What is Peer Pressure?
peer pressure is the influence wielded by the public within the same social group. It is also the phrase used to describe the effect this influence has on an individual to conform in order to be accepted by the group. Often, peers are thought of as friends, but peers can be anyone of a similar status, such as people who are the same age, who have similar abilities, or who share a social status.
Peer is commonly thought of in a negative light, but in real life,it’s not always a bad thing. Sometimes peer pressure is used to positively sway the person. Learning about acceptable group norms can be a positive part of learning how to live with and socialise with different people. The way your child responds to Friends pressure can show who they are as a person. Natural leaders tend to be less susceptible to inferior forms of peer pressure, while followers may be more inclined to go along with it.
Signs
friends pressure can range from fine to overt, which means that a few forms of peer pressure can be easier to spot than others. Being able to point out signs that your child is dealing with peer pressure may help you start a supportive conversation. Some signs that your kid may be experiencing peer pressure include:
- 1. Avoiding school or other social situations
- 2. Being very image-conscious
- 3. Changes in behavior
- 4. Expressing feeling like they don’t fit in
- 5. Low moods
- 6. Making social comparisons
- 7. Trouble sleeping
- 8. Trying out new hair or clothing styles
Countless of the signs of Friends pressure can also be indications of further things, like bullying or mental health concerns. Any change in behavior or mood is worth investigating.
Kind of Peer Pressure:
Most kids have a strong desire to fit in and are especially sensitive to being picked on, made fun of, or rejected. Consequently, they’re often impatient to do the things their peers tell them to do. Research has drawn attention to the major role of peers in influencing prosocial behaviors. When friends endorse positive and selfless behavior, young people are more likely to engage in those behaviors, even when their peers are not watching.
Positive Peer Pressure
Positive friends pressure is when someone’s peers encourage them to do something positive or push them to develop in a beneficial way. Here are some few examples of positive peer pressure:
1. Pushing a friend to study harder so they can get better grades in exams.
2. Getting an after school job and compelling them to get a job too.
3. Saving money for a big purchase like a car and encouraging them to do the same.
4. Disapproving biased jokes or gossiping.
5. Demoralizing illegal or risky behavior, like under age drinking or smoking.
Negative Peer Pressure
Negative friends pressure, on the other hand, implies pressure to do something dangerous or harmful to themselves or others. Here are some example of negative peer pressure:
- Convincing a peer to skip school.
- Pushing a friend to buy cigarettes.
- Pressuring a friend to drink or try drugs.
- Encouraging a friend to fight or bully someone.
Impact of Peer Pressure
As your child grows, their friends will play a bigger role in their life. Friends can influence everything from what kind of music they listen to, to what they wear, to how they talk to someone. Gender socialization may influence how receptive a young person is to peer pressure. Research tells us that adolescent boys are more susceptible to pressure for risk-taking behaviors. Peer pressure isn’t always abnormal, though. Peer pressure can have two sides: negative and positive both.
Benefits of Peer Pressure
1. ADVICE: Friends can be a great support for children trying out new things, exploring new ideas, or require someone to help them work through a challenging problem.
2. ENCOURAGEMENT: Peers can push each other to do new things, like trying out for the soccer team or the school play.
3. FRIENDSHIP AND SUPPORT: Feeling supported by someone who accepts us for who we are can boost self-esteem.
4. GAINING NEW EXPERIENCES: Sometimes we need a little shove to do something we really want to do but don’t quite have the courage.
5. MODELLING GOOD EXAMPLE: Friends help each other be better people when they frown upon negative behaviors like gossiping or insensitive jokes and instead encourage positive behaviors.
6. PRACTICING SOCIALIZATION: Learning about different social norms helps us know how to adapt to different situations and decide which groups we want to spend time with and which ones we don’t.
Drawbacks
1. ANXIETY & DEPRESSION: Being around with people who pressure us to do things we are not comfortable with can make us feel anxious and depressed.
2. ARGUMENTS OR DISTANCE FROM FAMILY OR FRIENDS: Negative peer pressure tends to make us feel bad about ourselves, and this can cause us to withdraw from people we care about.
3. DISTRACTION FROM STUDIES: Peer pressure can sometimes cause us to move our focus from our priorities because we’re engaged in things we wouldn’t normally do or distracted by thoughts about peer pressure.
4. PRESSURE TO ENGAGE IN RISKY BEHAVIOR: Friends may pressure each other to do things like drink, try illicit drugs, engage in unsafe sexual activity, or drive recklessly.
5. SUDDEN CHANGES IN BEHAVIOR: Trying to conform to a peer’s norms might prompt a person to start acting and looking like someone else.
6. UNHAPPINESS WITH APPEARANCE: If our peers are fixating on appearance, we may feel inadequate and want to change how we look in order to fit in.
Tips for Coping with Peer Pressure
It’s important to devise ways to deal with peer pressure. Being able to spot signs of peer pressure will let you intervene when you accept that your child or someone you care about is headed down an unhealthy road. Some strategies that may be useful for helping someone cope with peer pressure might include:
Plan Ahead: have them think about the thing they might be pressured to do that they don’t want to. Plan ahead the ways to deal with the pressure. Ask them to think of how they might leave a situation if it becomes uncomfortable. Identify a support person that they could call.
Giving Excuses: Have them develop a canned excuse for why they can’t participate in something they don’t want to do. For example, some households have an arrangement where if kids send text to their parents a certain pre-planned word or phrase, the parent will call to say something has come up and they need to come home.
Do Friendship with the Right Groups or Person: People who share your child’s values are less likely to be the people who will bully them into doing things they don’t want to do.
Rely on Trusted Adults: Help your child recognize which adults in their life are safe and accessible for when they need to talk or when they need help getting out of a tricky situation.
Talk to your kids about peer pressure. Teach your kid how to say no to someone who forces you, help them develop the skills to think independently, and encourage self-confidence. If you suspect that your kid or another person that you love is being affected negatively by peer pressure, let them know you are the one they can trust and offer to make a plan for getting out of an unhealthy or unpleasant situation.
Conclusion
While peer pressure can be abnormal or tough, it isn’t always a poor thing. Positive peer pressure can be a valuable portion of learning, how to socialise or even growing as an individual. But if you suspect that your kids are struggling with negative peer pressure, encourage them to have a chat with you. Sometimes children do not want to talk to their parents about peer pressure. If that is the instance, do not take it personally. Encourage them to talk about it with another trusted adult, like a teacher, a doctor, a therapist, or a school counsellor. To know about more what peer pressure is click on this link given below:
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