ABSTRACT
This chapter explores why friends, the peer group and social life matter so much to young people. Communication between friends has become so much easier, whilst on the other it can be argued that digital technology has led to communication itself becoming a central feature of friendship at this age. To a parent it can sometimes feel as if the teenager's friends are a bit of a threat. While young people can choose their friends, they cannot choose the larger peer group. The more involved and supportive the family is, the fewer opportunities there will be for the peer group to exercise a negative influence on teenage behaviour. Some experience rejection from the peer group because of their own aggressive or inappropriate behaviour. Those who experience rejection will have a different sort of social problem. All schools are required to have an anti-bullying policy and parents have a right to know what that is.
