The same study also found that students with higher resistance to peer influence were less likely to modify their behavior to match the perceived behavior of their peers. Talk out any peer pressure you’re experiencing with other friends who are also feeling the squeeze. If you have children approaching their teenage years, you’ve probably thought at least a few times about the kind of peer pressure they might experience. Peers can be your friends who are about your age and have similar interests and experiences. Peers can also be other kids who are about your age and are involved in the same activities with you or are part of a community or group you belong to. You may not consider all of your peers to be friends, but they can all influence you.
How to stay true to yourself when experiencing peer pressure
If you recognise them in advance, you might be in a much better place to tackle it. If you ever need to talk about this or anything else, feel free to get in touch with us. Focus your attention on following your personal goals instead of the goals of the group. What’s important is to concentrate on what you have going on right now–studying, working, exercising, etc. Focus on developing yourself and understand that “normal” is whatever you make it.
Arrange a Code Word With a Parent or Trusted Friend
Peer pressure can lead a person to engage in sexual activity before they are ready. It may also influence the person to participate in unsafe, risky, or dangerous sexual activities. The consequences may include being exposed to a sexually transmitted infection (STI), developing pregnancy, or having images of yourself posted online without consent. The examples mentioned above were studying and participating in sports.
Be Firm With Your Boundaries & Know Your “Why”
- Peer pressure can be avoided by thinking about your actions and if you would participate in the behavior if your social circle were not influencing or pressuring you to do so.
- Your child has wanted to join the school paper since they started middle school, but so far, their shyness has kept them from taking the step of actually attending a meeting.
- You may not consider all of your peers to be friends, but they can all influence you.
- Being pressured by peers can be a stressful experience, whether it happens in person or online.
- If they pressure you to do shots with them at the bar when you aren’t drinking, for example, you might suggest that you both hit the dance floor instead.
- In a situation where this occurs with a professional network, it can harm your career and reputation.
Being aware of, and carefully choosing the influence of peers that will lead to healthy and happy experiences is a lifelong process. Parents’ positive feedback turns out to be a booster for their children when they are facing any kind of peer pressure. They act as a guardian who can treat them well and can help in how to tackle peer pressure. “I was being peer pressured how to deal with peer pressure to be mean to one of my friends… I knew it wasn’t right and I felt awful that I was doing this to one of my closest friends.” You can experience peer pressure from people without them saying anything to you, and you can experience it from direct remarks made by others. More often than not, we agree to do something even though we are not comfortable with it.
If your child’s friends enjoy school and show interest in keeping their grades up, your child may start making a similar effort. You have to drive home before it gets too late and don’t want to risk drinking, so when your friend’s partner asks if you’d like a drink, you ask for water. Your child and their friends talk about their biology class pretty regularly. There’s a lot of material to cover, and their teacher gives tough pop quizzes every week. Adolescents can promote positive choices and attitudes in their friend groups simply by demonstrating those behaviors themselves. Teens look to friends and other members of their peer group for guidance.
Method 2: Coping with the Effects of Giving in to Peer Pressure
- Remind yourself it is ok to stand for yourself and set boundaries because when you say No to others you ultimately say Yes to yourself.
- Do you find yourself making decisions based on what others expect of you rather than what you truly want?
- It may also influence the person to participate in unsafe, risky, or dangerous sexual activities.
- Any situation where you feel pressurised to drink, or drink more than you intended, is peer pressure.
- Building good self-esteem will help them stay away from groups with negative influences.
- That way, you’re fulfilling both of your needs in a mutually beneficial way.
A free newsletter for those interested in mental health in teens. Saying “no” can be hard, but it’s necessary to set healthy boundaries in relationships. If someone persistently pressures you to do something, you can try telling them how it affects you. You deserve to surround yourself with supportive people who respect your decisions—not people who pressure you into doing something that doesn’t feel right.
Why Do Some Kids Give in to Peer Pressure?
- Peer pressure has the potential to be either positive or negative in impact.
- Rather, they are indirectly exposed to how others talk or respond to the said activity or behaviour, and feel the need to conform thereafter.
- This will help to guide you in making a logical and informed decision when faced with peer pressure.
- They might go along if they think, “Everyone’s doing it,” even though they know better.
In most scenarios on how to deal with peer pressure, it turns out to be unable to tackle the feelings that come when you avoid peer pressure. While dealing with peer pressure, you can start documenting your emotions in a journal that provides a healthy approach after submitting to negative peer influence. Start asking yourself reflective questions without judgment to understand what happened. Track your feelings over days and weeks to witness personal growth unfolding through difficult lessons learned about human psychology.
Then, they can call you saying there’s a family/friend crisis, and you need to leave. This can prevent you from being caught off guard and safely get you out of a risky situation. You don’t need to immediately jump into something you’re unsure about or that you’d rather not do.
