Groups And Group Development Commerce Essay

Groups And Group Development Commerce Essay Many people used the word team and group interchangeably, but there are actually a differences between the word team and group. It is much easier to form a group than a team. In group, they could be grouped according to gender, experience, age or other common factors. Although the effectiveness of the group may be variable, but forming a group just based on a certain commonality is not particularly difficult. A groups strength may come from sheer volume or willingness to carry out a single leaders commands. On the other hand, a team can be more difficult to form. The members will selected for their complementary skills, not a single commonality. In a team, each member has a purpose and a function. So the overall success depends on a functional interpersonal dynamic. When working together in this way, there is usually not as much room for conflict. A teams strength depends on the commonality of purpose and interconnectivity between individual members. GROUPS AND GROUP DEVELOPMENT Although most groups arent formed for such dishonest purposes, the success of this group at its task was impressive (Stephen and Mary, 2007). Managers would like their groups to be successful at their tasks and the first step is understanding what is a group and how its develop. 2.1 Group Definition According to Stephen and Mary (2009), a group can be defined as two or more interacting and interdependent individuals who come together to achieve specific goals. . Although a groups often have goals, but theres not state that group members must share a goal or motivation. 2.2 Types of Group There are two types of group which is formal group and informal group. Formal group will designated work assignments and specific tasks directed at accomplishing organizational goals and defined by an organizations structure. There are four examples of formal work groups ( Sidin J.P, 2011) : Command group groups that are determined by the organization chart and composed of individuals who report directly to a given manager. Task group groups composed of individuals brought together to complete a specific job task. Cross-functional teams groups that bring together the knowledge and skills of individuals various work areas of groups whose members have been trained to do each others job. Self-managed teams groups that are essentially independent and that, in addition to their own tasks, take on traditional managerial responsibilities, such as hiring, planning and scheduling, and evaluating performance. While informal groups are group-based social elements. These groups occur naturally in the workplace and is more concerned with friendship and common interests. A friendship group is friend who do many activities together and it is relatively permanent and informal, and its benefits from the social relationship among its members. Meanwhile, the common interest such as bowling group and womens network is relatively temporary and is organized around an activity or interest shared by its members. 2.3 Stage of Group Development http://gmx.xmu.edu.cn/ews/business/management/ABrobbins4_15_09.gif Exhibit 2.1 Stage of Group Development ( Sidin J. P. , 2011) 2.3.1 forming Forming stage is the first stage in group development. This stage has two phases. In a formal group, people join because of some work assignment. The second phase begins when the people joined the formal group. Then these people define the groups purpose, structure, and leadership. This stage is complete when members begin to think of themselves as part of a group. 2.3.2 storming When group members get to know each other better, the storming stage begins. This storming stage named because of the intragroup conflict that occurs over who will control the group and what the group needs to be doing. This stage is characterized by a bid for power. There are six characteristics of the storming stage which is competition, strained relationships, leader is challenged, tension and disunity, differences are uncomfortable, and the issues of autonomy vs. control support vs. competition influence decision-making. When this stage is complete, there is a relatively clear hierarchy of leadership and agreement on the groups direction. 2.3.3 norming The norming stage is one in which close relationship develop and the group become cohesive and has begun to be effective. Theres now a strong sense of group identity and camaraderie. This stage will be complete when the group structure has been assimilated as a common set of expectations about behavior and become solid. There are some characteristics about this stage : Issues of strengthening relationships, open communication, positive/constructive feedback. Increased cohesion Emerging trust More collaboration Appreciation of differences 2.3.4 performing The fourth stage of group development is performing. Many groups never reach the performing stage. Â  This is the stage at which would be an excellent customer service and to create an impressive examples. The group structure is in place and accepted by group members. In this stage, characteristics include productivity, full development of the potential of the group and the individuals in the group, harmony and effective problem-solving. This is the last stage of development for permanent work groups. 