Category: Adolescence

Cyber Libel Awareness among Adolescents

The 21st century shapes the modern face on how people communicate. The use of Internet information and communications technology hastily arises over the past years. These technologies are widely used by adolescents since it becomes a medium for getting excellent sources of news and information, yet they are the most ignorant about the risks of sharing information online. Adolescent’s level of awareness regarding cyber libel is still at a medium level (Zakaria & Harun, 2020). We often share sensitive information with other people, leaving them susceptible to spreading it online. Also, cyber libel is hard to address because the laws regarding internet crimes are still in their embryonic phase. It’s impossible that the law can keep up with the pace at which technology is progressing.

Cyber libel is the act committed through a computer, social media platforms, and any other technology. The importance of cyber libel awareness is to help adolescents to be aware of the law and the possible consequences of cyber libel. Raising awareness is vital when it comes to cybercrime prevention. Moreover, cybercrime awareness helps law enforcement agencies to quickly address cyber libel due to the increased awareness of the victims (Bele et al., 2014).

The relationship between adolescents from low-income households and cyber libel awareness is that most of the news and information regarding cyber libel aware-ness is predominantly posted and can be retrieved online. As information, services, and resources increasingly moved online. Indeed, it is costly to get access and take full advantage of opportunities in education, and the production and dissemination of knowledge in digital content (Rhinesmith, C., 2016). Low-income households are the most in need of cyber awareness, yet they often least to get online to access those services, and children from low-income, who are four times less likely to have the opportunity in gaining access information online, are also the most likely to be vulnerable to the long-term detrimental effects of constrained access to technology-enriched education.

Cyber libel is hard to address and control since the law with regards to the Internet and cybercrime is still in its developing stages. Lack of cyber libel awareness can lead people to either be the victim or the perpetrator. To make the matter worse, avid users of new technologies are adolescents, yet they are the most naive portion of the population regarding cyber libel, leaving them unaware of the severity of the problem. Thus, this is a serious problem in modern society that needs to be solved.

The Experience Of Anticipated Regret Of Adolescents In Group Decision Making

Regret is a central emotion in reflecting about the past and involves blaming oneself for having done something or not having done something (Gilovich & Medvec, 1995). Many studies have been conducted on the experience of regret in people, with regards to their decision-making process and how they can factor in the anticipated regret into their final decision. In the experience of anticipated regret, many studies have been conducted to understand the impact of anticipated regret at different points in decision-making. In this essay, I will be reviewing literature on the study of anticipated regret in adults and adolescent decision making, particularly in the aspects of sexual behavior, gambling preferences and alcohol and drug use, and how these current literatures can set the foundation for further research into adolescents’ social behavior in the interaction of anticipating regret and conformity to group views.

Risk-seeking tendencies are particularly prominent in adolescents in decision making , and this has been shown in cognitive studies identifying the neuroanatomical and neurodevelopmental differences in adolescents as compared to adults (Kelley, Schochet & Landry, 2004). As the cognitive functions and pathways responsible for rational thinking achieve sophistication, adolescence is a stage where risk-seeking behaviors are particularly prevalent (Kelley et al., 2004). The prefrontal regions in the brain, responsible for rational thought only develops throughout adolescence, hence adolescents are less able to consider the full range and severity of the consequences of their decisions. This increases their susceptibility to rash decision making and may ultimately result in risk-seeking choices in unsafe sexual practices, which exposes them to unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections. This also affects their behavior in other aspects, such as drinking behavior (Cooke, Sniehotta, & Schüz, 2007; Davies & Joshi, 2018; Murgraff, Mcdermott, White, & Phillips, 1999; Stoddard, Bauermeister, Gordon-Messer, Johns, & Zimmerman, 2012), and choices in gambling (Tochkov, 2009). The decreased sensitivity to anticipated regret increases the tendency of risk-seeking behaviors in adolescents, which may result in them putting their own lives at risk sometimes.

