Peer Pressure During Adolescence

What is peer pressure?
It is exactly what it says - pressure from your peers. Leslie Kaplan states that young people and their parents both often use the idea of peer pressure to (1) explain away tee behavior, and (2) sometimes as an easy excuse for teens doing things they know they should not be doing.

Peer pressure is more than an excuse or a vague concept. It is a very real problem that teens and adults must deal with everyday.

Kaplan believes peer pressure is an important influence on young poeple's attitudes and behaviors. Peer pressure influences teens' wardrobes, their music, their leisure activities, and their choice of friends. She also states that peers offer independence from the family, acceptance, a sense of personal worth, support in times of confusion, models for appropriate conduct in a complex world, and social identity. Many factors affect how peer influence feels and how the individual will respond to its force."The group bolsters the adolescent's sense of self-esteem", states Rebecca Stefoff. At one time or another, most adolescents choose to go along with group expectations in exchange for having their needs met.

You've probably heard peer pressure and have also experienced it!
"It sounds like emotional blackmail", claims Kaplan.

"Come on, everyone else is doing it."

"Don't be a wimp."

"You dress like my parents."

"Come on, you never do anything wrong."

These statements, and many more, are examples of peer pressure. But peer pressure can also be quiet and subtle. Kaplan says, "Teens who act a certain way because they believe their friends expect that from them are feeling peer pressure, whether or not the expectation is linked to a threat of being left out". Sometimes teens and their friends all want the same thing. At other times, teens act against what they privately want just to stay part of the group. Kaplan also says, " The attraction of having friends make some teens act, dress, talk, play, and think as their friends do. Nothing is forced, instead it only feels as if it is".

"Peer pressure also means the attraction that prospective and present group members feel toward a group's characteristics", states Kaplan. These persons behave in ways that the group approves in exchange for group membership. Kaplan refers to this as being similar to the barter system. She believes that each party gives something so that each may receive something. When one party gives, the other feels pressure to give in return in order to uphold the contract. Adolescents feel pressure to give now in ways the group expects so that they will later receive what they want from the group. Stefoff states," although belonging to the "in crowd" is often a major boost to one's self-esteem, few experiences in adolescence are as unpleasant as being left out of the clique one wants to join."

"Peer groups hold a very influential place in adolescent life because they give their members the qualities that young adults seek," says Kaplan. These groups offer independence from parents, acceptance and approval from others, the feeling of confidence and worthiness, and they also offer social rules for interacting with others. She claims that these groups hold out these goods in exchange for conformity and compliance with group demands. With uncertain identity and sense of personal worth, young people seek reassurance from going along with the crowd.

1. Age

Kaplan states that several investigators looked at the relationship between peer pressure and age in youths seven to twelve years old. The young people had to make a decision about the length of a line. They did not know that the other people in the room with them had secretly agreed beforehand to give the wrong answer. After the people who gave the wrong answer intentionally were called on, the researchers called on the other youths. They found out that giving into peer pressure was significantly related to age although not in a straightforward way. The children aging from 7 to 9 chose a relatively low amount of conformity to peer pressure, while the ones aging from 11 to 13 showed the most. They stated that after the age of 13 sensitivity to peer pressure gradually decreased. Kaplan claims that young people of this age group often seek peer group membership as an escape from the responsibility of action on their own of the shame of doing only what their parents want them to do.

Neither experience nor formal instruction has prepared young adolescents to make effective independent decisions about their own lives", says Kaplan.

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2. Motivation to Join a Group

Francis Ianni claims that all teenagers are undergoing the same transition of giving up the freedoms of childhood, learning the new roles they will take as adult members of society, experiencing the same uncertainties about what adult life will be like, and wondering and worrying about whether they will fail or succeed when it is their time to contribute. "All of this uncertainty is easier to bear if it can be shared with friends and age-mates who are going through this same transition, and peer groups offer the reciprocity, supportive companionship, and social feedback out of which friendship circles grow", states Ianni. Kaplan believes that the reasons why young people seek membership in a particular group affects the amount of influence the group will have in their lives. Holmes agrees that a rebellious teenager from an authoritarian family might seek a pseudo peer group of drug users as an escape or perhaps join a gang in which the same sorts of rigid rules experienced at home are present. The motivation for belonging influences how readily they will give in to peer pressure. Kaplan gives two motivational differences for joining and staying with a peer group. These are: 1) To gain information or access to opportunities that the group provides. These young people are more likely to stand up to the group when the group decides to do something that the member disagrees with. 2) For social and emotional support. These young people are more likely to give into peer pressure when the group decides to do something that the member disagrees with.