2.3.5 adjourning The final stage is adjourning. In this stage, the group prepares to disband. Group members will react in some way that is independent of a confident and excited about the performance of their group. While, others may be sad over the loss of camaraderie and friendship. Thats why more attention is focused on wrapping activities rather than task performance. WORK GROUP PERFORMANCE AND SATISFACTION A work group is include the organizations strategy, authority relationships, formal rules and regulations, the availability of resources, employee selection criteria, the performance management system and culture, and the general physical layout of the groups work space. Thats mean a work group was affected by external conditions (Stephen and Mary, 2009).Exhibit 3.1 Group Performance Satisfaction Model (Sidin J. P. , 2011) 3.1 Group Member Resources Group member resources is a groups performance potential that depends on a large extent on the resources each individual brings that group. These resources include personality traits, knowledge, skills, and abilities. They will determine what members can do and how effectively they perform in that group. There especially conflict management and resolution, communication, and collaborative problem solving in interpersonal skills. Its consistently emerge as important to perform well in a work group. The group performance also affected by personality traits because they strongly influence how an individual will interact with the other group members. 3.2 Group Structure Work group arent unorganized crowds. They have an internal structure that shapes members behavior and influences group performance. The structure defines roles, norms, conformity, status systems, group size, group cohesiveness, and leadership. Roles A role refers to behavior patterns expected of someone occupying a given position in a social unit. In an organization, managers arent the only one individual who play the various roles. In a group, individuals are expected to do certain things because of their position in the group. Besides that, the different expectations of these roles, make the employees face role conflict. 3.2.2 Norms All groups have norms. A norm is a standards or expectations that are accepted and shared by a groups members (Stephen and Mary,2009). Norms that exist within the group structure emphasizes such things as punctuality, work output, absenteeism, speed to complete the work, and the amount of socializing at work. Norms that exist within the group structure will enhance the action of antisocial individuals. Conformity Each individual would like to be accepted by the society around. As well as individuals who are in a group in the organization. However, they are too afraid not accepted by other group members, then the vulnerability pressure to conform. Early experiments done by Solomon Asch demonstrated the impact of the conformity has on an individuals attitudes and judgment. Next, people tend to find it more pleasant to agree than to be disruptive even it will improve the groups effectiveness. So we conform. But conformity can go too far when an individuals opinion differs significant from the others in that group. When this happens, a phenomenon that known as groupthink will appear. Groupthink will occur when there is a clear identity, group perceives a collective threat to positive image and members will hold this positive group image that they want to protect. Exhibit 3.2 Examples of Aschs Cards ( Sidin J. P. , 2011) Status Systems Status systems are an important factor in understanding groups. Status is a position, rank within a group and a prestige grading. Status can be formally and informally. Status is formally and its important to employees believe that the organizations formal status systems is congruent. Theres consistency between the status symbols he or she receives from the organization and the perceived ranking of an individual. While, the informally of the status systems is may be conferred by characteristic such as skill, education, or experiences. Anything can have status value if the members of the group evaluate it that way. Group members have no problem to placing into status category. Usually the group members will agree about who has low or high status. Group Size According to Moorhead and Griffin (2001), group size is the number of members of the group and have an important effect on performance. Group size will affect the number of resources available to perform the task, but the effect depends on what the group is supposed to accomplish. One important research finding related to group size concerns social loafing ( Stephen and Mary,2009). Social loafing is the tendency of some members of groups to put forth less effort in a group than they would when work alone. The implications of social loafing are significant. When managers use groups, they must identify the individual effort. If not, group productivity and individual satisfaction may decline. Group Cohesiveness