Peer pressure is when people tend to get influenced by the lifestyle of their
peers. The section of society which is most vulnerable to the effects of peer
pressure is of teenagers. The thinking, behaviour, tastes of food, fashion and
music and the decisions of the peers, influence them. There are many changes
taking place at the physical and psychological level in a teenager at that age.
They start feeling that they have grown up, they feel they needs to make
choices. They spend most of their time in school or college and spend most of
the time with their peers. Anything can influence them and make them change,
for better or worse. Very few have the courage to follow their heart and not
the herd. Following peers blindly is not a wise thing to do.
Peer
pressure can either be negative or positive. Negative peer pressure is when decisions
go wrong. When a person is forced to do what he doesn’t like and takes wrong decisions.
It's obvious that he won't be happy and later can only land up in sorrow. For
example, taking up a career just because your friends do so, without much
thought to where your interest lies, can only make you unhappy. Bad habits are also
cultivated due to this. Peer pressure forces you to do things you are not
comfortable doing. It can lead you to adopt a certain kind of lifestyle. You
may not like partying every weekend, you may not be smoking, but peer can turn
you from an always-at-home person to a complete party animal. It can turn you
from a total non-smoker to a chain-smoker. There are so many teenagers who take
to drinking against their will, just because their peers force them to. In many
cases, peer pressure has been the culprit in creating drug addicts.
Peer pressure is not always bad. There are positive effects too. Adopting good habits is one of them. If you are fortunate enough to get a good peer group, your peers can influence the shaping of your personality in a positive way. For example, when a child knows that some of his friends regularly read newspapers, even he feels tempted to do so. He may get into the habit of reading because of his peers which is a positive change. Sometimes its also inspiration, which makes you change for good. For example, positive peer pressure can make you quit smoking or give up bad habits that you may have. Your peers can inspire you to become more optimistic or more confident.
A teenager at this age is not able to identify and realize the effects of peer pressure on their lives. They just can't distinguish between the good and the bad. Thus, the role of parents and teachers plays a very important part here. They should save them from succumbing to it. It's natural for a teenaged kid to feel like imitating his friend, but they need to be taught the difference. They need to be shielded from negative peer pressure. A strong support from family, an ability to differentiate between the right and the wrong and the skill to choose friends from peers is the key to get the positive effects of peer pressure and keep the negative ones away.
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