Audience: Students; Grades: 4-8; Subject Areas: Social Studies. (2013) Social Changes As part of the maturation process, young people will likely request more privacy in their personal life, which is perfectly acceptable. However, they shouldn't close the door on family or important others. What's the purpose of a secret life anyway? In social settings they will begin to take an interest in others who didn't seem so interesting previously. In general girls will be more interested in boys and boys will be more interested in girls. This is also a time of tremendous peer pressure so they need to be very choosy about who they select for friends and what groups they may consider to join.