If a person is influenced by a peer their judgment on the normal course of events is swayed and they may not even be aware of it. As a person is growing up and going through their teenage years especially, their life may be full off peer influence and this can get them into a lot of trouble. Peer influence is very powerful, if you do not rise to the challenges that are put in front of you by your peers you could be banned from their group. For some people these friends are the only ones that they have and even if they are not the best of friends every one needs to fell some kind of belonging. A lot of the time the reason teens will stay with a certain group and not leave is because they do not think they can get any sort of sense of belonging from anybody else namely their family. The main thing for teens is to have supportive and caring parents, if teens feel acceptance at home they will not be as susceptible to going out and hanging around with anybody just to feel some compassion. They will then be more capable of finding a group that does not revolve around drugs and alcohol. It is important to keep children motivated and in school, give them room to make decisions but give them some advice and the knowledge they need to make wise and informed decisions. This is a vital stage in ones life and one decision could ruin your entire future. I knew a girl that was 15 and in level 3 when she became pregnant with a 27 year old. The parents were not the most caring and considerate, they did not take it upon themselves to have much say in who this young lady hung out with. Teens always hate it when there parents dig into their lives but I know for a fact that this girl would very well have liked to have her parents be a larger part of her life back then and help her make better decisions. Presently she is still awaiting her baby and has not been in school this year at all, she has no idea what she is going to do with her life but her choices became very limited when her life changed so drastically after one bed choice.