered topics relate to general company and public policy difficulties. The audio chair also cites a rise in job openings in the area of music-therapy. If You Read Nothing Else Today, Read This Report on Essay Samples for Gmat GMAT AWA essay samples are among the most effective ways to learn ways to get a great GMAT e ssay score. Week 9 You are now prepared to practise a full GMAT test at the same stretch. One of the absolute most important GMAT essay advice is to understand the directions of the AWA section. Another one of the important GMAT writing ideas is to select the opportunity to prepare your essay in a transparent way. Test-takers should try and plan on gmat the essay a couple of minutes early so they have enough time to carefully review their writing for typos and grammatical errors. Looking at IELTS essay topics with answers is an excellent method that will help you to get ready for the test. The questions are made to place your math skills to test. Data sufficiency is a distinctive sort of math question created particularly for the GMAT. Since you can see from the sample paragraph, there's a lot to accomplish in a quick quantity of time. This conclusion is much too strong, and thus the request for funding isn't well justified. While applying, you can experience that the application procedure can be taxing. Dissect the argument into various pieces. The essay that you write has to be easy, but interesting. At the outset you should know your GMAT essay is scored separately. Objective Voice The essay shouldn't be written in the very first person. It should not be written in the first per son. Writing both essays in a short period of 30 minutes each can be an intimidating exercise, more so in the event you've not written anything similar since. Although there are a few basic measures to writing an assignment, essay writing isn't a linear approach. It is a good idea to invest a couple of hours in preparation for your essay. The submitted piece is evaluated as an unaffiliated argument essay on the aforementioned attributes.

The Death Of Siddhartha Gautama - 1017 Words

When an average person thinks of Siddhartha Gautama, they often link the religious figure with someone who achieved happiness through various forms of mediation. These generalizations are often fueled by artistic illustrations of the Buddha, which, almost universally, depict him sitting in the Lotus Position. While the religion of Buddhism has deep roots in various forms of meditation, there is not a cut and dry method for an individual to obtain the highest of Buddhist goals, freedom from suffering. In pursuit of this goal, many different schools of Meditation have emerged since the death of Siddhartha Gautama. Each of these schools has developed, what they believe to be, the best method for an individual to reduce their suffering in this world and to follow the noble path of the Buddha. However, while each school will have their own stylistic method, the path towards enlightenment should place emphasis on the practices that an individual deems the best for their needs. Enlightenmen t is defined as to the act of giving intellectual or spiritual light to an individual. In Buddhism, the act of achieving enlightenment and breaking the cycle of rebirth is seen as the highest goal that humanity can achieve. Within Buddhism, the act of meditation is seen as one of the most favorable method for someone to embody the religion’s philosophies. Many people use these forms of meditation in order to work towards enlightenment and personal happiness. The issue, however, of achievingShow MoreRelatedLife Leading Up to Siddhartha Gautamas Awakening Essay1358 Words   |  6 PagesLife Leading Up to Siddhartha Gautamas Awakening It is thought by many that the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, was born having this title and did not have to endure any hardships throughout his life. Despite these thoughts, Siddhartha Gautama was not born the Buddha, but had to find his own way to achieve enlightenment and become the Buddha. 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