Background: Peer crowds are macro-level, reputation-based subcultures with shared preferences, values, and behavior. The Country peer crowd has been the focus of tobacco industry research and marketing but has yet to be the primary focus of public health research. The current study explores the utility of "Down and Dirty," a "Social…

Mass media, including television and advertising, has created a popular culture in which adolescents and children are taught the need to gain material gratification and group membership through a superficial attempt at fitting themselves into a preconceived mold. Those who fall short of the effort develop feelings of inferiority and may become…

In this paper we examine how the figure of the teenager is positioned within the discourses and practices of commercial online media. In particular, we explore how the popular, Australia-based web portal "ninemsn" works discursively to shape the identities of young people. Ninemsn not only constructs and circulates selected…