Positive And Negative Factors Of Mood Causes In Adolescent Peer Networks

It is not uncommon to hear stories about a teenager experiencing mood swings and rebelling against those in authority. Nor is it uncommon to experience general sadness or anxiety in high school and college. However, it is often difficult to tell the difference between normal teenage angst and clinical depression. It is not commonly known that there has recently been a staggering rise of depression in adolescents. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, one in twelve adolescents in the United States suffer from depression, which is 8.3 % of the teenage population. In order to combat the problem of adolescent depression, it is essential that parents take an active role in their adolescent’s life by both acknowledging and

Peers have a major role in shaping a person's identity. Children tend to have a similar identity as their peers. “Similarity among friends. Strong correlations were found.” If a friend is doing something it makes the child feel pressured into doing it to. Adolescents tend to “rebel” against their parents in their teen years and that’s when peers become a huge influence on shaping the teen’s identity. For example if a persons friends are doing drugs he or she may feel peer pressured. Peer pressure is influence from members of one's peer group. If his or her friends do good things, for example, pick up trash or treat others with respect it helps the adolescent to not liter and pick up after themselves and treat people with respect. A lot of adolescents feel peer pressure every day if they are not fitting in with the right peer group. Peers could shape the teens identity into a good one or a bad one depending on their friends personalities and

This topic came from the thought that depression is something that all of us have experienced at some point in our lives. It focuses on adolescents because during this period we are young and vulnerable and may not know how to cope with situations or circumstances that may lead us into depression. Factors such as going through puberty and issues at home with parents can all cause depression. This paper will talk about what is depression, how families can affect depression in the child, and how depression can lead to long term effects.

Most adolescents face the same obstacles in life and experience similar difficulties. Friends in childhood are primarily found at “school” (Murray 2009). This is because they

Next to the parents, a child’s friends can be the biggest influence in a child’s life, and the need to fit in can be very hard for a child. The idea of being cool or giving into peer pressure can cause a child’s idea of what’s right and what’s wrong to become misconstrued. Causing a child to fall into a bad crowd of delinquent peers causing them to get into trouble with the law.

This is a time where there will be an urge to become closer to peers and become more social with people outside of the usual. This is also a time when notable changes in attitude may be seen. Burnett and Blakemore found that teenagers will are more susceptible to peer pressure, but they also become more resilient to it, especially between the ages of 14 and 18. Teens become more self aware of their ability to refuse peer pressure and make decisions for themselves. Through learning to reject certain people and behaviors, there is also a period of learning who enhances one’s personality. This learning stage brings attention to self-identity and group identity. People usually find a difference in the actions that they would do alone when compared to when peers are involved; this is also called Social Psychology, which is the understanding of individuals behavior in social situations (McLeod). Attitudes and emotions may become impacted by who is interacting with a person and there may be a willingness to do things that originally wouldn’t happen. The difference in personality and interactions is to prepare people for when they leave the stage of adolescence- Hopefully, humans emerge capable of socializing with others and communicating emotions- Even as the human brain continues to socially develop (Blakemore

Possessing a functional or dysfunctional family is of much importance to a healthy development, helping children through peer pressure, acceptance, and the anxiety of belonging. Yet how important is the environment that a child is raised on, this being shared or non-shared? How difficult or easy can peer pressure be? Will peer pressure help or deter a child from being functional. How much do these factors affect development from childhood to adolescence? This paper will explain the different stages of childhood to adolescence, and how a child and adolescence copes with nature and nurture .