According to Moorhead and Griffin (2001), group cohesiveness is the extent to which a group is committed to remaining together. Group cohesiveness very important because its related with a groups productivity. Some research has generally shown that cohesive groups are more effective than less cohesive ones (Stephen and Mary, 2009) and the relationship between cohesiveness and effectiveness is complex. The more the members follow its goal, the more cohesive for that group. A cohesive group is more productive than a less cohesive group when the goals are desirable. But, the productivity will decrease when the cohesiveness is high and attitudes are unfavorable. In this case, theres no significant effect on productivity when cohesiveness is low and goals are not supported. Exhibit 3.3 Group Cohesiveness and Productivity ( Sidin J. P. , 2011) Group Processes Group processes are important to understanding work group because they will influence the performance and satisfaction positively or negatively. The synergy of four people on marketing research team who are able to generate more ideas than work individually is an example of positive process factor. While, the group that have negative process factor such as social loafing, poor communication and high levels of conflict, that may hinder the effectiveness of the group. There are two important group process : Group decision-making Its an organization that doesnt use task forces, review panels, study team or other similar groups to making a decision. In group decision-making, there are such of advantage to do it. Some of that is groups can generate more knowledge and compete information for their work. Besides that, they will have an experience when work in group to make a decision process that an individual cannot. In addition, groups will increase legitimacy. Decision made in a group more legitimacy than decisions that made by self. While, the disadvantage to do this group decision-making is that almost group always take more time to reach a solution than would an individual. Another disadvantage is the critical thinking that group think can determine will harm the quality of final decision. If we want to determine whether groups are effective at making decision, it depends on the criteria that used to assess effectiveness. The group decision may work best when its creativity, accuracy, and degree of acceptan ce are important. Beside of that, the decision effectiveness is influenced by the group size. Exhibit 3.4 Creative Group Decision Making ( Sidin J. P. , 2011) Conflict management Conflict is perceived incompatible differences that result in interference or opposition (Stephen and Mary, 2009). In conflict management, there are three different views such as traditional view of conflict, human relations view of conflict, and interactionist view of conflict. The traditional view of conflict is the view that all conflict is bad and must be avoided. Meanwhile, the human relations view of conflict is the conflict that is natural and inevitable outcome in any group but has potential to be positive force in contributing to a groups performance. The interactionist view of conflict is the most recent view. Its proposes that not only be a positive force in a group, but some conflict is absolutely necessary for the group to perform effectively. Exhibit 3.5 Conflict and Group Performance (Sidin J. P. , 2011) There are more conflict such as functional conflicts, dysfunctional conflicts, task conflicts, relationship conflicts, and process conflict because the interactionist view doesnt suggest that all conflicts are good. Exhibit 3.6 Conflict- management Techniques ( Sidin J.P, 2011) 3.3 Group Task Group task are either simple and complex. Simple task are standardized and routine. While, complex task tends non-routine or to be novel. Its appear when the more group benefits from group discussion about alternative work methods, so the more complex of that tasks. In this situation, group members will rely on standard operating procedures and no need to discuss such alternatives for a simple task. Thus, the tasks are complex and interdependent when effective communication and controlled conflict are most relevant to group performance. 4.0 TURNING GROUPS INTO EFFECTIVE TEAMS From group there will turning to teams. In teams all of the members will working together to achieve the common goals. A team is not just a people who work at the same time in the same place. Most of the people that work in a team are not all equal in talent, education, or experience, but they are equal in one vitally important way. Team relationships fulfill that basic needs. 4.1 Teams Definition According to Williams (2007), work team is a small number of people that work together with complementary skills who hold themselves mutually accountable for pursuing a common purpose, improving interdependent work processes and achieving performance goals. In many industries, teams are importance because they help organizations respond to challenges and specific problems. 