The Influence Of Peer Pressure On High School Students

Dealing with peer pressure as a teenager can be stressful since you want to be accepted but it might lead you to do negative things you feel uncomfortable with. Peer pressure is the influence of those similar to you, such as classmates or friends, that encourages you to change your behavior or values to meet theirs. This is a problem for teenagers since at their age, they are becoming more independent from their parents which can expose them to drugs, alcohol and sex. According to a study conducted by The Foundation for a Drug-Free World, 55% of teenagers said they used drugs for the first time because of being pressured by their friends. Learning to avoid and say “No” to Peer Pressure can help a lot of teenagers avoid these negative lifestyles and influences.

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)

Peer pressure is one battle high school students deal with on a daily basis. Students influence one another and often listen to their peers before they will listen to their teachers or parents. There are students who are focused on their academic success. These students are influenced by parents, teachers, and compatible peers. These students desire to excel under adverse

However, sometimes peers influence each other in negative ways. For example, a few kids in school might try to get you to cut class with them or a kid in the neighborhood might want you to vandalize with him. A powerful negative peer influence can motivate a teen to make choices and engage in behavior that his or her values might otherwise reject. Teens who feel isolated or rejected by their peers or in their family are more likely to engage in risky behaviors in order to fit in with a group.

"Come on, you know you want to do it!" "You are such a loser, just do it already!" "Are you chicken?" Many of us will agree that these are familiar statements that we have either said or heard. Peer pressure is everywhere. Schools, jobs, sports, home, and life in general. Most of the peer pressure we face occurs in school when we are surrounded by our friends or people we are trying to fit in with. These encounters help shape us and can cause us to make difficult choices. It's through these choices that we can either take a path of trouble and destruction or rise up and stand our ground. Everyone has to deal with it at some point and it’s how you deal with it that turns peer pressure into either a negative or a positive. Even though there are times when peer pressure is positive, the majority of the peer pressure facing kids today is negative and can lead them to extremes such as gang behavior or even sex.

Brown, B. B. (1982). The extent and effects of peer pressure among high school students: A retrospective analysis. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 11(2), 121-133.

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?

There are various cause and effects of peer pressure. Peer pressure is pressure or influence from a person’s peers. Peers are often described people of the same age group or social group. Peers will feel the need to be in control and will often surround themselves with weak-minded or people with low self-esteem to have the do their bidding. The causes of peer pressure include the need to fit in, low self-esteem, fear of rejection, and at most time the need to feel safety and security from peers. The effects of peer pressure can be negative and also have the worst outcomes.

Everyone has experienced peer pressure at least once in their life. Many people give into peer pressure to fit in. Peer pressure is used to get people to do certain things. They do this so that they feel like their popular and are liked by others. They dread being outsiders and treated differently for it. The individuals being pressured will often give in and do anything. This is really common among younger people due to there being social groups.

Everyone in their life will get confronted by peer pressure whether it is helpful peer pressure or corrupt peer pressure. “No I don’t want a drink… Suppose one can’t do that much harm, go on then”, I don’t want to go in and ask for a job… - but you need it – okay I’ll ask…”, it can change the way people act or treat other people. Peer Pressure is one of the cause of teenage depression. It often leads to feeling out of place in one’s group of friends thus feeling isolated and lacking in confidence.

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.

Peer pressure is when someone is unwilling to act a certain way, but ultimately in the end gives in. One main reason for this is most people want to fit in no matter the cost, including acting foolishly with their friends. The problem with peer pressure is that most people stereotype it to be a poor decision that results in poor actions. In some cases though, peer pressure can lead to a good outcome, unlike what most people think. This type of pressure leads to overcoming one’s fear, despite how foolish the task seems. I have experienced this kind of peer pressure, and in the end, I had the most exhilarating feeling after I gave in to the pressure.

Peer pressure is an act that should not be taken lightly because it can lead to many bad decision making and psychological damage. Bullying, alcohol-drug abuse, sex, and the desire to fit in are a few leading factors of peer pressure. As one begins elementary or high school, they are trying to figure out their individuality and form into their mold of themselves. Dealing with peer pressure as a young child or teenager opens the door to stress, anxiety, or even depression. These are a few personality dysfunctions that over time may destroy ones’ social skills and could possibly cripple the child from living a life of trust and friendship. There are other ways of peer pressure that can lead into the harmful actions of oneself that will be identified later with the statistics and data from different articles.

Peer pressure is quite the controversial matter today. It is the feeling that someone your own age is pushing you toward making a certain choices, good or bad.(The Cool Spot). The level of peer influence generally increases as children grow and it has become an important influence on behavior during adolescence. Many researches and surveys have been done to find the answer to the question whether peer pressure is beneficial or harmful for teenagers. While Karcher &Finn (2005) claimed that peer pressure is the biggest factor result in bad behavious of adolescents; Bukowski (1998) and Salvy (2011) argued that pressure from peers can bring amazing benefits for them. The following writing will discuss peer pressure and from then show that peer pressure can also good for teenagers, too.

A strong support from family, an ability to differentiate between the right and the wrong and the skill to choose friends from peers is the key to greet the positive effects of peer pressure and keep the negative ones at bay. Your peers, their choices and ways of life give you a glimpse of the world outside the four walls of your house. What they think about things in life, how they perceive situations, how they react in different circumstances can actually expose you to the world around. Being part of a larger group of peers exposes you to the variety in human behavior. This makes you reflect on your behavior and know where you stand. Peer pressure can lead you to make right choices in life.