Social Relationships (2)

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Social Relationships

Social Relationships

What is a Social Relationship?

  • Involves dynamics of social interactions, bounded and regulated by social and cultural norms, between two or more people, each having a social position and performing a social role.
  • Characteristics:
    • Less intimate
    • Lesser self-disclosure
    • May still be exclusive
    • May demand a certain level of loyalty

Social Relationships in Middle and Late Adolescence

  • Adolescents usually find themselves in the company of their peers, often forming neighborhoods.
  • They mature faster socially and learn new lessons.

Impact of Youth Group Involvement

Teenagers who join youth groups and other clubs are:

  • Happier
  • Less likely to drink or smoke

Research Findings:

  • Adolescents who belong to youth groups and clubs lead happier lives and are less likely to drink or smoke.
  • Although exposed to more peer pressure, they are more socially able and likely to be physically active.
  • Researchers from the University of Hertfordshire found they are less likely to smoke and have been drunk compared to their peers, and they are more likely to eat fruits and vegetables regularly.

Community Activity

Definition: Part of civic responsibility; engaging in community activities out of choice rather than obligation.

Be Active in Your Community by:

  1. Joining a youth club, scouting group, or a local environmental/cleanup group.
  2. Helping with a primary school play or coordinating/coaching junior sports.
  3. Setting up an arts space for the community or getting involved in youth radio.
  4. Being part of a youth advisory group through the local council.
  5. Promoting causes like a clean environment, recycling, or getting active in sports.

What Can You Get from Being Involved in Community Activities?

Remember! Any involvement is good!

Benefits:

  1. Role Models:
    • Contact with like-minded peers and positive adult role models beyond parents.
    • Encourages seeing the world in different ways and puts personal family experiences into a broader context.
  2. Identity and Connection:
    • Helps young people work out who they are and where they fit in the world.
    • Provides a positive way to understand oneself as helpful, generous, political, or a "good person."
    • Creates a sense of connection to the local community and the wider world.
  3. Skills:
    • Offers opportunities to apply existing skills.
    • Teaches important life skills like managing free time while balancing leisure, work, and study.
    • Examples:
      • Cooking Skills: Involved in feeding programs or school fundraising projects.
      • Voluntary Work: Helping out at an animal shelter.
  4. Self-Confidence, Mental Health, and Well-Being:
    • Learn to deal with challenges, communicate with diverse individuals, and build life skills in a supportive environment.
    • Protects against sadness and depression, reducing the likelihood of substance abuse, mental illness, and criminal activity.

Social Influence

Definition: Describes how our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors respond to our social world, including tendencies to conform, follow social rules, and obey authority figures.

Types of Social Influence:

  1. Conformity:
    • A change of behavior or belief as a result of real or imagined group pressure.
  2. Identification:
    • When a person is influenced by someone they like.
  3. Internalization:
    • When a person owns a certain belief or action and is willing to express it publicly or privately.

Types of Conformity:

  1. Normative Influence:
    • Conformity based on the person's desire to fulfill others' expectations, often to gain acceptance.
  2. Informational Influence:
    • Conformity occurring when individuals accept evidence about reality provided by others.

Other Types of Influence:

  1. Conversion: When an individual wholeheartedly changes their original thinking and beliefs to align with those of the group.
  2. Minority Influence: When a larger group is influenced by a smaller one.
  3. Reactance: Willing rejection of social influence.
  4. Obedience: Following what someone else tells you to do without necessarily agreeing with it.
  5. Persuasion: Used by one person or group to influence another.

Leadership

Definition: Encouraging a group to get things done while maintaining good relations.

Theories of Leadership:

  1. Trait Theory: Leadership is based on certain characteristics.
  2. Behavioral Theory: Leadership is learned behavior.
  3. Participative Theory: Involves others in making common decisions.
  4. Situational Theory: No one style of leadership is effective in all situations.
  5. Transactional Theory: Usually employs reward or punishment.
  6. Transformational Theory: Visionary leaders rally everyone to make the vision happen.
  7. Servant Leadership: Focuses on serving others rather than self-interest.

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