4.2 Advantages and Disadvantages of Work Team In work as a team, there will have a lot of advantages and disadvantages. The advantages when work as a team is: Improved customer satisfaction Improved product and services quality Improved speed and efficiency in product development Employee job satisfaction Better decision making and problem solving Meanwhile, the disadvantages of work as a team is : Initially high employee turnover Social loafing Disadvantages of group decision such as groupthink, inefficient meetings, domination by a minority, and lack of accountability. 4.3 Groups Versus Teams Work teams Work groups Leadership role is shared. One leader clearly in charge. Accountable to self and team. Accountable only to self. Team creates specific purpose. Purposed is same as broader organizational purpose. Work is done collectively Work is done individually. Meetings characterized by open- ended discussion and collaborative problem-solving. Meetings characterized by efficiency; no collaboration or open-ended discussion. Performance is measured directly by evaluating collective work output. Performance is measured indirectly according to its influence on others. Work is decided upon and done together. Work is decided upon by group leader and delegated to individual group members. Table 4.1 Source: J. R. Katzenbach and D. K. Smith. The Wisdom of Teams, Harvard Business Review, July-August 2005, p.161. 4.4 Types Of Teams Teams can do all of things. They can design products, coordinate projects, offer advice, provide services, negotiate deals, and make decisions (William, 2007). Work teams is a groups whose members work intensely on a specific, common goals, individual and mutual accountability, using their positive synergy, and complementary skills. There are several types of teams: Types of team Explanation Problem-solving teams A team from the same functional area or department thats involved in efforts to solve specific problems or improve work activities. Self-managed work team A type of work team that operates without a manager and is responsible for a complete work segment or process. Cross-functional team It is a work team composed of individuals from various specialties. Virtual team Its a type of work team that uses technology to link physically dispersed members in order to achieve a common goals. Table 4.2 Types of team ( Sidin J. P. , 2011) 4.5 Creating Effective Work Teams Teams are not always achieve high levels of performance and also not always effective. However, research on teams provide insight into the characteristics typically associated with effective work teams. There are nine of characteristics of effective teams: Exhibit 4.1 Characteristics of Effectiveness Teams (Sidin J. P. , 2011) Characteristic Explanation Clear goals It is a high performance team that has clear understanding of the goal to be achieved. The members in the team will know what theyre expected to accomplish, committed to the teams goal, and understand how they will work together to achieve these goals. Relevant Skills Effective teams are composed of competent individuals that have the necessary interpersonal and technical skills to achieve the desired goals while working well together. This is important because not everyone who is technically competent has the interpersonal skill to work as a team members. Mutual Trust The effective teams are characterized by high mutual trust among the members. The members must believe in each others ability, integrity and character. This is because trust is fragile. So, maintaining trust requires careful attention by the managers. Unified Commitment This characteristic is characterized by dedication to a teams goals and a willingness to expend extraordinary amounts of energy to achieve them. Good Communication All of the effective teams will characterized by the good communication. Members convey messages, verbally and non-verbally, between each other in ways that are readily and clearly understood and the feedback will helps to guide team members and correct misunderstanding. Negotiating Skills Effective team will making adjustments to who does what and this requires team members to posses negotiating. This is because the problems and relationships are regularly changing in teams, and members need to be able confront and reconcile differences, Appropriate Leadership By clarifying goals, demonstrating that change is possible by increasing the self-confidence of team members, overcoming criteria, and helping members to more fully realize their potential. Internal Support The team should have sound infrastructure, which means proper training, a clear and reasonable measurement systems that team members can use to evaluate their overall performance, a supportive human resources system, and an incentive program that recognizes and rewards team activities. External Support In external support, managers should provide the team with resources needed to get the job done. Table 4.3 Characteristics of Effective Teams and The Explanation (Stephen and Mary, 2007) CHALLENGES IN MANAGING TEAMS Managers can build effective teams by understanding what influences the satisfaction and performance. But, manager will also face some current challenges in managing team, primarily to those that associated with managing global teams and with understanding organizational social networks ( Stephen and Mary, 2007). 