Cause And Effect Of Teenage Conformity

Children can often be observed imitating their parents. For example, a toddler may take a newspaper and read it as their parents do (perhaps upside down or sideways). They may imitate their parent’s vocal inflections or want to take a phone to speak on it as their parents would. Or a little girl may want to put on her makeup like her mother does it. Aside from imitation, children also adapt behaviors to please their parents, and to avoid punishment. From a very young age, children begin to conform to the behaviors of those around them, and begin to learn how to be a member of their society. Conformity is most obvious during childhood, but it is a pattern of behavior that is continued by most people for the rest of their lives.
During the teenage …show more content…
This may be because teenagers are usually attending school, and that is where the majority of their social lives take place. Most of their friends are from their classes, or after school activities. It takes over almost their entire social world, and so there is a lot of pressure to get along with one’s peers. Furthermore, since youth are seeking to establish an identity outside of the familial setting, the way in which their peers perceive them contributes to their sense of self identity and esteem. Nobody wants to be the “weird kid” or the “loser.” In adulthood, people who are different can seek out other people who vary from the norm and establish mini-societies of their own. However, in school the different can be the subject of bullying and ridicule, so once again, the pressure to conform to the behaviors of one’s peers is …show more content…
Most millennials have sat through presentations about the dangers of drug use and sex education classes in a scholastic context. Many have even practiced saying “no” in activities and have a box of tools at their disposal to disengage themselves from dangerous behaviors. However, one must question the effects of this type of education when these behaviors are still common among teenagers. The fact is, these presentations do not address root of the problem of dangerous teenage social behavior. Teenagers will risk their health and safety in order to conform. They can spend hours watching slides about the dangers of drug abuse, but when “everybody is doing it,” the psychological need to conform and be accepted by their peer group overpowers their sense of