Social influences, like what other people think of us, play a big role in the way we feel and act. Scientists from around the world have shown that adolescents are particularly sensitive to their social environment. This can mean many things. For example, many adolescents care about the opinions (both good and bad!) of their peers or friends, sometimes even more than about those of family members. One way to measure how sensitive we are to the opinions and actions of others is by measuring how bad we feel after being excluded from a multiplayer game. One such game, called "cyberball," involves participants playing a game of "catch" with two other players. The participant can be included in the game of catch or excluded by the other players. When adolescents are excluded by other players in this game, they report feeling worse and more anxious than adults (although adults do not like being excluded either).

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Go to source: https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2014.00016