ABSTRACT

Society’s concern for the manner in which adolescents negotiate the critical teenage years is evident. At the very broadest of levels, there are discussion forums and studies considering how our materialistic society is shaping youths at an increasingly younger age with values that give precedence to the quest for material things over other more time enduring values (Achenreiner, 1997; Kasser et al., 1995; Goldberg et al., 2003). Of more immediate concern are the risky behaviors that teens engage in including drug usage, underage alcohol consumption (National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2003); and smoking cigarettes (USDHHS, 1994). Inevitably, this leads to a consideration of what/who the critical in uencers are and how to o set/counter these in uences.