What is Peer Pressure and How to Use It in Positive Way

What is Peer Pressure and how does it work?

Did you know that a great number of adolescents that suffer with substance misuse issue, began using alcohol or drugs? And have you ever paused and noticed that about 30% of adolescents have illegally stolen from supermarkets, over half of all teens will suffer with alcohol abuse, and 40% have experimented with drugs, all due to peer pressure? This is crystal clear proof that proves peer pressure needs to be taken more seriously as it is influencing adolescents and even adults all around the world. Personally, I trust that nobody should be peer pressured into anything that they don’t feel comfortable with, or even feel uneasy with the people who they are with. Peer pressure is extremely powerful. But Peer Pressure is also, something that we can stop it from happening and resist it from happening to people around us and ourselves.

Physical and spoken Peer Pressure 13%

As I stated earlier, 30% of teenagers and adults have shoplifted because they have fallen victim to peer pressure. As well as this, a large portion of teens with substance use issues resulted from peer’s peer pressuring them into doing it. Temptations and threats can really harm adults and especially teenagers or put them in a risky situation. The main type of pressure is spoken. This type of peer pressure is something that is spoken or said directly aimed at you that puts a lot of stress and pressure on you. An example of this would be, “just try it once, it won’t hurt you”, or “are you scared? Ahaha, chicken!” This type of peer pressure usually puts you in a place where it is extremely hard to say no or to resist. Which causes you to fall into a dangerous hole.

Ways to prevent Peer pressure 78%

Certain Originations such as the Red Cross, use peer educators to teach and explain to adolescents how to safely stop peer pressure, studies have found that young people and teenagers learn and take on more of the information if it comes from people the same age. As well as this the national association of independent schools in America suggests having older teenagers who do not smoke, or drink talk to juniors to help influence them to make positive choices. Peer Pressure can also be prevented by being able to say no or even by just walking away, saying no or walking away definitely work recent studies show. Another study shows a 27% increase in teen drinking in Australia, about half of this statistic is teens falling victim to peer pressure.

Not always bad?

The influence our friends have on us is normal and often good. Having a friend who has good grades or who is very good at a sport can help us achieve and achieve those goals as well. Friends who are loyal and tolerant help us build these qualities. Friends listen to us and give us feedback when we try to come up with our ideas or discuss our problems. They can help us make decisions (what discipline to choose, whether or not to dye our hair, how to handle a discussion with our parents). Friends help us develop social skills - how to make new friends, how to respect differences between people, how to agree or disagree with someone, compete or work as a team. Friends encourage us to go to that audition or try new things, support us when we feel sad or angry.

Conclusion

Peer Pressure is causing today’s teens to become more mentally unstable, leading to depression, stress, anxiety, low self-esteem, and even self-harm. We need to help teenagers to understand that being involved in peer pressure and partaking in illegal activities can lead to mental instability. Teens also need to be able to understand when they are being peer pressured if it is physical or speech. All teenagers can be taught to say no or walk away when not feeling comfortable with the situation.