5.1 Managing Global Teams There are two characteristics of todays organizations are obvious such as global and work is increasingly done by teams. That means that any manager would like to manage a global team. There are drawbacks and benefits in using the global teams. Drawbacks Benefits Disliking team members. Greater diversity of ideas. Mistrusting team members. Limited groupthink. Stereotyping. Increased attention on understanding others ideas, perspectives, etc. Communication problems. Stress and tension. Table 5.1 Global teams (source: based on N. Adler, International Dimensions in Organizational Behavior, 4Th Edition, pp.141-147) In addition, by using our group model as a framework, we can see some of the issues associated with managing global teams such as: Group Member Resources in Global Teams. In global organizations, understanding the relationship between group performance and group member resources is especially challenging because the unique cultural characteristics represented by members of a global teams (Stephen Mary, 2007). In addition, managers need to be familiar with the team members abilities, skills, knowledge, and personality to clearly understand the cultural characteristics of the group members that they manage. Group Structure. Some of the structural areas where we see differences in managing global teams include social loafing, cohesiveness, status, and conformity. Social loafing has a Western bias(Stephen Mary, 2007). Its consistent with individualistic cultures, such as the U. S. and Canada, which is dominated by self-interest but not consistent with collectivistic societies, in which individuals are motivated by group goals ( Sidin J. P., 2011). Cohesiveness is another group structural element with which managers will face the special challenges and its often more difficult to achieve because of the higher levels of mistrust, miscommunication, and stress. For status, it is important in France and depends on social origin and also the countries that have differ on the criteria that confer status. Besides that, to manage global teams, conformity also findings generalizable across culture. As might as expected, conformity to social norms tends to be higher in collectivistic cultures than in individualisti c cultures ( Sidin J.P., 2011). Group Processes. The process that global teams use to do their work can be particularly challenging for managers and for one thing communication issues often arise because not all team members may be fluent in the teams working language (Sidin J. P., 2011). This particular situation will lead to inaccuracies, inefficiencies, and misunderstanding. However, managing conflict in global teams isnt easy, especially when those teams are virtual teams because conflict can interfere with how a team uses information (Stephen Mary, 2007). The Managers Role. There are things that managers can do to provide a group with an environment in which effectiveness and efficiency are enhanced. First of all, because communication skills are vital, so managers should focus on developing those skills (Sidin J.P., 2011). Also, managers must consider cultural differences when deciding the type of global team to use. Finally, its vital that managers be sensitive to the unique differences of each member of a global team ( Stephen Mary,2007). CONCLUSION As a conclusion, work as a group will have a strong, clearly focused leader who had individual accountability and also have a purpose thats the same as the broader organizational mission. While, work as a team have some following characteristic such as, shared leadership roles, specific team purpose and so on. From this chapter, we know that group is two or more interacting and interdependent individuals who come together to achieve specific goals ( Stephen Mary, 2007). While, team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to common purpose, common performance goals, and an approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable (Griffin, 2006). Ginny V Lee in his article From Group to Team have said that in teams, they will shared the common purpose and goal. Besides that, team members also are interdependent because they understand that they need to work well as a unit inorder to complete their task. Ginny also said that skilled facilitation moves a group from a collection of individuals to an effective team.

Friends Make the Man Essay

