Sunday, July 29, 2007
peer pressure_xuefen_2
Peer pressure is the force that someone feels to behave or dress a certain way. A peer could be a friend, someone in the community, or even someone on TV. You may experience peer pressure as you live up to either the individual's or group's expectations or follow a particular fashion or trend.Directly - We may experience peer pressure as someone telling us what we should be doing. It may be a good idea to talk to someone we trust if we feel threatened, are being hurt, or being pressured into something we do not want to do. This may be a family member, teacher, youth worker, or counselor.
Indirectly - Peer pressure may not always be obvious to us. It is not uncommon for a group of friends to have particular habits or activities that they do together. It may be that when you are with a different group of friends you are unlikely to do those things. For example, you may only smoke when you are with certain friends or you may be more likely to study when you are with other friends.
Individual - Sometimes the pressure comes from us ourselves. Feeling different from the group may be hard. To avoid this, sometimes we do things to make sure we feel like the rest of the group. Moving to a new area or starting high school may be scary. Often it means having to make new friends and fit into a new environment. When we are feeling unsure about ourselves we may be more likely to feel the affects of peer pressure.
Resolve it! By taking action to resolve it, one may feel less pressured. They can get help from people closer to them and are reliable like their parents and teachers, and maybe friends who are not causing them to feel pressured. The support from the people will help them deal with peer pressure in the right way.
