About Peer Pressure

Peer pressure? We have all have experienced it throughout life . We all know and can relate on what it feels like to be pressured by someone. Today in our society, it impacts on kids in this generation in a vast aspect. Teenagers feel social pressure in a numerous ways such as clothing, music, entertainment, drugs, sex, etc. In society today, people of all ages tend to highlight their individualism and explore their identity, yet still crave the approval of their peers and worry if their going to be rejected or approved in the end. Peer pressure affects the way people choose to live and experience their lives.

Peer pressure is a social influence exerted on an individual by others in order to get that person to either act or believe in a similar way. It’s not always bad, but it is not mostly good. For teenagers nowadays, as school and other activities take you away from home, they may spend more time with your friends. Those friends then play a major role in your life. Wanting to be like those “friends” is normal until it gets to a point where its uncomfortable. Now there is a twist from influence to pressure.

In the society we live in today, coping well with peer pressure is about getting the balance right with being yourself and fitting in with your group. For instance, you might see your friend with the new Jordans so you buy them but you choose your favorite color. This is a good example of how peer pressure can influence even the smallest decisions you make. Problems like this are corrupting the children in society mind today.

Peer Pressure At ALL Ages

According to Umd Right Now, “peer pressure can start as early as age nine”. Living in this generation now children tend to drift towards older people and get influenced by what they do, how they walk, or even how they talk. In schools, public or private, “kids give into peer pressure because they want to be liked”. If they don’t live up to the standards or have the materialistic things, it can result to a bigger issue of bullying.

Younger children nowadays walking around with saggy pants, talking in slang, and even disrespecting adults. They even have the little girls who used to wear borrets to wearing $100 hair. There are starting to blend in with the older crowd. Peer pressure mainly starts at youth.

Not only the older crowd influence younger kids, they also get the influence domestically. We all know the phrase “it all starts at home,” well parents or even siblings can pressure you to do a certain activity. Your older brothers or sisters can steer you in the wrong direction just because they went down that path. Living in urban areas where families are struggling to make a living, it’s hard to stay focused and not to be pressured by the people and environment around you. You can go down every street and see “duplicates” of the last person you saw on the previous street. It is significant for this trend to end and for everyone to branch away from the status quo. What makes Peter pressure even harder for teens is that parents often don’t understand the depths to which peer pressure goes.

Although some may believe that peer pressure end when a person becomes an adult. That is unfortunately not the case. No matter who you are, everyone wants to feel like they belong. They can be influenced by family, friends, co-workers, and other members in organizations to which they belong. In the community I live in the adults try to outdo each other. It can be as simple as putting their children on display. Advertisements and TV programs promote an idea of what it means to be normal. They do this by telling people how they should look, what they should drive, and what they put in and bodies. Family members pressure them about relationships such as dating partners, friends, and other acquaintances. Co-workers set the norms in the office. Every aspect of life can be controlled by some sort of peer pressure.

Cause of Substance Abuse and Sex

Teenage and high school years are an immense part in shaping the person you are going to become. This is also a time where peer pressure is most commonly put upon a vast majority of teens. Since we live in an environment where technology overrules, teens will most likely take up smoking or consuming alcohol. With movies and television portraying these characters as being tough and rebellious, teens copy this type of behavior in order to flaunt their independence. Some individuals are just curious and want to experiment with these substances while others do so because they are self-conscious. However, a large proportion of teenagers abusing alcohol or drugs is because of peer pressure and place high value on others opinions of them.

Peer pressure is always tough to deal with especially when it comes to sex. According to Newgrounds.com, “Some people decide to have sexual relationships because their “friends” think sex is cool”. Others feel pressured by the person they’re dating. Still, others find it easier to give in and have sex than to try and explain. I know some may think that everyone is doing it but that’s really isn’t true. In society today, the peer pressure towards having sexual activity can lead directly to pregnancy. Many young girls are coming straight into high school with babies trying to be “fast” and do the “in thing.” According to Psychology Today, “Many teens, especially boys, feel pressure to have sex before they are ready.” Makes tend to feel insecure when it comes to this topic because others put those oh high who participate the earliest.

Teens base their sexual behavior on how sexually active they believe their peers are or how much they think their peers approve of having sex. There isn’t anything wrong with having intercourse, it is the simple fact of why. Children act as if they have zero morals and can’t go along with their own intellect. They know right from wrong. It is tragic to see how over a matter of decades so much has changed. We have drifted away from having fun to trying to get along with the crowd to fake the fun. Peer pressure is a big factor and it is getting out of hand.

