Studies have shown that students prefer feedback from peers than that coming from adults, because it represents ��a relatively natural consequence of friendship.�� In addition, peers can ��effectively model, prompt, and reinforce appropriate responses.�� The positive behavior of adolescents is often a result of peer pressure. Although www.selleckchem.com/products/Bortezomib.html peer relationships seem to have become the guiding force in young people’s behavior, research has found evidence that parents actually have the most significant influence on character development and decision making with regard to major issues in their children’s lives [22]. Hence, parental attachment and parents’ affective role are positively related to an adolescent’s ability to demonstrate positive behavior.

Showing attention and affection is a form of behavior recognition, which is important to adolescent development. According to Erikson [23], it is necessary for an adolescent to establish a unique identity. Identity formation is a constant negotiation between the social context and individual development. As a ��subjective sense of an invigorating sameness continuity (p. 19)�� [23], identity enables an individual to establish relationships with other people and understand oneself. The three domains of identity formation include ��sense of agency,�� ��social relatedness,�� and ��political moral reasoning�� [24]. Domains are more or less stable across life span development [23]. Identity formation can be realized through the interaction between the person and society.

When an adolescent is recognized by his or her good behaviors, he or she is encouraged to continue to perform the behavior to the extent that his or her identity is formed. Positive behavior, such as actions that preserve prosocial norms, allows an adolescent to reflect on the society’s political, moral, and historical dimensions. Thus, positive behavior recognition is closely related to adolescent development.8. Impact of Recognition on Chinese AdolescentsShek [25] investigated how cultural beliefs can affect resilience towards adversity among adolescents in Hong Kong. He found that adolescents possessing more positive Chinese cultural beliefs demonstrate stronger positive behaviors and better psychological well-being as well as manifest less behavioral problems. Thus, recognition for positive behavior reinforces the recurrence of behavior as a protective factor to adolescents.

In a previous study focused on children’s behavior at a public school in New York, Liu [26] reported that all teachers remarked that Chinese children were better behaved, more obedient, and more responsible than their Caucasian counterparts. However, instead of rewarding AV-951 the children for their positive behavior, parents tended to regard this as ��expected�� behavior from their children that did not require recognition.