Another characteristic of adolescent decision making is that of the increased impact of peer influence. As individuals progress through adolescence, the impact of peer influence increases and peaks during adolescence (Steinberg & Monahan, 2007). In other words, individuals are the most susceptible to the influence of their peers during adolescence. There are two explanations proposed to understand the strength of peer influence on adolescent decision making. The first states that during the developing stages of adolescence, peers grow to have a larger impact as individuals are seeking to be part of a group identity and group acceptance at this point in time (Steinberg & Monahan, 2007). The peer group becomes more notable in the mind of an adolescence, thereby influencing the way they think. The second explanation proposed states that adolescents tend to value the opinions and views of the peer groups that they are forming or identify with, more so than that of an adult or people in other age groups to them (Steinberg & Monahan, 2007). Group conformity becomes ever more salient as individuals would change their behavior or thinking in order to garner acceptance from their peer groups or attempt to fit in (Steinberg & Monahan, 2007). This may explain why adolescents tend to engage in riskier behavior in the presence of groups, such as unhealthy drinking practices, irresponsible driving behavior, unsafe sexual practices or engaging in casual relationships with multiple sexual partners, gambling etc. The salience of the group conformity in influencing adolescent behavior in group is an interesting concept to study against the salience of anticipated regret in adolescent decision making.

Due to the maturing prefrontal regions and the heightened sensitivity of adolescents to group conformity, adolescence becomes a period where individuals are more than ever likely to engage in risky behavior (Steinberg & Monahan, 2007), as shown in the various researches above. The lack of anticipating regret in adolescents during decision making results in risk-seeking behaviors in some cases when they should choose the risk-aversive behavior in accordance with the regret-minimizing principle. This can be further compounded by the presence of groups which can result in them being even more insensitive to anticipating regret and hence result in more extreme risk-seeking behaviors. This provides room for further research on how stimulating anticipated regret can influence adolescent decision making to provoke regret-minimizing behavior and how group conformity can influence this relationship.

Regret

People often look back on their experiences and reflect on certain events that made them feel regret. Ranging from actions that they should not have committed, to actions that they did not commit, people feel regret for a wide range of actions (Gleicheretal., 1990; Kahneman & Tversky, 1982a; Landman,1987b) (as cited in Gilovich & Medvec, 1995). Regret is an emotion arising retrospectively of decision-making, and this occurs when the outcome resulting from their decision is worse off compared to the outcomes of their alternative decisions back then (Zeelenberg, 2017). There is a sense of individual responsibility central to regret (Zeelenberg, 2018), which allows people to reflect and correct their mistakes for future decision-making. There are many factors which affect the feeling of regret, particularly the effect of time. In a study conducted by Gilovich and Medvec (1995), the experience of regret was found to vary with time. Gilovich and Medvec (1995) found that in the short term, individuals are more likely to experience regret for actions committed, whilst in the long term, individuals are more likely to regret actions that were not committed (inactions). The study proposed several reasons for the shift in feelings of regret with changes in time. There were factors which reduce the regret from committing actions, factors which increase the regret from inactions, and the Zeigarnik effect, which states that regret resulting from inactions tend to become more cognitively accessible as opposed to regret resulting from actions (Gilovich & Medvec, 1995).

Anticipated regret

Compared to the retrospective nature of regret, anticipated regret is a prospective emotion in which people try to foresee the amount of regret resulting from their current decisions and proceeding to choose such that they minimize/avoid regret (Zeelenberg, 2018). There have been several theories formed to explain the use of anticipated regret in decision making. One such theory is the regret theory. This theory states that individuals take into consideration the anticipated regret they will feel from their available choices during decision making (Loomes & Sugden, 1982). In this theory, individuals base their decisions on the minimax principle (Luce & Raiffa, 1957; Savage, 1951) (as cited in Zeelenberg, 1999). As such, individuals predict the maximum regret that will be experienced from each of their available options and proceed to choose the option that has the minimal amount of maximum regret. Therefore, it is safe to assume that rational individuals behave in a regret-minimizing way when using anticipated regret as a factor in decision-making. This principle holds in spite of the decision being risk-seeking or risk-aversive. Contrary to prior belief that individuals behave in a risk-aversive manner, this study showed that individuals however behaved in a regret-aversive manner instead. As such, this explains why individuals chose the risk-seeking decision instead of the risk-aversive option as previously believed as it was the regret-minimizing option (Janis & Mann, 1977) (as cited in Zeelenberg, 1999). This study provided further insight of how people take anticipated regret into consideration when they make decisions, and accounts for why the eventual decisions people make sometimes entail the relatively riskier option out of those available. Several other studies have been made to generalize the use of the regret theory and anticipated regret in decision making across different decision-making contexts (Simonson, 1992; Ritov, 1996) (as cited in Zeelenberg, 1999).

