Teenage Peer Pressure

Teenage peer pressure is a very serious problem that affects all teenagers. Many parents feel lost and helpless when they are faced with this issue. A peer is a person of similar age and who shares similar values and interests. Peers often spend time together doing common activities and having fun together. When a teenager feels that he must do the same things as his peers in order to fit in, he/she is under peer pressure. This is a time where the teenager starts becoming rebellious and has a higher possibility of picking up bad habits such as smoking and drinking.

Positive Peer Pressure

Positive peer pressure causes teenagers to engage in meaningful and healthy activities with friends such as studying together, doing projects, playing games and going for barbecues and picnics.

Negative Peer Pressure

Negative Peer Pressure causes teenagers to engage in unhealthy and sometimes illegal activities that would only cause harm to himself/herself or other people. Examples of these activities are smoking, drinking, the consumption of drugs, spending money excessively and pre-marital sex.

Reasons Why Teenagers Listen More To Their Friends Than To Parents

Forming An Identity Of Their Own

During the growing up process, a teenager needs to form his own identity. He takes his friends' view and opinions into consideration and tries them out. He starts to form his own ideas of life, learns to make decisions and take responsibility for his choices and actions done.

Emotional Support In Peer Groups

As a teenager is learning to live a life that is independent of his parents, there are times where he/she will face the feeling of loneliness which can be rather frightening at times. Therefore, it is natural to seek out people who are experiencing the same feelings for emotional support.

Building A Strong Foundation To Resist Negative Peer Pressure

To prevent teenagers from giving in to negative peer pressure, there are a few important things that have to be done. Instilling the right values from young would allow the child to be able to differentiate between what is right and what is wrong. Building up your child's self esteem and having a trusting relationship with him/her would enable both parent and child to be closer. Training your child to make decisions and solve his own problems and to take responsibility and account for his/her actions is essential in character building. Creating opportunities and teaching your child how to handle friendships would help him widen his social circle and at the same time equip him with interaction skills. It is also important to help your child develop a sense of purpose in life so that he/she knows what he wants and would continue working to achieve it.

Solutions If Teenager Refuses To Heed Advice

Most of the time teenagers would not heed the advice of their parents during that phase of their lives. Parents can try to discuss with the teenager about the friends that they mix with, in a good manner. If the teenager agrees that he is under negative pressure and wished to do something about it, it is important to teach him/her decision-making skills and how to resist the pressure. If he disagrees that he is under negative peer pressure, continue to talk to him/her and ask him to share why he/she thinks they are not under negative peer pressure. If the teenager insists on having his own way, let him/her know the consequences and hold them accountable for their actions.