Peer Pressure and Relationships Between Girls
Books and movies have popularized the terms "mean girls" and "queen bees." But they're just new labels placed on behaviors that have been going on for decades. A girl or teen may see it as advice from friends, or realize it's peer pressure, but feel unable to resist. Several resources can help you navigate these tricky relationships.
Book review of the young adult novel "Brutal" by Michael Harmon, in which a teenage girl, a newcomer to Benders Hollow High School, stands up to her peers and school administrators to help a classmate who's a victim of bullying.
A review of the WE tv series "High School Confidential," an 8 hour documentary that looks at what high school is really like from the perspective of 12 teenage girls from freshman through senior year.
The strange tale of 13-year-old Megan Meier, who killed herself after a failed relationship on MySpace, and Lori Drew, the mother of one of Megan's friends, who faked the MySpace account to avenge her daughter.
Despite all the talk that most teen pregnancies are unplanned, some teen girls become pregnant by choice. In 2008, a sudden surge in teen pregnancies occurred at Gloucester High School in Massachusetts. The 17 pregnancies quadrupled the pregnancy rate of the previous year. Was there a pregnancy pact? Why did the girls want to become pregnant, and what influenced their decisions?
You're more likely to have heard about girls bullying girls or mean girls than the phrase "relational aggression." It's a term used to describe how girls use the guise of friendship to cover a subtle but devastating form of victimization.
When a girl is bullied by another girl, parents may attribute her moody or withdrawn behavior to normal hormonal changes in adolescence. But these behaviors are not normal and may indicate a problem that requires your intervention.
When it comes to relational aggression and girl-on-girl bullying, parents need to step in and intervene. Suggestions and resources to help your daughter cope and heal from the experience.
