Читать книгу Counseling the Contemporary Woman - Suzanne Degges-White - Страница 62

Adolescent girls tend to spend increasing amounts of time with their friends, and they shift their dependency onto them as they grow away from their parents (Degges-White & Borzumato-Gainey, 2011). Peers become the most significant source of support for many adolescents, and it is through these relationships that adolescents construct their identity. They rely on social comparison and attribution substitution, such as trying on or borrowing various behaviors of their friends to shape their own sense of identity (Degges-White & Borzumato-Gainey, 2011). Girls tend to seek more connection, support, and understanding in relationships they develop and maintain (Gilligan, 1982; Jordan, Kaplan, Miller, Stiver, & Surrey, 1991), and these are selected from available peers (e.g., classmates, block friends). In groups or cliques, girls will operate according to the principles of group dynamics, such as norms, roles, selections, and expectations (Cohen & Prinstein, 2006); therefore, they are easily influenced by others, even if it is in a negative way. Adolescent girls can also be a source of stress rather than support to each other. They can perpetrate aggression by spreading rumors, gossiping about others, attempting to ruin relationships, and manipulating and excluding others (Centifanti & Modecki, 2013). Clinicians should help adolescents assess their support networks and friendships groups to determine whether or not the relationships are providing the support she would prefer.