Peer Pressure: A Drive Or Deterrent?

Peer pressure is a phenomenon which is practically inevitable among people, whether they are students or adults in the workforce. Peer pressure, as the words suggest, is best defined as a social influence exerted by others on an individual, and this pressure is exerted in order to get someone act or believe in a similar way. It can be a deterrent or a drive which propels one towards success. Peer pressure, like anything else, has got its pros and cons.

People tend to adopt the notion that peer pressure is negative because the phrase comprises of the word ‘pressure’. However, they have yet to fully explore the impacts of peer pressure. Peer pressure actually has positive impacts on both an individual and a group. In school, peer pressure never fails to bring students in a class together as it promotes competitiveness amongst them, which provides them with the drive to work hard and perhaps surpass and outclass their classmates. This competitiveness is the direct opposite of the normal forms of competitiveness. It is special because it does not result in animosity but instead promotes friendship and strengthens bonds among the students. In this case, peer pressure is converted into a drive towards success. Peer pressure can also lead a person who has gone astray back onto the right path. If one were to make good friends, one will be influenced positively and his/her friends can help him/her discern right from wrong. They can be one’s beacons and guide one back onto the correct path, which shows the bright side of peer pressure.

However, do not picture peer pressure as something that is perfect. It has got a myriad of cons as well. Teenagers are undergoing puberty, and they struggle to curb their curiosity most of the time, which renders them vulnerable to all kinds of peer pressure, especially the negative side of it. Statistics have shown that about twenty percent of teenagers have tried smoking and an astonishing sixty-six percent, smoking, which shows that they cannot resist the temptations that negative peer pressure has brought to them and succumb to them far too easily. They can even be willing to compromise their moral values because they are afraid of losing their friends or being ostracized, thus succumbing to peer pressure. Besides this, negative peer pressure can also result in depression. When people laugh at an individual for not doing well in his/her test for example, he/she may not be able to take the insults and transform them into drive. Instead, he/she could dwell in despair for a long time. In extreme cases, the target can even commit suicide! This highlights the grave consequences and impacts that negative peer pressure can bring about.

Personally, I feel that peer pressure is actually positive rather than negative because it can bring out the best qualities out of a person. If a person is able to transform negative peer pressure into positive peer pressure, it will serve as an incessant drive to propel that person towards success. Those who are affected by negative peer pressure can share their troubles with their friends and allow them to guide them back onto the right path.

So, how should peer pressure be dealt with? There are actually many ways to deal with peer pressure. I believe that schools can invite speakers who are experienced in counselling who are able to address the students more about how to deal with peer pressure, such as setting the preservation of their moral values as their priority before they start doing something and bringing out qualities such as determination amidst peer pressure. People should also learn to convert negative experience into positive drive to achieve their goals and focus on doing what is right.

After all this debating, to conclude, I believe that peer pressure has got its pros and cons. In the end, it all boils down to how you deal with it. Peer pressure. A drive. Or a deterrent? You decide!