There have been several studies made on the role of anticipated regret in decision making in the areas of common risk-seeking behaviors observed in adolescents. This includes unsafe sexual practices, alcohol-related behaviors, gambling preferences. Various studies have been conducted on reckless behavior but results of the study were not generalizable to adolescents as the study subjects were not adolescents. Furthermore, the situations have not been applied to group decision making, which prompts further research into the interaction of anticipated regret and role of group conformity in group decision making.

Anticipated regret in adolescent decision making

Several studies have been conducted to study the role of anticipated regret in several aspects and instances of reckless adolescence behavior. In the following sections, I will be reviewing some of the literature conducted on the aspects of sexual behavior, gambling and drinking practices.

According to a study by Richard, van der Pligt, & de Vries (1996), adults who were induced to anticipate emotions after unprotected sex recorded an increased in anticipated regret and a negative attitude towards unprotected sex. This study showed that anticipated regret increases the salience of regret-minimizing tendency in people to choose the risk-aversive decision in the case of unprotected sex that can result in sexually transmitted infections or pregnancy etc. The risk-aversive behavior induced through the use of anticipated regret also stood the test of time, as participants reported attitudes against unprotected sex 5 months after the initial study was carried out (Richard et al., 1996). The temporal effects of regret were shown in the short term as subjects displayed aversive behavior towards unsafe sexual practices, as they anticipated regret towards the act of unsafe sexual practices. These results therefore corroborate with that of the study by Gilovich & Medvec (1995) as mentioned above. From this study, it can be concluded that the use of anticipated regret drives subjects towards risk-aversive behavior in the case of unsafe sexual practices (Richard et al., 1996).

However, the subjects in the above study were adults, and the results of this study has not been generalized to include adolescents as well. Given that adolescents may be unable to thoroughly consider the impact of their actions as well as adults do (Hartley & Somerville, 2015), anticipated regret may not induce such strong risk-aversive behavioral tendencies in adolescents, whose cognitive functions and prefrontal regions are still maturing (Kelley et al., 2004). In the regret-minimizing principle, the regret-minimizing behavior is risk-aversive, as engaging in safe sexual practices puts adolescents at a lower risk of unwanted pregnancies or contracting sexually transmitted infections. The lack of anticipating regrets in adolescents can however push them towards risk-seeking behaviors instead (Kelley et al., 2004). This is therefore an interesting point to consider for future research to generalize the use of anticipated regret to induce risk-aversive behavior in adolescents.

Given that adolescents are also susceptible to the views of their peer group (Steinberg & Monahan, 2007), group conformity can be hypothesized to influence their views towards casual relationships as well. In a study about peer influence can impact adolescent decision making in terms of sexual situations Widman, Choukas-Bradley, Helms, & Prinstein (2016) found that adolescents are more susceptible to the influence of their peers in seeking out casual relationships. This is further corroborated by Brown (1982), who found that in his retrospective study about undergraduates during their time in high school, that adolescents tend to feel a moderate amount of peer pressure with regards to having sex. Conformity to group beliefs can therefore fuel risk-seeking behavioral tendencies existing due to lack of anticipated regret. This therefore warrants further study into how adolescents’ view of sexual relationships can change with anticipated regret and how group conformity can mediate this relationship.

