Political postures in adolescents

Multiple things made me write this article. The first one was that Professor John gave us a quiz about political ideologies that would try to define our tendencies in politics. The other thing was that a friend told me that he considered that tagging us into those ideologies was kind of subjective. That really made me think that they both were sort of right.

I guess that in this period of our lifetime is really hard to define what we really think or what we really believe in. There are certain factors like family that influence in many aspects. One of them is that we tend to adopt the political thoughts that our family has. For example, if in my family my parents hardly support the PRI, it’s kind of obvious that I would acquire that inclination. Family also influences in another way, which is emotional stability. During adolescence, people feel totally affected by what is going on home. If things are not okay, we change a lot our mentality because it is being altered by our feelings.

Family is not the only contact we have; we also have friends and they also have their own way of thinking towards politics. Some of them don’t care, but others are really into it. This can make us feel forced to think as our partners.

My point is that we don’t have to worry that much about acquiring a political posture right now, because our inexperience and the peer pressure of all those who surround us can lead to modify our ideologies. What we really have to do is try to look for reliable references that help us make our really own decision.

"When you have to make a choice and you don't make it, that itself is a choice" William James