Psy375

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Introduction

Now days there are numerous things that are taking place within our children’s
Development, i will specifically be discussing the changes in peer relationships of middle childhood and adolescence. As the child grows into their teenage years they will become egocentrism and i will be going into detail about what that means further in the paper. As children go through their stages and go through school to can be a rather tough times for them and they will face numerous pressures. Some of these pressures can be good or bad and sometimes even both.

Changes in Peer Relationships

A peer relationship is what helps establish a social connection in which children attempt to find their place within a specific social group. As our children begin to grow and mature more physically, emotionally, and cognitively, their social relationships with family and peers also mature and change. Within these peer relationships a social connection is made in which the children will be able to find their place within a specific social group. Most children within the middle childhood age will begin to form groups of friends and even maybe lessen the number of friends so that they are able to put more time and effort in maintaining particular friendships and their communication will be made threw convenience. However, for some children is simply is not that easy and they will have an extremely hard time developing these close friendships within peer groups and in some cases get physically or emotionally abuse by bullies.
In adolescent parents are put simply put on the back burner and friends and peers gain more importance. In adolescence there peer relationships begin to change because instead of talking to a friend once in a while when seen they instead start talking everyday and begin to form emotional bonds with other peers. They soon will for groups called cliques which are where children are able to bond together and often exclude others from being a part of their group. They soon will begin walking, talking, acting and develop similar preferences as the others in the group. During this time their social status is the biggest deal on the planet and being able to fit in is the most important thing on their mind.

Examine aspects of adolescent egocentrism

Adolescent Egocentrism is when teens and near teens exhibit a false belief that others are highly focused or attentive to their behavior and this simply is a normal part of growing up. ("Egocentrism", 2012). There are many reasons why a child can go through egocentrism. One being, that they are faced with There are various reasons as to why adolescents experience egocentrism, one being they facing a new social environment in which that requires the adolescent to protect the self and another is Parental rejection, and this may lead the adolescents experiencing high levels of self-consciousness and low self esteem. This behavior will first come about when the child reaches 11-12 years old and will continue until they are around 15-16 years old. Within this theory there are two theoretical terms: Imaginary Audience and Personal Fable. Imaginary audience often refers to the idea that most adolescents believe there are some audiences and that it is constantly present that is overly interested in what the individual has to say or do. Personal fable refers to the idea that many teenagers believe that they are the only ones who are capable of feeling the way that they do. ("Egocentrism", 2012). This topic is commonly viewed as a negative aspect because of their thinking ability, because adolescents become consumed with themselves and are unable to effectively function in society due to their skewed version of reality.

Pressures often faced in adolescence

Changes within Family Relationships
As our children grow and get older, they continually search for their independence specifically from their family. They will want to walk, talk and dress in a certain way that might differ from how they used to couple years back. They will begin to be defiant and begin arguing with the parent’s almost about everything. Family time and family outing will begin to slowly change over time as the children will want to spend more time with their friends/peers. Even dinner time will be a headache because they would rather eat at a friend’s house of completely skip dinner in order to be with their friends.

Pressure to Be Successful
Today teens are feeling more and more pressured not only by their families but by the outside world as well to be more successful in their academic and athletic performance. The parents put pressure on their academics because it is getting more and more competitive to get into a good college and they always want to see their children do well..Their teachers and coaches will express this very same pressure for them to do better or their best so that they are able to receive scholarships to better colleges. This makes the adolescence feel like they have to excel in excel in extracurricular , volunteer and other activities to be competitive for the best schools and make their sports, parents proud. I think this can either make or break the child. Too much pressure can push the children into drug use or other negative factor and too little may not be enough.

Drug Use
Adolescence normally experiment with drugs because of curiosity and peer pressure. They often will try the drug just as an attempt to remain fitted within a group, for their enjoyment, or simply to cope with everyday stress. However, most teens do not become addicted to their drug of choice and may only try them once or twice. Some students may even start to use drugs on their own because of pressure put on them by parents, teachers and coaches because of the high standards they have set for them. They may feel that the drug will help them relax and escape from that for a little bit of time.

Conclusion
Our children go through many different stages that can either be a positive or negative aspect. I have given you the many changes that occur during their peer relationships and the theories behind egocentrism. Every teenager will feel like they are number one and all eyes are on them at one point of another. I have also given you some examples of stressors that children face during these stages. I hope this has given you a better insight of the development of middle childhood and adolescence.

References:
Egocentrism. (2012). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egocentrism

References: Egocentrism. (2012). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egocentrism