The Importance Of Peer Pressure

Peer pressure is a weapon that people can use to control how other people act. It is the basic instinct everyone is born with to want to fit in. People can get sucked into doing terrible things that they know deep down are wrong. To give you an example of how peer pressure works imagine that some guy is hanging out with his friends and everyone is jumping off the cliffs at the black hole but him. Eventually he will probably join in because it is really awkward being the odd man out on any activity. There are two very good examples of how peer pressure can affect a persons behavior and how people might be able to overcome the feeling of being left out written by Jolanda Jones and Christopher Shea. Both are different examples of how peer pressure can have an effect on the way you behave in both a positive and negative way depending on how the person uses it.

“Don’t let anyone hold you back. Don’t let anyone dilute you. Don’t be peer pressured into being less than you are” (Steve Maraboli). This quote means that negative peer pressure can result in an individual acting out and behaving in a manner that is a downgrade from the person that is true to society. Often time, the community imagines peer pressure as teens influencing one another to experiment with drugs, alcohol, and sexual intercourse. But really all peer pressure is, is the encouragement of changing values and behaviors of an individual. Peer pressure can either be negative or positive depending on the situation a person is in and how strong the character of the individual is. Though peer pressure is often used in negative instances, it can also be thought of as positive for teens, because it allows a student to have a clear mental mindset, strong encouragement to work hard in school, and become a leader in an environment.

There are different types of peer pressure that can affect you. Peer pressure can affect you directly, indirectly, or individually. Being told to do something by another person or group is an example of direct peer pressure. Direct peer pressure is bad since you are put on the spot and don’t want to feel left out so you might be pressured to say yes. Seeing other peers or groups doing something and you wanting to do the same thing to fit in is an example of indirect peer pressure. For example, if you have a different group of friends that does or doesn’t drink and you only drink with the friends who drink. Indirect peer pressure causes you to be do things only with certain

Even though risky behavior and peer pressure can have a variety of different meanings for people, typically, it is a relation to drugs or alcohol. Most of the time, it seems that the most well-known types of peer pressure come from friends partaking in a substance such as drugs or alcohol and trying to persuade someone else in the group. According to the article “Peer pressure and risk-taking behaviors in children” by Lewis and Lewis (1984), peer pressure is a major factor in the development of risk-taking behaviors such as alcohol, drug, and tobacco use. (Lewis & Lewis, 1984) Not only are these risk-taking behaviors prevalent throughout life, but most specifically throughout college. In their book Monitoring the future national survey results on drug use Johnston, O’Malley, Bachman, and Schulenberg (2009), all suggest that the biggest difference between college students and their non-college peers is largely due to the environment at college. (Johnston et al., 2009)

I woke up with the worst feeling. It was as if a bus had just run me over. I got up to start my daily routine. I brushed my teeth, ate my breakfast, grabbed my backpack, and walked out the door. Maybe it was just me, but it seemed like everyone was staring at me and knew what I was thinking. This cloud of guilt just hung over me as I walked to class. I sit down next to Nick and pull out my books. My forensics teacher stands up and begins to talk. “Good morning class she says, today we will be studying the death of Megan McConagal”. My heart drops and Nick gives me a shameful look. “Now I know this may be a sore subject for some of you, but it will be graded, so I expect all of you to participate”. Have you ever heard of peer pressure? Well it got me into a hole that I can't get out of. Today is February 20th of 2017. One year ago today, I got away with murder.

Peer pressure is the influence that one person or group has on another. Peer pressure is a devastating force that affects the lives of millions across the world. Most often, peer pressure receives a reputation for being demeaning, harsh, brutal, and generally negative. However, peer pressure can inspire the affected party to rise above the cruelty and positively impact their own lives. Yes, peer pressure may negatively affect someone’s life, but it may also change their life in a positive manner.

Peer pressure is defined by Merriam-Webster as a feeling that one must do the same thing as other people of one’s age and social group in order to be liked or respected by them. Peer pressure can have a potentially positive or negative effect, or it can be both. With peer pressure their come roles. The general roles in a school girl’s clique contain but are not limited to queen bee, sidekick, banker, floater, torn bystander, pleaser, or target.

Imagine being trapped in a situation where the pressure to conform is so great that you are stuck in the middle of being accepted or being an outsider. Now imagine being trapped in this situation regularly at school. Some students suffer the fate of these decisions every day and it can have a great effect on their academic lives. The phrase “peer pressure” is defined as “the social influence a peer group exerts on its individual members, as each member attempts to conform to the expectations of the group” (“peer pressure”). In the typical school environment, there are often social and mental pressures, such as stress and peer tensions, that hinder students from being able to perform at their greatest capacity. These pressures come from teachers and parents as well, not just from peers. Culture, social media, and diverse standards of schools all can contribute to this conformity that materializes. Although a lot of the problem lies in the students and teachers who attempt to force others to conform, there is also an even larger problem contained in the impact it has on the student's mentality and achievement. If mentality and performance are so important in school, then why do so many students struggle with these crucial aspects?

by your parents. Anyway so you at the party and you sitting in the group with the “cool kids” and

If there is one thing that I’ve learned in this life, it would be that friends can pressure you into doing almost anything. That could be taken as a positive, or it could be taken as a negative, which it is in my case. Peer pressure is hard to ignore, and when you’re young and naive, you will do anything your friends tell you to do. Being a brainless middle schooler that I once was, I lit a fire in the bathroom.

Teenagers are experiencing peer pressure on beauty with greater frequency and magnitude than ever. In the past, without the Internet, only a limited number of peers with whom teenagers make acquaintance could put pressure on their attitudes toward beauty and constrain them to make changes. In contemporary society, however, selfies are readily accessible on the social networks to all peers, who can remark on others’ appearance without taking any responsibility. This lifts up the concern that peer pressure is exerting a tremendous and negative influence on adolescents’ perception of beauty, which may lead to damage to individual confidence and loss of aesthetic independence and diversity. This essay will further discuss how peer pressure works and the negative effects of it listed above.

Thoughts, behavior, fashion, and music often have a deep impact on our society. People and teenagers in particular, tend to get influenced by the lifestyles of their peer group. It is a person’s tendency to do what the crowd does. Few individuals have the courage to resist the peer pressure and be their own selves rather than being one amongst a group. Parents play a vital role to during this phase of a teenager’s life and must exhibit extreme caution when dealing with their adolescents, as they are most vulnerable to yield to peer pressure during these critical years of their lives. Teenagers must be taught to distinguish between the good and the bad; the right and the wrong. They must also be guided to be considerate in life. Parents

There is a common saying “You are who you surround yourself with”. One may start to conform to the actions of others without being directly influenced or individually influenced, and before they know it, a dangerous path is gone down. Who is affected by peer pressure? This

Teenagers feel peer pressure everyday in their lives, whether in school or out in the town. During teenage years, kids in school differentiate themselves from their parents. Not only do teenagers give in to peer pressure, but also come up with unintelligent ideas at school. Thinking and feeling that their ideas are worth a million dollars. One of my friends in my math class at Spanish Fork Junior High came up with a careless idea that ended very reckless causing someone to get injured. When your friends come up with a crazy idea you need to keep in mind that consequences can occur if you give into peer pressure. Peer pressure not only has negative consequences, but also can have positive outcomes as well.

Youth today face many challenges throughout their early years. The face them not only at school but also at home. Some kids are stronger than others and can candle the added stress, while others collapse under the pressure. The added stress can come from many factors, but three common causes are peer pressure, academics, and sports.