It’s normal for young people to worry about fitting in. Peer groups play an important role in young people’s lives, particularly during adolescence. ‘Peer pressure’ refers to the influence that these groups can have on how an individual thinks and acts.
Peer pressure is the influence that people within the same social group can have on each other. Some may wield it and some fall to its influence. The social group could refer to a friend group but it could also refer to people belonging to the same age group, social strata or who share similar abilities.
Peer pressure and influence can be positive. For example, your child might be influenced to become more assertive, try new activities or get more involved with school. It also helps to learn acceptable group norms so that children can learn to live with and socialize with others. But it can be negative too. Some teenagers might choose to try things they normally wouldn’t be interested in, like smoking or behaving in antisocial ways.
What makes this distinction between positive and negative influences is the child’s response to peer pressure. Children who are natural leaders or are more assertive are usually not as susceptible to peer pressure, while others who tend towards conformity may be more susceptible.
Positive peer pressure encourages children to push themselves and to grow. This could look like encouragement to study harder, pursue a hobby, make new friends, and increase social skills. This kind of peer pressure or peer influence is good because the outcome is healthy growth.
Alternatively, negative peer pressure leads children to make risky or destructive choices like skipping school, drink or try drugs, bully or fight with other children – essentially to speak or behave in a way that is hurtful and dangerous to the child and to others.
While positive peer pressure bears good fruit, negative peer pressure can result in anxiety, depression, addiction, lowered self-esteem, damaged relationships with family and other risky behaviour.
The key in dealing with peer pressure is to teach children to distinguish healthy influences from unhealthy ones and to draw boundaries to protect themselves.
Comments