Adult Influence on Teenagers

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As teenage children grow into adults multiple things can change who they are, but could the biggest factor be the adults around them? Parents and celebrities have the biggest influence on teenagers, how they act, who they date, what they wear, and their moral standards. Who a teenager becomes is based on who they are around and how involved their parents are in their lives. Parents influence who a child dates and even at what age a child has sexual relations for the first time. In a research brief done by Child Trends a survey was done asking children what influenced them on what age they decided to have sexual relations. This brief proved that if children have a positive relationship with parents can cause children to delay having sexual relations and lessen the risk of teenage pregnancy (Moore). Half of the teens interviewed in this brief said that their parents influenced this decision and half of the people that were parents of teenagers said that their adolescent’s friends influenced with who and when teens had sexual relations (Moore). A computer model was built to show if parents influenced who their children date. This model showed that parents are willing to give more to support their children if they believe it will give them more surviving grandchildren. When parents were allowed to intervene in who their children, specifically daughters, they tended to support the daughter who had needier boyfriends more than others. Seem odd? When parents did this type of support they maximized the number of surviving grandchildren. This generosity done by parents was exploited by their children over generations, once children figured out that they could get more resources from their parents if they dated poorer partners less suited... ... middle of paper ... ...how this evolutionary trend. When parents were allowed to intervene in who their daughters dated it made them more likely to support boyfriends that didn’t have very many resources. By helping needier children the parents increased their amount of surviving grand kids. But this generosity was exploited by the needier daughters by them choosing less suitable mates, like your common bad boys and menaces to society. The needier daughter gets the same amount of money that her pickier sisters get without having to wait for the perfect man. Overtime as this trait was discovered more daughters took this way to getting support, and over time the amount of caring son-in-laws decreased. Cultural factors, personal development, and chance events have a far greater effect on who daughters will choose than genes, but it seems obvious that evolution has played an important role.

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