The Peer Pressure Effect (And Video)

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Rafael Cubillo Jr., Editor
March 22, 2012
Filed under Arts & Entertainment

“The ugly reality is that peer pressure reaches its
greatest intensity at just the age when kids tend to be most insensitive and
cruel.” – Walt Mueller

Peer pressure is social pressure on somebody to adopt a type of behavior, dress, or attitude in  order to be accepted as part of a group. Most kids see it as their only gateway to “fitting in”. The reason peer pressure in high school is so popular and influential is because of what Walt Mueller said; high school teenagers and in a phase of their lives in which their image and reputation are as important and valuable to them as their very own life. Peer Pressure, obviously, can lead to undesirable behaviors:

• • The Adolescent Substance Abuse Knowledge Base reports that right around 30%
    if teens are offered drugs in middle school and high school.
  • According to the National Household Survey on Drug Use and Health from the
    U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 74.3% of high school students have
    tried alcohol.
  • 3.1 million teenagers smoke, according to the American Lung Association.
  • The Kaiser Foundation reports that about 50% of teenagers feel pressured
    with regard to sex in relationships.

Peer Pressure is a parasite that encloses an insecure teenager’s soul and makes it turn into a beast, a savage that was unknown by the possessor himself. To defeat that parasite, you must know yourself. You don’t have to know yourself, you have to know “yourself”. You have to be strong and confident enough to establish your own beliefs as your only rulebook. You are your master. No one else. If peer pressure reigns your world, dethrone it and rightfully become the king of “your” world. Be you. No one else.

-The video below is an illustration of peer pressure among high school students.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHdwsRfP_Lk