The influence of friends is of massive importance in the novel Cry, the Beloved Country. Without his friends encouraging him, Absalom would most likely never have tried to rob Arthur Jarvis’ house, and he certainly would not have accidentally shot Arthur. Absalom said it himself when he told his father, â€Å"It was bad companions.† The reader is repeatedly reminded of this one condemning mistake: choosing bad friends results in dangerous activities. Another example of this message is the mother of Absalom’s child. Growing up, her family was practically nonexistent and it can be assumed that she didn’t have great friends to support and strengthen her. Instead, she always kept a man in her life and ended up the mother of a child out of wedlock with the father sentenced to death. If helpful family and friends had been available, her life would most likely have changed for the better. There are bad friends, nonexistent friends, but what about the good friends? These are the ones Kumalo kept. He made it clear what kind of friends he chose when he was speaking to Absalom, â€Å"You mean they were the kind of friends that a good man could choose, upright, hard-working, obeying the law?† Msimangu was exactly this kind of friend. Instead of just looking out for himself, he often put Kumalo’s well-being before his own. This man truly cared about others, a rare and wonderful quality. As if being there for Kumalo and helping him deal with Absalom’s incarceration in any way he could wasn’t enough, he gave Kumalo a large sum of money to replace all that was spent while trying to find and help Absalom. Msimangu was simply the epitome of a loving, caring, true friend. Of course, a friend doesn’t have to be a living, breathing, walking, talking person. Friendship can be found in something as simple as words written. Even after his death, Arthur Jarvis’ words reached out to comfort and impact his father—James Jarvis. Arthur’s words became a friend to his father to help James deal with his death and instigate a change in his view of the world. Those carefully chosen words eventually lead to James helping the people of Ixopo improve their lives. Other friendships that were formed and resulted in colossal changes are between Kumalo and James Jarvis as well as Kumalo and Arthur Jarvis’ son. The friendship between Kumalo and Arthur’s son was mainly responsible for the help that James sent. Kumalo and the boy were linked through the boy’s curiosity about the Zulu language, but because they spoke, the boy discovered the troubles of Ixopo and sought a way to resolve them. James and Kumalo’s friendship literally saved Kumalo’s livelihood. Without that connection, Kumalo would have been sent away from the only town he has known and loved. It would have destroyed him. He belonged in Ixopo and Ixopo belonged with him. Friends rightly make the man, whether for good or for bad. Kumalo’s friends made him more successful and lifted him up. Conversely, the mother of Absalom’s child was damaged by the lack of a strong base of good friends. Absalom, unfortunately, had his life decimated by his choice to trust the wrong friends. Friends can make the man kinder or meaner, wiser or more foolish. In Absalom’s case, friends made the man dead.

Mercutio character in Romeo and Juliet Essay

In Romeo and Juliet each character has a specific role. Mercutio’s role is the most important. He is the kinsman to the prince and Romeo’s closest friend and confidante, and in this role he can be very inluential to Romeo and can influence the decisions made and the directions the play takes. He uses his humour and wit to lead the other characters to the climax. He is in a difficult position, as the friend of Romeo and the princes kinsman, but all these factors contribute to the memorable character he is. Mercutio is the driving force behind the play, as he fortells or is the cause of most of the major events. Before the Capulets party Benvolio advises they enter quietly, dance and leave, but Mercutio, the only person in this scene actually invited to the play, disagrees;  Ã¢â‚¬Ëœduns the mouse, the constables own word,  if thou art dun, we’ll draw thee from the mire’  Mercutio is saying that only a mouse should be silent and small. In this instance Mercutio is moving the play along by teasing Benvolio and Romeo into staying at the party longer, which turned out to be fatal. The party is a major event in the play because Romeo meets Juliet there, and consequently decides his love for Rosaline was nothing but a crush. The next major event in the play is Mercutio’s own death, this is often believed to be the climax in the play because from there on everything changes for the worse. In Mercutio’s last scene Romeo intervenes as Mercutio is fighting Tybalt and Mercutio is wounded under Romeo’s arm, Mercutio then makes Romeo question why he intervened and then to feel responsible for Mercutio’s death, he seeks revenge on Tyalt and is banished, which provides the complication for the story. These are just two examples of situations where Mercutio has either used his wit to manipulate Romeo into doing something (the party) or made Romeo question what is going on and who is to blame. Mercutio’s death is the only time in the play where he accepts that the feud plays a bigger role in his life than he likes to think. Before this he treats the feud as more of a joke, he doesn’t think about the consequences of bringing a Montague to the Capulets party. In fact, you could say that Mercutio enjoys the tensions between the two families as it provides situations where he can stir up some fun. He does this when Tybalt is searching for Romeo and Mercutio warns him that if Tybalt starts a fight Romeo will not back down, then, when Romeo will not fight Mercutio takes his place. â€Å"A plague on both your houses, they have made worms meat out of me† Mercutio does not say Tybalt has made worms