Relationships with peers change at this time as well. This social reorganization of social life involves at least four major changes:
1) Peer interaction increases even more than it did during middle childhood. High school students spend twice as much time with their peers outside school as they do with their parents or other adults.
2) Adolescent peer groups function with less guidance and control from adults than do the peer groups of younger children. Instead of being confined to local neighbourhoods, adolescent peer groups draw their members from many neighbourhoods, and they are more likely to find ways to ensure that no parents or other adult authorities are observing their actions.
3) As adolescents increasingly distance themselves from adults, most seek out members of the other sex. This gender reorganization is a major reason for reorganization of peer groups during adolescence.
4) Peer groups increase in size at the same time that friendships and other close relationships increase in intensity.
Related Links
Adolescent Psychology
Puberty
Friendships
Sex
Parental Relationships
Identity
Child Psychology
Developmental Psychology
Problems of Teens & Children