Effect Of Media On The Social And Emotional Development Of Children And Young People

In today’s world, children are born and raised in the digital world wherein both the home environment and other surrounding environments they are exposed to and immersed into a life consumed by an array of digital devices and concepts (Akyar and Sapsaglam, 2019). As the use of digital technologies and devices are exceedingly more common and are seen as an essential need in everyday life in homes and other environments (Arrnott, 2013), it is crucial to, therefore, consider and explore the impact and effect they may have on children and young people. From a professional perspective, I personally have seen an increase in the use of digital technologies and media within the school setting for both personal and educational use. There are also extensive amounts of resources made available online, in the format of video tutorials, media, interactive games and, chat rooms to help aid the learning and teaching of a variety of curricular areas for pupils. Online resources are being suggested and encouraged by teachers for pupils to use at home and during class time in many of the schools where I have been teaching. With the rise in technology and media use with children and young people, it is also essential to acknowledge and understand the dangers that they may face within the online world. Thus, by carefully examining and analysing the global effect that media, video games and toys have on the social and emotional development and wellbeing of children and young people, I will be able to develop a greater understanding of influence and impact they have and therefore be able to aid and guide children in their development throughout the digital world. To accomplish this, primarily, the concept of media and its exposure to children and young people must be defined and explored with evidence from appropriate and relevant literature. Moreover, the expansive definitions of games and toys will be reviewed with analyses of their importance within children and young people’s lives. Finally, research studying the effect media, games and toys have on the social and emotional development, and wellbeing of children and young people will be summarised and critically analysed while highlighting the key concepts and findings within the literature.

In the first years of a child’s life, their social and emotional capacities are vital areas for development (Landy, 2009). Having the social competence and skills to be able to interact socially with peers can contribute to emotional development for children and their perception of their self-worth (Tomlinson & Hyson, 2009). Being able to interact socially with peers and create friendships competently are essential contexts in which children can develop their interaction skills that are essential for school, adulthood and, are critical in children and young people wellbeing (National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2000; Buysse et al., 2008). However, there are components within everyday life that may prohibit and affect the social and emotional development of children and young people, one of the main components being media. Media is a term that encompasses many forms of communication outlets or instruments used to collect and distribute information and data including; broadcasting (radio and television), advertising, print media, news media and social media (Lister et al., 2009; Bell and Dittmar, 2011). Global research across many different countries, including The United States and The Netherlands, show that consistently there is more time spent using media and that finding ways to balance media usage in everyday life has become a global concern (Deuze, 2011). Many studies describe today’s society as a mass congregation of experiences and expressions that have been reinforced and dominated by media (Silverstone, 2007; De Jong and Schuilenburg, 2006). Numerous media corporations are on the persistent search for new markets for the distributions of their products. They are increasingly recognising and targeting children and young people as a profitable group of consumers (Strasburger, Wilson and Jordan, 2014). This notion can be supported by recent research that expresses that children are these days immersed into a society where the exposure to more screens and thus more media viewing opportunities are inevitable, more so than they have been in recent years (Fitzpatrick et al., 2016). Moreover, it is estimated that eighty-three per cent of children from ages one to six are exposed to television every day (Fitzpatrick et al., 2016). Furthermore, children living in Britain are growing up with access to an average of five different types of screens (Jago and Sebire, 2011), and, in the United States, two out of three children have access to a mobile device that they can use to connect to the internet and access different forms of media and media platforms (Rideout, Foehr and Roberts 2010). Research studies have shown that from in the United States, ages of three to five months, the majority of children have already been exposed to and have started using media (Valkenburg and Piotrowski, 2017). Before the age of seven, it is estimated that children growing up in a developed country will spend an average of three years in front of screens exposed to the diverse world of media (Sigman, 2012). With the swift pace of children and young people’s use of media and technologies evolving there may be many implications to their wellbeing that follow their usage and exposures to certain types of media (Strasburger, Wilson and Jordan, 2014; Rideout, 2017).

