Blog Post 3: Pros and Cons of Peer Pressure

With the way of life and choices by the peers nowadays, can lead to whether positive or negative impacts especially on their behavior and personality. Peers can greatly affect the perspective of a certain individual whether in a good or a bad way. It affects us all the time, directly or indirectly, positively and negatively. It can give us benefits and sometimes it can make us face the consequences.

I've read several articles regarding the advantages and disadvantages of Peer Pressure. The first article I've read was written by Manali Oak entitled, "Negative and Positive Effects of Peer Pressure". In her article, she said that teenagers were the most affected when dealing with peer pressure because they were the most vulnerable. Changes from physical to psychological stages are taking place.. They are dealing with the people who have similar characters with them, same thinking and behavior most of the time. Peer pressure can affect the decisions they make in life, in which these decision may not be good for them, they can also gain bad habits because of the negative factors brought by peer pressure. However, they can also cultivate good habits when they make friends with good and positive people, and if a teen is lucky enough to find a good group, his peers can be a good influence and example that can help him build himself in a positive way. It is just a matter of choice.

Oak said, "Teenage years are the educative years of one's life. It's the phase they do their high school, go for higher education, take up degree courses. They are busy carving a career for themselves. They spend most of their time among those of their age - their friends, peers. Teenage is the most youthful period of life."

Manali Oak is definitely correct, for me, there are really Pros and Cons of Peer Pressure. These things are inevitable especially for teens who are just learning or developing their decision making skills. During my high school years, It was really hard for me to decide on myself especially in choosing the right thing to do versus the things that I want to do. But eventually, with the help of my parents of course, I was able to know which is more important and which is more necessary. Teens, they don't need to be perfect, they just need to be true to themselves and be open about how they feel especially to their parents.

The second article I've read will let us know how does negative peer pressure affects us, whether direct or indirect. It was written by Diane Fitzpatrick, entitled "Types of Peer Pressure". She said that the types of peer pressure range from direct, confrontational pressure, to more subtle pressures to look, dress and act like everyone else.

She said that "Direct, spoken, negative peer pressure puts your child on the spot through direct confrontation. Your teen's peers want to convince him to do something he shouldn't do. When peers resort to this type of direct pressure, it's difficult for teens to find an excuse to do the right thing without risking ridicule."

I agree with Diane, it is very hard for a teen to resist negative peer pressure especially when it is directly spoken which leads to confrontations. Teens are more prone to negative peer pressure than the positive ones.They tend to just go with the flow not knowing if what they are doing can either lead to negative or positive outcomes. I think teenagers need to have a guidance, not too much and not too little, a balance guidance will do. They just need some advice on how to say no to temptations and how to handle these kinds of pressure.