Say NO!
By: Tanya Celestine
Imagine you are standing outside of your school at the end of the day waiting for your mom to arrive to pick you up from school. While you are waiting for your mom a peer walks up to you. He /she asks you if you were willing to do drugs. Everyday he/she waits for you in the same spot and at the same time. Everyday they pressure you to do drugs. What would you do in this situation?
The phrase peer pressure is typically linked to risky adolescent behaviors like underage drinking. Substance abuse, and unprotected sex. Almost half of the youngsters questioned said the need to fit in with their group dictated their friends behavior. For example some people are peer pressured into taking drugs. Drugs can be dangerous and taking them is not a fashion statement. It is encouraging that while young people may talk about drug taking they aren't necessarily experimenting with drugs themselves.
When it comes to teenagers, virtually no behavior is too reckless or too destructive to be outside the realm of possibility. The finding suggests that teenage peer pressure has a distant effect on brain signals involving risk and reward helping to explain why young people are more likely to misbehave and take risks when their friends are watching. social experts say kids do not fully comprehend their mortality. It's just very hard to overestimate the important pressure because to kids peers are everything.
Developing positive peer pressure begins with relationships. Peer pressure begins with relationships with those whom they have in common with. Someone might feel that peer pressure would lead to better grades, paying attention in school etc. but I disagree I think that peer pressure has a negative affect on peers. Peers are being talked into doing the wrong thing which can lead to negative behavior.
Peer pressure leads to drug use and self harm. let's try to prevent this from happening. Get people around you involved, send emails to family and friends, tell your teachers, the principal and school board members.