Peer impact

Adolescents live in one of the most intense social networks they will ever experience: a cocoon, for better or worse, of like-minded peers. From best-friend duos to broader circles of close friends, acquaintances, cliques, and the cross c...urrents of youth culture in general, teens are literally surrounded by a world in which adults seem less and less relevant.

Many adults view this trend with alarm, especially when it occurs within their own families. "Peer pressure" is the catch-all term (used by many a concerned parent) that captures the negative side of the world of peers — pressure to wear certain clothes, listen to certain music, engage in certain sexual behaviors, do certain drugs, or adopt certain beliefs, all under what many adults see as a type of peer duress.

But, in fact, the ways that peers influence one another are much more complicated, subtle, and positive than the "group think" that seems, to the outside observer, to dictate everything from fashion