Just a few days following the awards, recognition, and graduation ceremony at my elementary school where I spent most of the time giving out or receiving some accolade, I started at ground zero. On my first day at junior high I had nothing, I was nothing, and I was scared. While transitions may be similar for most adolescents and transitions may be unique to particular adolescents, all adolescents share one common occurrence - the experience of transition. These experiences may be successful and lead to happiness or they may be troublesome and lead to failure. Parents and peers play a crucial role in assisting adolescents with the outcomes of transitions, and this article will focus on how peers can assist each other with transitions and the role parents can play in helping their children make successful transitions.
Peers can and do act as positive role models.
Peers can and do demonstrate appropriate social behaviours. Peers often listen to, accept, and understand the frustrations, challenges, and concerns associated with being a teenager. Peers provide an opportunity for teens to meet their needs, to feel capable, to belong, to be respected, and to have fun. While young people often experience these needs being met within the family, the peer group provides unique and different opportunities to meet these needs. The peer group encourages autonomy, mutuality, and experimentation with self guided roles.