One of the most common forms of media that are used nearly every day by the majority of children and young people that has infiltrated its way into the lifestyles and informal interactions of everyday life is social media (Siddiqui and Singh, 2016; Dijck and Poell, 2013). Social media is regarded as a platform in which individuals can create an online presence where they can communicate, upload content, blog or visit social gaming worlds (Lois, 2016). The social media platforms available online are designed to create spaces in which many children and young people can stay connected to their friends, family and also support any ongoing learning within the school (Swist, Collin and McCormick, 2015). Digital communication, through many social media platforms, has been perceived through research studies, such as Valkenburg and Peter (2009), as an irreplaceable factor for enriching and sustaining long-term friendships. However, there are concerns that as a result of the increase in communicating through digital platforms that children and young people are not as connected to society and the people around them (Small and Vorgan, 2008). It is also a concern that by having social media as one of the primary forms of communicating that many children’s socioemotional and empathic growth and development may be prohibited due to lack of in-person interactions (Turkle, 2012). Social development is one of the key milestones within a child’s life that aids them in becoming socially aware, understanding positive and negative behaviours, attitudes and social ideas (Bronson, 2000; Davies, 2004; Westwood, 2007). The early childhood period in life is defined by many research studies as being the time when the brain is at its peak for being responsive to learning (Shonkoff and Phillips, 2000). It is also considered that early experiences are what shape the minds of children and guide them into achieving their full potential in later life (McCain et al., 2007). Children begin to form their social awareness and understandings through interactions with their peers and by experiencing different environments outside of the home environment (Bronson, 2000). Without the development of social characteristics, children may be subjected to estrangement by many of their peers and may also exhibit anti-social and disruptive behaviours (Malecki & Elliot 2002; Miles & Stipek, 2006; Wang et al., 2011). A recent study conducted by Sherman, Michikyan and Greenfield (2013) reported that as there has been a drastic loss in the ability and knowledge of social cues and skills being developed due to the significant increase in children and young people’s usage and exposure to media and different technologies. With the rise in the use of media, there is reported a considerable lack of social and bonding skills being developed within children and young people as they are not experiencing the in-person interactions needed to acquire and cultivate their skills that are required in order to adapt and survive in everyday life (Uhls, Zgourou and Greenfield, 2014).

Another aspect of the use of social media that raises concern for the effect it may have on the social and emotional development and wellbeing of children and young people is cyberbullying. The overall welfare of children and young people is threatened in today’s world, mainly by cyberbullying (D’ Antona, Kevorkian and Russom, 2010). Research has presented that over that last ten years the threat and effect that cyberbullying has on children and young people has increased and has been acknowledged as a severe concern in today’s world and is predominant in many school’s (Ybarra and Mitchell, 2004; Li 2006; Luan, Siew and Atan, 2008). Another aspect of the use of social media that raises concern for the effect it may have on the social and emotional development and wellbeing of children and young people is cyberbullying. The global wellbeing of children and young people is threatened in today’s world, mainly by cyberbullying (D’ Antona, Kevorkian and Russom, 2010). Research has presented that over that last ten years the threat and effect that cyberbullying has on children and young people has increased and has been acknowledged as a severe concern in today’s world and is predominant in many school’s (Ybarra and Mitchell, 2004; Li 2006; Luan, Siew and Atan, 2008). The safety and development of children and young people can be compromised through the aggression and victimisation seen through bullying and cyberbullying (Snyder et al., 2003). Bullying, in both the offender and the victim, is a sign of potential psychiatric disorders and in some cases, lead to the deterioration of mental health (Turkel, 2007).

