 Dear students, in this module, we are going to talk about peer group, which is considered an important agent of socialization. Peer group is not only your friends, but also your age fellows. So it's an important agent of socialization as they provide opportunities for children as well as adolescents to interact with others their own age and to develop a sense of identity outside of the family context. In the family, there is a limited environment, in that limited environment, your socialization is very determined and very specific. But as soon as you enter the school, you get the opportunity to interact with other people. The most important thing is your peer group or your age fellows. Because your class fellows are your age fellows. Some of them may become your friends, but those who don't become your friends, this doesn't mean that they don't have a role on your socialization. So your peer group includes your friends and your age fellows. So in Pakistan, the peer groups might play a role in shaping, for example, fashion trends, music preferences, and attitudes towards the relationships. So these are important aspects in which we see that how our peer group or how our age fellows are behaving. The way they wear clothes, the way they keep relationships, they become a standard for us. And we try to behave according to those standards. Peer groups provide opportunities for young people to experiment with the different social roles, values and behaviors, and to receive the feedback and validation from their peers. So based on our values, because they are a standard for us, we get validation from them. You must have seen often that when you wear good clothes, go to your school, college, or university, your friends praise you. And that creates a sense of validation, a construct, that yes, I am having that positive feedback. So based on that positive feedback, your personality becomes a part of it. So peer groups can also influence individuals' attitudes and behaviors related to academic achievement, drug usage, and other social issues. So it is not like your peer group only does your positive socialization. Unfortunately, peer groups play a role in negative socialization. Many children learn bad habits from their age fellows. Like they are behaving, they try to become a part of the same group so that they do not feel abnormal. So to normalize our behavior in that context, we sometimes adopt deviant behavior. But most of the time, your peer group constructs positive values for you, provides constructive feedback for you, based on which not only your family agent and your school's other authority fellows play a role, but also your peer group plays an important role.