Teens often get into trouble because they follow their peers. Peer pressure is huge factor in how likely teens are to abuse drugs/alcohol and commit crimes. According to The Adolescent Substance Abuse Knowledge Base, 30% of teens are offered drugs in middle school and high school. In high school, 74.3% of students have tried alcohol. Approximately 400,000 teens have joined gangs, and juveniles account for 13.7% of violent crimes.
What needs to be considered is why teens end up giving into peer pressure. These are the most common reasons:
They want to feel as though they belong.
They want more friends.
They have low self-esteem and they feel better about themselves when others like them.
They have a bad home life because the parent suffers from alcoholism or drug addiction, etc.
The problem is that once teens get into a peer group, they often have a difficult time getting out of it, especially when in a gang. They end up in a whirlwind of constant struggles with doing what their peers are doing vs. what is right. For those who have been within a group for a long time, they often lose sight of what is good vs. bad. They believe adults are wrong, and their friends know what’s right for them. They cannot see how their peers are leading them down the wrong path.
Getting Your Troubled Teen Out of the Mess
When a troubled teen has fallen into the abyss of peer pressure, it can be difficult to pull him out. Even if it is possible to separate him from the influence of his peers, the behaviors that he has learned may be so ingrained it can be difficult to modify them. Many parents who have moved to try to save their troubled teen from succumbing to their peers’ influences will tell you that it didn’t solve the problem. Usually, teens simply find other friends who are similar to the ones they left behind because they identify with them the most. This continues the problems that started before the move. The best solution is to move the teen away from his current location/situation, and place them where they can’t connect with troubled peers.
Therapeutic boarding schools for boys is perfect for troubled teens. Parents can remain at home, while their son goes enrolls in a program especially designed to help troubled teens learn a better way to live life. Troubled boys come together to identify with one another and instead of joining forces to get into trouble, they join forces to understand why their parents have sent them to the program. Through the assistance the therapeutic boarding school for boys offers, troubled teens become well-adjusted teens who are ready to face young adulthood with great promise.
Contact us today more information about Sundance Canyon Academy.