When growing up the relationship’s children develop with their peers are essential to their overall social and emotional development and indicate their capabilities of maintaining healthy, thriving relationships in later life (McElhaney, Antonishak and Allen, 2008). A component of a flourishing emotional development within children is being able to feel safe and confident in oneself, and surrounding environment and being able to choose and conserve genuine friendships is a big part of this (D’ Antona, Kevorkian and Russom, 2010). However, bullying can negatively impact children’s ability to establish wholesome peer relationships and sustain a healthy lifestyle (Dake, Price and Telljohann 2003; McElhaney, Antonishak and Allen, 2008). Studies have shown that due to digital communication on social media sites and the anonymity of online chat rooms children are not getting the chance to read visual and social cues and therefore children do not fully understand the impact or the consequences of their words and actions through a screen (Cassidy, Jackson and Brown, 2009; D’ Antona, Kevorkian and Russom, 2010). Cyberbullying can affect children’s relationships with their peers and can lead to estrangement from their social activities as well as negatively impacting their views on their self-worth (Sumalatha and Ramakrishnaiah, 2004). Often, children that are the victims of cyberbullying experienced feelings like anxiety, depression and difficulty concentrating and focusing on tasks within the school environment which are not aspects to be associated with a healthy social and emotional development or wellbeing (Ybarra and Mitchell, 2007).

With children’s exposures to media and technologies increasing, where the content that is featured on many of these technologies is increasingly realistic and graphic and may encourage aggressive or harmful behaviours (Strasburger, Wilson and Jordan, 2014), the monitoring of children’s access to the media is recommended. By monitoring online interactions and teaching children how to be safe online, the safety of their wellbeing is ensured, and the ability to protect them from any dangers online is made possible (Mishna et al., 2009). With children’s access to and their tendencies on online sites and media being monitored the likelihood of cyberbullying decreases positive online behaviours encouraged and presented by positive parental behaviours protects children and young people from both bullying and being bullied (Wang, Iannotti and Nansel, 2009). Monitoring and understanding children’s online presence also supports the notion that if teachers are aware of the effect and dangers that media has and presents to children and young people, then they will be more able to aid any children who have suffered from online torment and prevent future harassment by teaching online safety in class. Studies also discuss that when the primary caregiver does not monitor children’s online use, cyberbullying is twice as likely to occur (Ybarra and Mitchell, 2004). However, a recent study by Rideout, Foehr and Roberts (2010) disclosed that typically parents do not monitor or supervise their children’s media experiences and therefore are not aware of the content their children may be exposed. However, the study was relying on the answers of the children that were participating in the study which some may argue to be unreliable as children’s perceptions of situations may differ from reality itself as they are still developing—thus limiting the credibility of the study. Contrasting to the study by Rideout, Foehr and Roberts (2010) another recent study that questioned the parents of the children who were participating in the study found that the children’s media exposure was supervised and controlled to an extent (Gentile and Bushman, 2012). Although there are contrasting findings from the two different research studies, they did both raise the valid concern that parents do not always ensure that what their children are doing, saying or seeing online is altogether safe and suitable for their age. Therefore, most children are exposed to the threat of being cyberbullied and becoming a cyberbully online. It is clear that being exposed to and immersed into a world of social media affects the development of both social and emotional maturation of children and young people. In consensus, it is suggested that children need to be shown how to and directed into making conscientious decisions online where they should show accountability, respect, personal safety and have a crystalline understanding of the consequences their actions and words may have online (D’ Antona, Kevorkian and Russom, 2010).

A well as cyberbullying, media can also affect the social and emotional development of children and young people through negative body image or dissatisfaction with one’s appearance, which is a growing concern amongst young females within the United Kingdom, United States and Australia (Eisenberg, Neumark-Sztainer and, Paxton, 2006; Ricciardelli and McCabe 2003; Furnham, Badmin and Sneade, 2002). According to sociocultural theory, negative body image emerges as a result of perceived environmental pressure to conform to a culturally-defined body and beauty ideal (Thompson et al. 2004a; Shroff and Thompson 2006). The mass media may be seen as the single biggest purveyor of this ideal, promoting an unrealistic and artificial image of female beauty that is impossible for the majority of females to achieve (Levine and Murnen 2009). Meta-analyses of research, predominantly conducted in the UK, USA and Australia, provide substantive and consistent evidence that exposure to thin ‘body perfect’ ideals in the media is strongly related to negative body image in girls and women (Grabe et al. 2008; Groesz et al. 2002; Want 2009), with adolescent girls’ seemingly most vulnerable to its negative influence.

