Teen Social life

An AP poll found that 43% of teens use instant messaging for things they wouldn't say in person. Twenty-two percent say they use text messaging to ask someone out on a date, and 13% use it to break up. One in ten teens say they spend 3 or more hours instant messaging each day, and 17% estimated they send more than 100 IM's daily. (Maui News, 11-16-07)

Kids reveal quite a bit about themselves online, according to a study in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. Twenty-four percent mention sex, 41% reference substance abuse, and 14% talk about violence on their MySpace pages. (Szabo, 1-6-09)

A 2008 study by the University of California shows that most teens use the Internet to interact with people they already know. Only 5% said they had friends known only from the Internet. Forty-four percent of teens said using social networking sites had no effect on their relationship with their friends. Forty-three percent said it made them closer. (Jayson, 4-2-09)

A recent study prepared for the American Psychological Association found that 80% of middle school students admitted to bullying behavior in the prior 30 days. (Turley, 7-15-08) An earlier 2004 survey by KidsHealth found that among younger children ages 9 to 13, 40% of kids admitted to bullying. So who are these bullies? Chancs are 80% or greater it's your child. This means that stopping harrassment in schools starts with making sure your own child never engages in it. If 80% of parents did that, bullying in schools would come to a near halt.

Online harrassment of American young people ages 10 to 17 increased 50% (from 6% to 9%) from 2000 to 2005, according to the latest research available by the University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center. The number of young people who said they had "made rude or nasty comments to someone on the Internet" increased from 14% to 28% in the same period. (Kornblum, 7-15-08)
160,000 kids stay home from school each and every day because they're afraid of bullying. (ABC News, 3-15-09)

85% of teens say that they are happy with their friendships, and 79% of them believe their BFFs have a positive impact on their self-image. So

Bullying is routinely tied to suicide attempts, drug abuse, school drop-outs and tardiness, retalitory violence by the victims, and criminality later among bullies.

Unfortunately, ethical behavior can be socially expensive for adolescents. If a teen stands up for his or her principles, they often have to go against the crowd and find themselves outside of their social circle.

- The Social Life of Teenagers -

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This section contains information on all aspects of teen social life: friends, gossip,
communication, bullying, peer pressure, social networks, and the like. Adolescents face a daunting task. Puberty brings with it a switch from parents to peers in the need for acceptance. This brings social issues to the forefront of just about everything in their life, and it's important that parents keep pace. With that in mind, here are some glimpses into the social life of a teen: