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Adolescence is an important time in a person’s life, and many things can cause it to be a stressful time where young adults are trying to find themselves and where they fit in society. One of the most stressful aspects of adolescence is the importance that adolescents place on being accepted by their group of friends and feeling like they fit in. Popularity is important throughout a person’s life, and there is a great amount of importance placed on finding the right clique or group of friends during the adolescent years. Befriending the popular group in school can boost a person’s social position, and it also gives them more power and influence. There are five pathways or routes that adolescents can take in order to be accepted by their peers, and these are conformity, achievement, participation, physical attractiveness, and deviance. There is quite a bit of difference between some of these routes, but they all are successful ways to be accepted by a friend group or clique during the years of adolescence.
The first pathway to acceptance that Kim Dolgin discusses in the textbook is the conformity.
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One of the more controversial ways that adolescents seek acceptance from other people is through deviant behavior. Adolescents make participate in activities that are unsafe or unlawful, or they may just befriend a group of people who are known for trouble making. Dolgin explains that “whereas overly aggressive, hostile behavior may be unacceptable in society as a whole, it may be required in a gang as a condition of membership” (Dolgin, 2011, p. 253). This is just one example of how deviate behavior can be used to achieve acceptance within a group, and other examples include the use of recreational drugs, alcohol, and other illegal substances. These behaviors are considered deviate in society, but are often used by adolescents to impress and become a part of friend