Adolescents and Health Risk Behavior

Adolescent grows the complexity in society, he/she may want how to modify new behavior state by improving self-mechanism defense and affiliating peer group. (Lerner and Steinberg, 2004). During this substance use period associated with peer friend may create, exchange health identification conceptualization, independence in choice making exchange , closeness, sexuality perspectives, due to social reputation and inclined in what way can be made related to social acceptance, consolidated social impact on consciousnesses , explicitly towards fundamental choice making aspect (Dahl, 2004; Pfeifer and Peake, 2012; Steinberg and Morris, 2001). Research supposed to create social network of course as well as put peer group as a joint action choice for an adolescent that observe trough mental thinking motives approaches to inventory the strategies for outright things to do, share feelings , and household degree coordination of plans have been accomplished (Dubernet and Axhausen, 2013; Illenberger, 2012)[26]

Social and environmental factors emphasis on peer pressure effect on individual, school leaders,teachers community, and social culture settings, students health risk taking which is gestated as a sequence of growing self-confidence efficacy and leaving individuation from the family conceptualizations, yet proportional experience dependence on parents and different associated families, parent’s care that emphasis on a few below manage of their youngsters offers daily unadulterated inclusion of health risk taking behavior. [8] In Adolescence Journals, and associated skills, expressed adapting competencies that may assist the adolescent involvement impact delinquent behavior and disables to manipulate terrible behavior and affiliation obstruction, fail to observe the implication key for peer pressure fascination.[7]. Therein, the parenting significance of controlling adolescents risk activities is recognized with failure levels of controlling harmony situation that frequently impact peer group and advancing increased involvement in risk taking behavior [9]. The dedication school members, instructor partnership missing, the peer group operate each as a engagement of risk taking substance use bolstered through peer who are already in terrible behaviors as an uncaring relates college students duties. peer pressure affiliation with friendship come out to spur the occurrence involvement in excessive risk degree and capacity of preliminary behavior that may immediate loss of life or discount social general life expectancy in terms of personal life associated with mental disorders, restriction of world, nation, individual work improvement. (Diblasio, 1986).

The adolescent engages in health risk behavior by suggesting to initiate new activity in social encounters to show up progressively pertinent within active group and to select up absolutely social mechanism to build up a self-identity within peer group (Lightfoot, 1992). The way that, conceptualized peer pressure, alongside having a friend who initiated one of the risk behavior (drinking alcohol, smoking, sex behavior, harassing) have been considered as the effectively elementary predictors of health risk behavior among secondary college adolescents in the world. [10].

Media’s Influence on Adolescents Body Image

The film “Killing them Softly” was about how women’s body images are being portrayed by the media today and throughout history, also how big of an influence it has on our cultural views and values. In the beginning of the film, the speaker placed a huge emphasis on advertisements in our culture and how exposed we are to them. She mentions at one point that we will spend around two years of our lives watching advertisements. Although many people will say that ads don’t have an immediate effect on them, they have an effect subconsciously without them even realizing it. The ads that were shown in the film were specifically targeting girls/women. Girls are taught at a young age to have a standard of beauty that is almost impossible to achieve and is unrealistic. The problem with the media’s images that they show in their ads is that they contain four or five images of multiple women and photo shop them into one. Therefore, the women who are exposed to these ads will compare themselves to impossible standards of beauty. This affects their self-esteem in very negative ways.

The media also portrays women’s bodies into objects through advertisements. In the video, there was a clip shown of an advertisement by Heineken and the woman in the commercial’s body was morphed into a beer keg to appeal to a male dominated audience. The big issue with this is that men learn through the media that it is normalized to objectify women. Another main issue that was discussed in the film was that because of what the media has done with women’s body images, this is a key reason to why there are many eating disorders in the world among women. American beauty ideals have spread globally, when television was introduced to Fiji, there was a huge spike in eating disorders among the women. Another key topic in the film was how women and men are both portrayed in the media. There was a huge difference, women were shown to look weak while men were shown as stronger. The speaker emphasized that this is why women are often raped and abused by men due to the portrayal of the big power differences between them. The media also uses sex to sell almost everything. Because of this, women at very young ages feel very sexualized and encourages them to act like strippers and objectify themselves. When girls are exposed to these sexualized advertisements by the media they are at risk for three of the most common behavioral disorders. These disorders include depression, low self-esteem, and eating disorders. Women are suffering from these media portrayals and it has very negative effects on them. This is a very big public health problem and the public needs to be more educated to alter these norms of society.