Depression is a major predictor of a myriad of negative outcomes such as poor academic achievement, low self-esteem, decreased pro-social relationships, and higher risks of substance abuse (Healy, 2016). Additionally, these negative outcomes experienced by depressed teens may be even more apparent if the depression remains untreated. Findings mentioned earlier by Jones (2013) have also confirmed that this sensitive period in an individual’s life is particularly vulnerable to depressive symptoms that could lead to dire outcomes. These negative outcomes found by Jones (2013) concur with many of the same outcomes Healy mentioned. Moreover, research by Jaycox, Stein, and Paddock (2009) further delves into the impact of teen depression on these negative outcomes. Their study broadens knowledge on negative outcomes in teen depression by examining them over a long period of time. The data is compared to teens that are not depressed, but experience the same negative consequences. Results from the research concluded that the negative outcomes such as school achievement and poor relationships were significantly more severe in depressed teens. After stating the major consequences depressed adolescents experienced, their study further found that treating adolescents may not only have clinical symptom benefits, but also greatly

William Damon is an educator/researcher on psychology and education. In William Damon’s work, he has proposed that children’s friendships are developed in three specific stages. In Level 1, children are about 4-7 years old. During this level children see each other as momentary playmates. During this stage children are all about having fun, with limited perspectives. Children want things their way and do not wish to hear different opinions other than their own. As the child gets older, at the age of 8-10 years old a more profound friendship is formed, this is called Level 2. During this time a child start to build trust and start to think of other rather than just themselves. Children learn the value of sharing and learn how to compromise. Lastly, Level 3 is during the approximate age of 11- 15 years old. During this time, friends are valued the most to a child. This is a more mature stage where children build trustful relationships and a high level of emotional closeness is built. Regardless of age cliques and crowds always develop among children and adults. A clique is a group of member that share common interests, often are of the same gender. The members of the group are often labeled or stereotyped. Crowds are very similar to cliques, both shape the minds of children on how they should act or how they should be. Both add pressure to adolescents under peer pressure such as drinking, smoking, skipping school, or sex in order to fit it. Cliques and crowds develop as a way

Critical thinking note: Davis, K. (2012). Friendship 2.0: Adolescents’ experiences of belonging and self-disclosure online. Journal of Adolescence, 35(6), 1527–1536.

Adolescents who feel more lonely are more likely they to be depressed, anxious and less likely to take social risks (Moore & Schultz, 1983, p. 99). Similarly, “loneliness and depressive symptoms influenced one another bidirectionally from mid to late adolescence, with the direction from loneliness to depressive symptoms being stronger than the reversed direction” (Vanhalst, Klimstra, Luyckx, Scholte, Engels, & Goossens, 2012, p. 782). Thus, our intervention aims to reduce these feelings among middle school students. In turn, this goal is worthy from a sociatel perspective, as reducing feelings of loneliness will have a positive effect on the teenagers' school performance, their overall productivity as well as their reported life satisfaction (Trzesniewski, Donnellan, Moffitt, Robins, Poulton

The authors believed that the single biggest factor that played a part in predicting adolescent health behavior is peers. It is a known fact that parents play a big part in their children life, but we also know that as they get older those in the network play an even bigger role in shaping their health

Students need to have a support system to help them through tough times in high school or at any stage in their life. When I had told my best friends that I was depressed, their answer to me was “why, you have nothing to be depressed about”. I thought I was able to turn to them during this hard time in my life and they gave me no support. According to Rueger, Malecki, Aycock, and Coyle, social support has been shown to be an important factor in adolescent development while they are dealing with depression (2016). A strong social support for adolescents help build their self-esteem and well-being and having little to no support can cause an increase in depression. A lot of people do not know how to help others when they need it most and can cause more harm than good.

Depression is a severe mood disorder and it is the most frequently diagnosed psychiatric disorder amongst adolescents. Depression is a state that adolescents can fall easily into. Teenagers spend more time with their friends than they do with their families which can result is possible rejection of peers. Individuals feel the need to have approval of self-worth by their peers. If they get disapproval, this can lead to brutal symptoms. (Platts, Kadosh, Lau 6). The symptoms can vary from self-worthlessness, anxiety, or a

We all have been young adolescents before and experienced all the things junior high and high school has to offer. Being a teenager is something everyone has or will experience in our life times. Teenagers go through a crucial time in their lives where they really figure out who they are and how to make more adult decisions. Peer pressure has always been a regular part of teenage life. American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry state's “Peers play a large role in the social and emotional development of children and adolescents. Their influence begins at an early age and increases through the teenage years. It is natural, healthy and important for children to have and rely on friends as they grow and