Seeking Acceptance

When young people seek acceptance, they will do what other people do in order to be like them. They have to perform, to do the right things, to live up to the standards of those whose acceptance they seek. Some may do it through joining gangs, others by being top athletes and keeping up with the crowd and others by fulfilling the sexual desires of a boyfriend/girlfriend or date.

Suffering from a poor self-image brought about by lack of acceptance of them as unique individuals, teenagers may grab for the first thing that resembles security. Often this means sex. Kids so desperately want love, acceptance and care that they will violate their moral values to get it. And when a young person discovers acceptance brought about by pleasing another person, regardless of how shallow and fickle that acceptance may be, it leads to a cycle of seeking security in performance and trying to impress others.