Peer Pressure

According to Robyn Feller's Everything You Need to Know About Peer Pressure (1993), peer pressure is what causes people to do things that are popular in order to fit in with others. Accordingly, it can be a very powerful driving force in the lives of adolescents. Peer pressure is a common experience of life for most teenagers. Peers are usually regarded as the people who are of similar age to a person, such as the other members of class in school, or the other boys in a troop of Boy Scouts. Because peer status is especially important during middle school and high school, pressures [Page 378]from other teens can be a driving force that influences the behavior of teenagers positively or negatively. Adolescents spend so much of their time with their peers, so it makes sense that these peers can influence them both positively and negatively.

As Feller (1993) points out, young people can often influence each other in very positive ways, such as pressuring friends to stay in school, getting good grades, or joining a sports team. Friends may encourage each other to participate in peer tutoring in the school's resource room, or work out conflicts appropriately with other students in peer mediation. Not only is this type of positive pressure enriching for young people, it also develops social skills and can aid in a sense of self-worth and self-exploration for students.

Peer pressure is more commonly thought of negatively, such as when it is used to exclude students socially from a certain group or to coerce students into performing negative behaviors (e.g., using illicit drugs, drinking, cheating on a test). Peer pressure strongly influences behavior in children and adolescents, influencing them to say the “right” thing, wear the “right” clothes, or act a certain way. Peer pressure may be used to coerce children and adolescents to join gangs. Gang behavior uses peer pressure to promote negative behaviors, such as theft, destruction of property, or the injury of another student.

Currently, research studies (Simons-Morton & colleagues, 2001) show that middle school students are much more likely to drink or smoke if they have friends that do so. This is just one of many studies that gives credence to the idea that students can be influenced by the peers around them.

Parents, teachers, and psychologists use positive peer pressure as a method to change a child's behavior in school. Teachers may orchestrate peer pressure to get students to exhibit appropriate behaviors or to follow class rules. Psychologists use peer pressure in group counseling to promote support and encouragement among group members.