Peer pressure is a social influence that can be positive or negative, and it affects most people at some point in their lives. People are social creatures, and their self-worth often comes from the approval of others. Peer pressure can be especially harmful to children and adolescents, who are more vulnerable to negative influence. However, schools and parents can help children resist negative peer pressure by teaching them to stand up for themselves and encouraging them to embrace the positive influence of peer groups. Self-awareness is also key to managing peer pressure, as individuals should seriously consider their motivations for taking a particular action and whether they are simply following the crowd.
The phrase “everyone does it” is very much at the heart of the concept of peer pressure. It is a social influence exerted on an individual to make that person act or believe similarly to a larger group. This influence can be negative or positive and can exist in both large and small groups. Most people experience this in some way in their lifetime.
Social behavior
People are social creatures by nature, so it’s no surprise that a part of their self-worth comes from the approval of others. This instinct is why peer approval and fear of disapproval are such a powerful force in many people’s lives. It’s the same instinct that drives people to dress one way at home and another at work, or to say “fine” when a stranger asks “how are you?” although that’s not necessarily true. There is a practical aspect to this; it helps society function efficiently and encourages a general level of self-discipline that makes day-to-day interaction easier.
Positive peer influence
Despite the most common associations with the term, peer pressure isn’t always negative. A student whose friends excel in academics may be forced to study harder and get good grades. Players on a sports team may feel pressured to play more to help the team win. This type of influence can also be exerted to detoxify a friend, or to help an adult pick up a good habit or kick a bad one. Study groups, class projects, and even book clubs are examples of positive peer groups that encourage people to improve themselves.
Negative influence
For some individuals, seeking social acceptance is so important that it becomes like an addiction; to satisfy the desire, they may go so far as to abandon their sense of right and wrong. Groups of children can join in bullying newcomers to school. Teens and young adults may feel compelled to use drugs or alcohol, be sexually promiscuous, or join gangs that encourage criminal behavior. Mature adults may sometimes feel pressured to cover up illegal activity at the business they work for, or end up in debt because they are unable to suppress the temptation to buy a house or car they cannot afford in an attempt to “keep with the Joneses.”
Children
When peer pressure is discussed, children and adolescents are often at the center of the greatest concerns. Because of their lack of maturity and judgment, children are especially vulnerable to this type of influence and often find it difficult to resist group activities, even when their common sense warns against it. Likewise, group leaders themselves can easily become fascinated by their power over the rest, leading them to spur the group to take actions that no single member would have considered on their own. Many teenagers become absorbed into different cliques and groups, spend less time with their families, causing previously strong family influences to diminish. This puts them at greater risk.
Fighting negative pressure
Schools and other organizations try to teach children about the dangers of negative peer pressure. They teach children to stand up and be themselves, and encourage them to politely refuse to do things they believe are wrong. Likewise, it can be helpful to encourage children to embrace the beneficial influence of positive peer groups.
Proactive parenting
Parental involvement can also help negate harmful peer pressure. Parents can take a number of steps, including working on building closer relationships with their children, getting to know both the children’s friends and the parents of those friends, knowing where their children are and who they are staying with, and providing structure and discipline to home.
Self-awareness
There is no question that some people are more vulnerable to peer pressure than others, and that some people are more vulnerable to it at one stage of life than another. Self-awareness is key to managing this type of pressure. While peer pressure is sometimes quite blatant, it can also be so subtle that a person may not even realize it is influencing their behavior. For this reason, when making big decisions, simply going with a gut is risky. Instead, people should seriously consider why they feel drawn to taking a particular action and whether the real motivation is simply that everyone else is doing the same thing. “Going with the flow,” so to speak, isn’t always a bad thing, but since each individual is still responsible for the consequences, it’s important to be an informed participant in the decision.
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