Peer Pressure and Peer Group - Paper Example

Peer pressure generally is the social pressure exerted by a particular group, mostly of the same age bracket to do things, follow certain values and conform or behave in a specific manner. Peer pressure is often associated with teens and adolescents, but the truth is, it cuts across all age brackets. And it is a powerful tool because refusal to conform to the rules of the group would make one feel excommunicated from them and cannot relate to them as it was before. Peer pressure often is always negative. However, there are certain aspects of positive peer pressure. For example, the pressure to invest because all your colleagues have invested in successful businesses can be viewed positively. peer pressure has no beginning age. Even the young children get swayed away by their friends and they do things in a like manner with their buddies. Narrowing it down to the adolescent circle, this is when most people are swayed away by their friends. And at this age, peers play an increasingly important role in the lives of these adolescents. This influence is, however, important in their development. In a way, it helps them identify their identity, and also get a sense of belonging. They also get to know their skills. Peers with similar interests are often together from the beginning. Therefore, they would probably lead each other to the continuation of similar interest. What may become dangerous is where the people involved are passive recipients of their friends influence. This is dangerous because such people want to do what they are seeing as being done without necessarily minding how it would affect them.

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The link between social anxiety, substance use and peer pressure.

Social anxiety is a condition where an individual has extreme fear concerning social situations. This behavior arises when one realizes he or she is closely monitored and one is subject to criticism by friends.as a result of this, one may become reluctant to do things which may bring them to the limelight. Among the youth, though, it may be normal for them to have social fears because this is part of their growth and development.

Research shows that 40% of the persons who suffer from social anxiety tend to indulge themselves in substance use. There is also another view where it is said that adolescents may not engage themselves in drugs because they will be in the limelight and subject to public scrutiny.

It is, however, rhetoric why some of the adolescents engage in substance use while others do not. Research has however shown that those who indulge in substance use seemingly want to elevate themselves above the social status of the people at their level, say friends. They engage in these things as a group because it is in this group where they encourage and motivate each other, and also offer support in terms of, for example, finances to buy what they want to consume.

The positive relationship between substance use and susceptibility to peer pressure is also viewed in two phases (Anke W. Blote, et-al 2016). Between the older and the younger group. Results, however, shows that the relation between the two gets more realistic in the older group than in the younger group. This could be due to the vast knowledge that the older group contains in comparison to the little knowledge that the younger group would be having.

Therefore, it is clearly evident that the relationship between social anxiety and substance use is in such a way affected by ones vulnerability to peer pressure. And thus, knowledge about the importance of vulnerability to peer pressure could help to prevent initial substance use, among the youth that are socially anxious.

Looking at the negative side of peer pressure, we ought to understand how misconduct in the later years would be as a result of past experiences. This could probably be due to some activities that were done in groups and ended up becoming an individuals lifestyle. Such behaviors could be of substance use. This leads to delinquency.

Delinquency (Evans S.Z, et-al 2014) is a legal term that describes a criminal behavior carried out by a juvenile. An example of delinquency could include stealing, fighting, and extreme disobedience. This arises when teens and adolescents want to spend more time and listen to their friends more than they are listening to the experienced older generation or even to their parents themselves. And it gets worse when teens have tough parents who never let them go. They feel like they ought and must leave home and go\ do what their peers are doing. Because according to them, the peers are having more fun than they are.

Girls get a strong affection to their peers when they lose the bond of emotional connection with who they were in close contact with, be it their parents, guardian and siblings. Boys too would turn away when they no longer receive any appreciation or recognition from people who previously used to pay attention to them. (Journal of youth adolescence,45-1)

Delinquency, however, can be prevented in our young generation through getting the root reasons why it comes up and dealing with the problem at the minor stage before it magnifies to become a juvenile case. Some of the reasons for delinquency apart from the peer pressure include;

i) Individual issues these are issues to do with personal attributes such as antisocial behaviors, where you feel you don't belong there. Also, challenges to do with mental health could cause one to do certain activities that are not allowed by the community.

ii) Family issues- if one grows up in a family where they have issues such as poverty, ill-treatment by the parents, or violence in the family, such factors can contribute to delinquency. Often these adolescents learn these ill behaviors and practice them in the outside world because they have been brought up seeing such on a daily routine. These situations are worse when their peer friends are also going through the same. This is because they will psyche each other towards the wrong direction.

iii) Another factor that could lead to delinquency is when adolescents are rejected by their peers. They end up associating with those who are willing to accommodate them, even though they have involved themselves in delinquency.

These factors, however, can be prevented through the following;

Concrete support- this would include care and support from guardians, parents and community.it would also include giving adolescents a chance to express their views however right or wrong they are. In case they are wrong, those involved ought to correct them in absolute love. They also ought to feel socially connected to people who would help them increase in knowledge and diversify the skills that they are having.

The steps previously were aiming at school age youth, but modernly, it is evident that delinquency can start at a very tender age and thus the curing process should start from the womb and the first years of a babys life.

Peer pressure in the adolescents may bring several changes in the family such as;

The teens may seem like they are rejecting parent relationships but all they are doing is renegotiating the relationships. Since at the adolescent stage, the adolescents seems to be taking up more responsible tasks and they get and behave maturely. The parents have to adjust and no longer treat them like children, but allow them to take up those responsibilities that they are willing to.

However, even though the peers seem to be the ones controlling their lives, the parents still remain the most influential factor in their lives.

There are ways that can be used to cope with peer pressure since it is something that can't be eliminated so easily. Some of the ways include;

As kids grow up into adolescence, the parents should nature their talents, abilities, and self-esteem so that they are not easily swayed by people with negative mindsets.

The parents would also try to encourage positive relationships between them and the adults. Thus, they will be keen to follow the advice given to them. The parent may also encourage diverse relationships. This includes relating with other members of the community who are not necessarily their friends or family members.

The government can also provide for seminars and workshops to those families that with teens and adolescents so that they can get educated on some of the things and this will prevent them from being swayed away by negative peers.

References

Anke W. Blote, AnneC. Miers, and P. Mitchiel Westenberg (2016). Adolescent Social Anxiety and Substance Use: The Role of Susceptibility to Peer Pressure. Copyright 2016 Anke W. Blote et al. EBSCOHOST database.

Evans, S.Z., Simons, L.G., & Simons, R. L. (2014). Factors that Inuence Trajectories of Delinquency Throughout Adolescence. Journal of Youth Adolescence, 45(1), 156-171. Retrieved January 17, 2017 from Ebscohost database.

Journal of Applied Social Psychology, (2011). 41,4,pp.773-797 Copyright 2011 Willey Periodicals, INC. Susceptible to Social Influence: Risky Driving in Response to Peer Pressure.Retrieved Feb. 7, 2017 from Ebscohost database.

(Marczyk, DeMatteo, & Festinger, 2010) Gaironeesa Hendricks, Shazly Savahl, and Maria Florence. University of Western Cape. Adolescent peer pressure, leisure boredom and substance use in low-income cape town communities. EBSCOHOST database.

Understanding peer influence in children and adolescents(pp. 141-160). New York: Guilford Press.Altermatt, E., & Pomerantz, E. M. (2005). The implication of having high-achieving versus low-achieving friends: A longitudinal analysis. Social Development, 14(1), 61-81.