Teenage Peer Pressure

Dealing With Teenage Peer Pressure, No Doubt It’s Quite Difficult Problem To Handle

As a volunteer who works with teens, teenage peer pressure is among the greatest issues I deal with. Our culture likes to portray peer pressure among teenagers through this sensationalist, after school special perspective. Parent concern about teenage drug use, teenage pregnancy, and other varieties of really drastic issues. However, in reality, peer pressure situations are frequently about much subtler and more insidious issues.

Don’t get me wrong, I do see a few examples of pressure that extend to drug use, skipping classes, pregnancy and other stereotypical teenage problems, but the heaviest thing that I run into is bullying. Teenagers are under a large amount of pressure to fit in, and often the people who run the cliques they are trying to fit into are not the nicest teenagers. In order to “earn” their popularity, teenagers are oftentimes expected to haze younger teens, pick on or exclude socially awkward kids or even mistreat teens which are from poorer families simply because of their backgrounds. To me, this is the most pernicious and destructive form of teenage peer pressure. During high school, teenagers learn who they will be, and those teenagers that learn to think about themselves as outcasts or to believe that they have to pick on weaker people just to fit in could carry those lessons with them for their whole lives.

Unluckily, there are no easy cures for teenage peer pressure.

Teenagers need to assert their autonomy, and often don’t do well with heavy-handed parent or authority figure trying to pick their friends or manage everything they do. Simultaneously, teens need guidance and those with parents who are too lenient get into trouble. The single thing to do is be a good parent and be a good friend; set boundaries for your teenager, but give him or her freedom and make it clear that your teen is always welcome to talk to you without consequences. That way, if he feels pressured to do something that he knows is wrong, he will be able to get the support that he needs from you without worrying of being punished or judged.

Of course, when you do see teenage peer pressure leading to bad places, as a parent, counselor or other adult authority figure you have to step in and do something about it. Teenagers can and do make really bad decisions, and the consequences of those decisions can last a lifetime if no one interferes. Be a friend when you can, but be a parent when you must.

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