For many teens, 'family' is their peers

A Psychology Today article on how young females have turned dieting into a competition makes a disturbing point about how much more young people are "tethered to each other" today than when many of us adults were growing up.

Simply put, young people spend an awful lot more time with each other than they do with any adults. Sure, when we were young, we'd hang out with our friends. But today's children go to after-school care together, are enrolled in organized activities together, get their own car as soon as they're able to drive and then are off with their friends, and skip family meals and outings to communicate with each other on Facebook, YouTube and MySpace.

The constant togetherness means young people are, for all practical purposes, raising each other. It's not just that what their peers think carries more weight than what Mom and Dad think. It's that many teenagers spend so little time with their families that they don't really know what Mom and Dad think.

Sure, it's possible to alter this trend, but it's not easy. Many parents spend long hours at work, hoping to save for college costs. Many teenagers spend long hours at sports, part-time job and other activities, hoping to get into college. And technology connects kids to a kid culture -- through TV shows and personal messaging options -- 24 hours a day.