Potential Cause Of High Crime Rates

Peer pressure affect many young men of our generation today. They tend to join gangs and make crime rates increase. Older men see younger boys who are vulnerable and seek to take them in. They tell them that if they join a specific gang then it will provide them with protection, love, and a family. The only thing is you have to fight just to be considered part of the clique and you can’t leave. They use methods of peer pressure to wheel these adolescents to a bad style of living. They began to get hold of guns, new clothing, and new sources of money. Their parents begin to worry about their well beings. They don’t even know if their children are going to make it home that night.

Pressuring children to commit to determine their level of clout is outrageous. Nowadays there are more children Downtown in juvenile detention centers because they are breaking laws they know aren’t right. Peer pressure has taken a huge toll on people’s mind and criminal behavior. Children mimic adults or if asked to do so to take part in their actions. This behavior can eventually affect the behavior of them in the future. They then go to the streets for answers and next end up on FOX 13 News. When they are pressured by their peers, they fight, steal, or even maybe kill. Once this happens, their reputation is tarnished.

As well as crime, appearance play as a big outcome of peer pressure. People in the community tend to start blending in and look the same, as stated earlier. They can be the nerdiest, quietest person around but as soon as they start to hang around people they generally don’t hang out with , things change. A person can have long black hair and wear jackets everyday, but one day they met the most popular girl around. As they spend more time together, the girl periodically begins to change her persona. Now she wears crops, acrylic nails, and she cut her hair shorter. The popular girl might use to tell her in order for her to get recognized is for her to change how she look. Peer pressure were played huge part in how a person appearance is.

Individuals often themselves conforming to the groups norms, behaviors, attitudes, speech, patterns, and dress code of a group to earn acceptance and approval. If you don’t conform, you could be expelled from the group. Sometime peer pressure is exerted through the mentality of a group of people that on a life of it’s own. Appearance related pressure plays an essential role in developing a negative body image and self esteem as well as severe mental disorders. For example, this girl at my school gets pressured to do something everyday. She also gets bullied. The girl wore her natural hair everyday and didn’t care what anyone would think. It all took a turn when one day someone (a girl younger than her) told her to get braids and she would do them. Another girl told her it would be best to get a sew in. The natural girl was torn between the decisions. She let everyone get in her head and once she got braids, her hair fell out. After that some people were telling her to stay natural and stop damaging her hair. She didn’t listen. After that they would bully her about her hair and her weight to the point she developed an eating disorder. She did this because she could never figure out how to fit in with any group. In urban communities peer pressure isn’t a joke, it’s a serious matter.

Bullying someone and making them feel less of themselves just because they will not conform to peer influence is inferior. In the community where I stay, if you don’t abide by the standards you are put on a chopping block. You become the target of society. You hop from group to group to determine if your identity, but you never find the right one. You get bullied for sticking to your morals. This only goes for at least one-third of the community. Some people give into the influential groups and turn to bad behaviors. Peer pressure is so invisible that you don’t even know you are being pressured into doing something.

Peer pressure actually turns a community into a stereotype or model. If we go through the community we live in we basically can guess what we are going to see and expect. If you go in Cordova, we hear everyone saying things like “bro”. If we go to Whitehaven, you will here everyone wearing windbreakers or saying “Dat way”. This comparison shows how when one person starts a trend, you basically can put your whole community on the same trend. Once this happens, everyone else gets labeled as a follower while some are being considered cool for saying the slang. This exhibits how you can be pressured to do something without even noticing that their being pressured.

As mentioned earlier, we have too many NBA Young Boys and Nicki Manajs walking around. Music, internet, and television can influence the minds of everyone today. It shows people what they dream of being and tell you everyone is doing it so you should as well. People get bored of always seeing the same things.

With all these factors put into place, we see evidently that peer pressure is a legit issue that affects everyone. As we observe society offers many misguided attractions and announcements that seem to lead them in wrong route. If the youth would think more thoroughly, the future will be brighter and better off. Peer pressure is stress of influence you feel from friends and schoolmates to act, look, and think a certain way. Peer pressure can cover everything from speech just to actions. Teens today face a legion of pressure that can have impact on your every path. Some of the decisions are negative and some can be positive. Although it can be hard to combat, there are many ways to change and fight it.