The film was very upsetting to me and made me really understand the struggle that women go through from the media. This is a problem that our society needs to address, women should not have to live their lives feeling ashamed of who they are due to impossible standards of beauty. The media shames women and lowers their self-esteem for their own gain. It is unfair that women get portrayed as weak by the media then portray men the very opposite. Because of the media, most women will live their lives feeling inferior and less confident because of their learned experiences through the media. This isn’t because of genetic differences, this is because the media knows that if they keep successfully putting down women then they will continue to buy their products due to their low self-esteem. The media has been doing this since it’s creation, it continues because it has been successful and women have always been taught to feel this way in American culture. I thought that the film did a good job in explaining all these ways that the media portrays women. This helped me understand how and why this all happens. The speaker had so many different advertisements to show to the audience, all of them had significance to each point she was explaining.

The ads that were shown were disgusting and very humiliating to women, this allowed the audience to almost be able to feel what the women who see all of these feel. One of the ads that were shown had a slogan that said that their personality will never be how they attract guys, and that it will be how they look in the jeans they were selling. Another thing that made my jaw drop during this film was when the speaker talked about a model who died from anorexia. This made me realize that women are so concerned about their body image that they can even come close to death or in some cases die. This was so saddening and broke my heart, the media’s impossible standards of beauty is damaging women. The expectations that are put onto women are very cruel. I couldn’t believe all of the expectations that women have in American culture. They are expected to be sexy and innocent, also experienced but virginal. They are expected to be hot because it is the biggest measure of success. Not only are they expected to be hot but there were specific traits that were mentioned that are viewed as attractive. These traits included being thin, young, and light skinned. They are also expected to be objects in our society. All of these expectations are cruel and unfair, I hope that our society gets better educated on this topic. It is important that we evolve as a society and take action to prevent this from further damaging women in our culture.

The research article that I chose was called, “The Role of Media Exposure in Adolescent Girls’ Body Dissatisfaction and Drive for Thinness: Prospective Results.” The purpose of this article was to study the correlation of media exposure and how it affects how they feel about their body. The study used 214 female high school students. This study was done by the experimental design. The study collected data by using questionnaires. The experiment collected data on media exposure with magazines and television, how they viewed their appearance, how they internalized their appearance, and if they weren’t happy with their bodies. The study found that it wasn’t the amount of media that they were exposed to that had an effect, it was how they responded to the media. The individual’s characteristics was the key role in how they construe the media and internalize it. Therefore, not everyone is affected by the media’s ways, only certain individuals who internalize it differently than others. The study has confirmed that adolescence is a time where girls are not necessarily happy with their bodies and there is a motivation to be skinny. The study also showed that adolescent girl’s views of their bodies may already be stable by the time they enter into high school.

The study cannot prove that media is the reason for girl’s negative body images, but they are related. The choices of the media that the girls chose was the important variable involved and was directly related to negative body image. If girls change the media that they are getting their negative information than that will have a direct effect. The study indicated that that most important thing for young adolescent girls was their appearance schemas and if they had positive appearance schemas then the effect of media exposure would be less. The problem I had with this study was with the questions that were asked to the participants. The study used a scale that indicated if they were unsatisfied with their body images, how they viewed beauty, and their appearance schemas. The problem with this is that as adolescent girls they have already been exposed to media for quite some time now. They may have already developed their standards of beauty and schemas from the earliest of ages. I think that the media already had affected these girls and the study cannot detect that. This study was directly related to the movie because it studied the effect that the media exposure had on young adolescent girls. Although the results weren’t exactly what I thought they would be, it still showed that the media does have an effect on certain adolescent girls but not all of them.