on saturday the 22nd of march there is this interesting yet sad write up about teenage girls in Singapore getting involved with gangs, hurting themselves physically to deal with emotional hurts, selling their body in exchange for material satisfaction.
Girls joining gangs are no longer mostly from broken homes. Is it the change of attitudes teens have nowadays or that the need for both parents to work in today's society in order to support the family thus not being able to give enough attention and spend time with their children? Teens turn to friends whom they feel are giving them the attention and love that they don't get at home. They felt great when they're being praised by their peers, whereas, when they're at home, they get reprimed.
Under the influence of peers, they broke the law by selling illegal cigarettes, DVDs etc to earn fast cash in order to pay for the 'fun' activities they do in their groups. Also, many of them had sex because they didn't want to be the 'uncool' one who is still a virgin when friends around them had already tried it. Other than not wanting to be outcasted, curiousity also leads to 'joining' what peers do. One part of the article covers on teenage girls cutting themselves to deal with emotional hurt. A girl saw her peers cutting themselves and she too cut herself when she was being badmouthed by friends, this made her felt clamer. These few events relates to one of the key elements of social psychology, how one is being influenced by people around.
Some of these girls post photographs of themselves dressed in skimpy outfits similar to those of MTV stars and celebraties on popular social network websites like Friendster. With the wide range of media available, it's effect plays a huge part in social influence, therefore, where these teens' dressing influenced by what they saw on TV or the internet? The media do have an effect on girls wanting to dress the way celebs appear on TV.
The source of influence is not only by people around us, one can also be influenced by other sources like the media.
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