SUGGESTIONS FOR BUILDING ASSETS

Asset # 15- Positive Peer Influence

(Young people have friends who set good examples)

To Build Asset # 15 Parents and Extended Family Can . . .

* Discuss peer influence and friendship within the family. Talk about it without lecturing, and give thoughtful feedback to kids' concerns. Be an "ask able parent" about all kinds of behavior.

* Have your children bring their friends to your home. Let them benefit from being around the responsible role models and positive setting you offer.

* Share your expectations for behavior with your children's friends, especially if your standards are different from their own or their family's. Respond positively when they honor your boundaries.

* Share some of your own experiences with good and bad peer influence. Share a time when you had to let go of an unhealthy friendship. Share a time when you influenced a friend in a way you later regretted.

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60% of youth surveyed by Search Institute have this asset in their lives.*

*Based on Search Institute surveys of almost 100,000 6th to 12th grade youth throughout the United States

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News You Can Use

It is commonly known that a teen's friends have a strong influence on his/her behavior. Because humans tend to be "normative" and often blend into the norms that we find ourselves surrounded by, we need to be aware of the group norms and behaviors that effect us. Too often, teens have not yet developed the insights necessary to understand the gravitational pull of these norms and behaviors - either positive or negative - upon their lives.