These reasons for becoming a part of a group are often ased upon their family situation. Kaplan believes some adolescents don't receive enough affection and approval from their parents so they seek approval from their friends. These people are especially vulnerable to peer pressure. She also states that other adolescents have parents who show them love and affection while guiding them through life. These people hold their values higher than those of the group and are less likely to give into peer pressure. Holmes believes that if you have or lack certain skills as a teenager, it might help decide what kind of peer group you find yourself drawn toward. He also states,"We know for a fact that peer group membership for teenagers is closely tied to socioeconomic factors such as race, ethnic origin, religion, and income."

3. Status within the Group

Adolescents' status within the group affects how they will respond to peer pressure. Kaplan states that adolescents judged by group member to be less important to the group as a whole are more susceptible to peer influences. She also says since they have a lesser value to the group, their continued membership and acceptance seem less secure than that of more important members. These members of lesser value give into peer pressure more readily.

4. Self Blame

"Some adolescents that are susceptible to peer pressure blame themselves for whatever goes wrong", claims Kaplan. She believes that these young people are willing to shoulder all the responsibilities for a mishap, justified or not, lack self-confidence and a good feeling about their worth and abilities. They tend to give in to others' views. Teenagers must believe in themselves because it makes who they really are.

Two major concerns about the influence of peer pressure are gang involvement and the use of alcohol and other drugs.

5. Gangs

Gangs are different from cliques. Kaplan says that clique members are not always "angels", but for the most part cliques are normal and healthy groups and help young adolescents move from total dependence on adults to the mature independence of the late teenage years and early twenties. Gangs on the other hand provide a feeling of safety, not just belonging. "For some teens", Kaplan states, "gangs offer the only sense of belonging, respect, and security they have ever felt and this is why gangs are a major concern." Gangs now become their "family" and the bond is much stronger than between them and their natural families. Kaplan claims that gang members are willing to die and kill for each other and their 'hood. Their complete loyalty to one another draws them together tightly and it is hard to resist because most of the members lack families who care about them, guide them, or support their efforts.

6. Alcohol and Drug Use

Kaplan stated that an estimated one million teens in the U.S. are addicted to alcohol. The U.S. Surgeon General's office says that 10.6 million teens are drinkers. This is about half the national population of high school juniors and seniors. More than one million teens in that group will become alcoholics if they are not already addicted.

"Approximately ten thousand young people sixteen to twenty-four years old are killed each year in alcohol related drowning, suicides, violent injuries, murders and in juries", says Kaplan. Alcohol is a factor in about half of all serious car accidents involving youth.

In Coping with Peer Pressure, one study reported that nearly 80 percent of high school students interviewed said that they were pressured by peers to drink. Some teens drink because their friends drink. I, myself, started drinking because my friends drank and they started drinking because their friends drank also. I didn't even like beer when I first started drinking. But I had to fit in so I drank. Other teens drink to escape family or personal troubles. I had a friend who was a drinker. I thought he drank only when the rest of us were drinking, but I found out that that was not true. He drank all the time and the reason was the death of his father. Alcohol became that man's best friend and it changed him to a point where I disowned him as a friend. It was truly sad. I don't believe he knew he was an alcoholic until it was too late.

Some believe that alcohol is the drug of choice among teens because it is acceptable and easy to obtain, but they do experiment with other drugs also. Kaplan says that young people are curious and adventurous, and for some, drugs mean the chance to meet both needs. "Drug use offers a "time out" from the difficult pressures and unanswerable questions of who am I, where am I going, and how am I going to get there?", claims Kaplan. This is just like hiding from life. You can only hide for so long before it catches up to you.

These are just a few of the many reasons and influences of peer pressure during teenage adolescence. Peer pressure is a very important part of the adolescent's life and people must recognize this so our youth can be steered in the right direction. Guidance and understanding plays a major role in the choices that teenagers make, so family and friends must have the knowledge of what is going on around and with our teens today. Teens are not always going to do the right thing because of all the internal and external factors they must deal with, but that is expected of their age group. The main concern is to help them so they can make the right choices in life. For those who are adults now just remember that you where a teenager once before yourself.

References

This page was created by Dennis Cook and Jon Dayley, with help from Dr. Preisser.