Chapter 7 was interesting and informative for a variety of reasons. First off, I enjoyed reading about adolescent peer relations. Being that I am in my twenties, remembering high school is much easier than relating the information back to my days in grade school. The book mentioned that teenagers spend 1/3 of their waking time with their peers. After thinking about this statistic I almost think that peers spend more than 1/3 of their time with their friends. Due to technology teenagers can "spend time" with their friends online with facebook, twitter, and instant messagner. Many adolescents are members of groups, clubs, and athletic teams where they are with their peers. Since teens are spending so much of their time with their friends it is easy to see how they confide and trust their peers. As a teenager, I also spent a lot of my free time with my friends and went to them in times of crisis whether is be trouble with a boyfriend, school issues, or after a fight with my parents. Peers play an extremely important role in a teenagers life.

It is also interesting to see how peers can influence one's choices. Teenagers are faced with their peers and society telling them how to act. During week 1 I wrote about how teenagers are often conflicted with the issue of sex. Some adolescents decide that they want to abstain from sex until marriage and they may chose to wear a purity ring which is symbolic of this choice. TV shows like South Park have made fun of celebrities who also chose to wear purity rings. In Arizona, they teach abstainance in high school and students hear one side and then media tells them to have sex because if not society will make fun of you and you will be a loner. This is just one of the many issues that teens are faced with and another reason that they tend to stick with peers who have the same interest and morals.