Coping With Peer Pressure: Getting Along Without Going Along

• Introduction
Peer pressure arises from an individual’s need to have the approval and acceptance of his or her equals. It is a behavioral pattern that begins in childhood and continues into adulthood. 

However, there is probably no one time in an individual’s life when the influence of peer pressure is stronger than in adolescence. At the same time that teenagers are struggling to declare independence from their parents, they are striving to win the acceptance and support of friends and classmates. They are, in fact, struggling to belong—to become part of a group that will help provide security and an emerging sense of identity.


 This quest for peer approval motivates much of an adolescent’s behavior.

Often, peer pressure can be a positive force in a teenager’s life. The advice of friends can help teens make the right decision in a tough situation. And there’s nothing necessarily wrong with trying to conform; belonging to a group can help adolescents begin the complicated process of separating from their parents and developing their own, increasingly independent identities. 


However, when bowing to peer pressure means betraying personal beliefs and values, peer pressure becomes a negative force.
Before teenagers can learn when to say “no” to peer pressure, they must learn exactly what they are rejecting, and why.