meat out him, he says they, both the houses. As he is dying he curses the house of Capulet and Montague three times, he knows that his death was not caused by fate but from him getting to close to the feud. Romeo and Juliet is well known for being a Comedy and a Tragedy, yet when Mercutio dies so does the comedy. A comedy is a drama where satire or humour is used and this definitly defines the scenes Mercutio is involved in. Mercutio is the bearer of all the humour in the play; the only time any other character shows any wit is when they are in the company of Mercutio. This is shown in Act two, scene four, when Romeo and Mercutio have a battle of wits, when the scene before Romeo was almost begging the Friar to marry Romeo to Juliet. Because every one of Mercutio’s lines is full of multiple puns and jokes his lines previous to his death are noticed and remembered by the audience for the fact that he curses the houses, even Romeo’s and also states that he is hurt and ‘sped’. Romeo doesn’t really take him seriously at first:†The hurt cannot be much† Then, as soon as Romeo realizes Mercutio really is dying Mercutio renews his humour and makes plays on the word ‘grave’; this last bout of humour quickly turns into rage. He, Mercutio was dying from a scratch! â€Å"Zounds, a dog, a rat, a mouse, a cat, to scratch a man to death! A Braggart, a rouge, a villian, that fights by the book of arithmatic† When Tybalt’s challenge to Romeo arrived at the Montague house Mercutio told Benvolio that he hated Tybalt for his fancy dressing and manners to be accepted into society, and here he was, dying from a scratch delt by â€Å"The pox of such antic, lisping, affecting fantasicoes, these new tuners of accent. From here on the play descends to a Tragedy, a dramatic performance where the main characters are led to ruin and misery. The character of Mercutio is short lived but best remembered for his quick wit and humour in otherwise boring or serious situations, he plays a vital part in the play because he can move the play in new directions, being Romeo’s friend and the Princes kin. He finds it hard to stay neutral in the feud and this contributes to his death in the end. It is because of these characteristics that he is the most remembered character in Romeo and Juliet.

Essay on Bio-Psychosocial Stressors in Adolescents

Adolescent Stressors Adolescents today face a myriad of stressors in their lives that can impact who they are and who they will become. Bio-psychosocial stressors appear to be more prevalent in minority adolescents who reside in lower socioeconomic households. Impoverished neighborhoods experience a great deal of financial difficulties, crime, and single parent homes. Adolescents growing up in these households often have lower grades in school and a lack of self confidence verses their counterparts. Below these stressors will be discussed in greater detail. Economic Strain One of the more common stressors facing adolescents today is economics. Especially in these trying financial times many families are experiencing during†¦show more content†¦Overweight adolescents are often taunted by their peers. Other stressors adolescents often experience include bullying, pressure to excel, and the need to impress others. Many of the stressors mentioned have often led some young girls/boys to attempt suicide, many times a cry for help. Repercussions of Poverty Areas where unemployment rates are high also show high rates of teenagers facing unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. ‘Every year in the United States 3,000,000 teenagers acquire an STD each year and 468,988 babies are born to teenage mothers each year.’(americanpregnancy.org) High rates of unplanned pregnancies often lead to increased school drop out rates. An increased school drop out may cause more crime as some children may turn to crime to support their babies and any bad habits they may have. Bad Habits Bad habits adolescent children may acquire include cigarette smoking, drug/alcohol abuse, violence cutting, and petty crimes. These bad habits usually result from seeing their peers do it and/or peer pressure to try it. Children living in poor neighborhoods commonly have less access to community resources that could occupy their time in a positive manner verses a negative one. Research indicates that social support enhances individual’s opportunities for positive experiences, while diminishing the likelihood of negative ones. Adolescent Stressors Verses those of Younger Children All children experienceShow MoreRelatedThe Importance of Adolescence in Creating Successful Adults2070 Words   |  8 Pagespersonality, creating a more integrated sense of self (Swann Spivey, 2004). For adolescents who are of a sexual minority, these developmental tasks often coincide with, or are dominated by, a crisis of self-concept where these adolescents find themselves suddenly and involuntarily associated with a stigmatized group (Hutchinson, 2012). While recent literature has taken steps to study the effect of being a sexual minority adolescent, often these attempts have been limited in their scope and scale. 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