That is why they are nervous wrecks on the first day of school or before the team plays its initial game or any other time when their power base is on the line. The raw nerve is not really dominance, but self-esteem. One's sense of worth is dependent on peer acceptance at that age, and that is why the group holds such enormous influence over the individual. If he is mocked, disrespected, ridiculed and excluded, he is stripped of his power and his delicate ego is torn to shreds. As we have said, that is a fate worse than death itself.
Social panic is the by-product of that system.
Boredom is dangerous to energetic teenagers. The strong-willed adolescent simply must not be given large quantities of unstructured time. He or she will find destructive ways to use such moments. My advice is to get them involved in the best church youth program you can find. If your local congregation has only four bored members in its junior high department and seven sleepy high schoolers, I would consider changing churches.