Many people wonder what, if there are any, factors influence teen culture most? Is it something that teens create for themselves out of their own imagination, or is it something that they adapt to through their surroundings? Teen culture is formed through all of its surroundings and evolves with it. In reality, teen culture is influenced by three main factors; family, friends and media. Children grow up with their parent’s and enter the adolescent stage with all of their parent’s traditions and values. Teens grow up and they make and adapt to new friends, doing what they do, acting the way they do and thinking like they do. Throughout the stage of being a teenager, the media contributes to the moulding, formation and evolution of teen culture. Teens are in the process of learning an identity, confused in society, so their surroundings make the biggest contribution to their culture. These are important factors because through these factors, teens then either go through the process of identity achievement, where they can find a sense of self with high self esteem and become socially skilled, or they go through identity diffusion, where they will obtain a weak sense of identity with low self esteem and become socially awkward. (Bain, Colyer, DesRivieres, Dolan. 2002)
The first factor that influences teen culture the most is the role of parents. Within a family household, there is usually a father and a mother, with the option of siblings. Parents play a big role in shaping teen culture because they are the ones who raise them. “At the adolescent stage, teens must try to figure out who they are, in a conflict called identity crisis.” (Bain, et al. 2002) When a teen is at this stage, they are in a state of confusion, not knowing where they fit in, in society. Parents often try to put restrictions on teens and force upon them their own values and traditions from when they were going through this stage.