Role modeling good emotional self-regulation may also help your child stick to their own values when it comes to peer pressure. Self-regulation involves the ability to control thoughts, emotions, and behaviors in order to manage current behavior and achieve long-term goals. You can also positively peer pressure others by the way you respond to situations. For instance, if your friend is body-shaming another person, you can say, “Actually, it can be really harmful to criticize people’s bodies like that.” We tend to hear more about the potentially negative effects of peer pressure.
Do Things Together as a Family
Many teens develop addictions due to experimentation with prescription drugs like Vicodin, Ritalin and codeine. By removing these substances from easy reach, parents might help their children to resist the urge to give in to peer pressure and experiment with these common drugs of abuse. Teens empowered with tools to face challenging social situations gain important opportunities to express their values. They have confidence to do what’s right and skills needed for healthy future relationships. Many people think peer pressure is about one forceful teen demanding that another, “Try this…or I’m not hanging out with you.” It is actually far more subtle. It’s more like a dance where everyone tries different moves to look like they know what steps to take.
- We can do this through role modeling confidence and praising their wise choices.
- By doing so, their inner strength will help them stand firm with their feelings.
- Dealing with peer pressure can be stressful and overwhelming at times, so it’s important to practice self-care.
- In the study, two-year-old children who observed other kids perform a specific action were likely to mimic it.
- Some young people choose to maintain friendships at the expense of their values.
- The teen years and young adult life often intensify susceptibility while avoiding peer pressure.
- For example, when you notice that your friends are wearing expensive designer clothes, you also feel the urge to buy and wear such clothes.
Develop Decision-Making Skills When it Comes to Peer Pressure
” Hearing consequences said aloud can also get peers thinking and potentially changing their minds about the very thing they were pressuring others to do. Talk out any peer pressure you’re experiencing with other friends who are also feeling the squeeze. Seek out relationships with those who lift you, not drag you down. You’ll feel less alone when pressured if you have even one friend committed to avoiding risky behaviour, too.
- Is an Administrative Director of Research at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
- Humans like to think of themselves as individuals, capable of making their own decisions without consulting anyone else.
- Maybe you admire a friend who is a good sport, and you try to be more like them.
- This means standing up for yourself and your beliefs, and being willing to say “no” when you feel uncomfortable or unsafe.
Take Your Time
We have learned that educating teens about what not to do is not enough. Drug prevention programs that have had success have gone far beyond teaching young people to say no. They tend to teach the “whys” behind avoiding drugs, offer social skills to refuse drugs, and give opportunities to practice those skills over time. We can draw from these successful programs and from our own life experience, to empower teens to say “No” effectively. Consider these 8 tips as you prepare your teen to face peer pressure.
- Teens should also be encouraged to trust their instincts and remove themselves from situations that make them uncomfortable.
- There are many resources available to help you stay safe and healthy, and you don’t have to face these challenges alone.
- Helping teens develop the skills to cope with peer pressure is essential for fostering healthy decision-making.
- For adolescents, peer relationships are the most important of all thus leading to an increased susceptibility to peer pressure.
Being pressured by peers can be a stressful experience, whether it happens in person or online. It may shake your sense of identity and self-confidence and may contribute to excessive worry. In addition, prolonged exposure to this type of stress and tension may be a factor in mental health concerns such as anxiety and depression. Peer pressure can lead a person to engage in sexual activity before they are ready. It may also influence the person to participate in unsafe, risky, or dangerous sexual activities.
For instance, two friends might put positive pressure on each other to go to the gym together and stay accountable for their fitness goals. A study outlined in an article on Medline illustrates how peer pressure works. In the study, two-year-old children who observed other kids perform a specific action were likely to mimic it. When these same children saw only one other child perform an action, they were less apt to copy it. In other words, even tiny children have a tendency to go with the flow and do what others do, when enough peers model behavior. Finally, model how you say no clearly and definitively through your own body language and words.
Remind your teens that they are their own people making their own choices. It is up to them (not their friends) to decide what they value. It is up to us as parents, to establish the boundaries that will keep them safe and to guide them towards healthy values they will choose to follow. As much as we may wish that we could teach our kids to say “No! ” to friends who engage in behavior we don’t like, that isn’t always realistic.
But when it comes down to it, teens want to know and value their parents’ opinions — especially on tough topics such as sex and drug use. Youth may seem to spend more time with peers than parents during adolescence. But it’s the quality — not quantity — of time spent that’s truly important. If those friends continue to pressure you, you’ll do yourself a favor by finding new friends who understand you and are willing and able to help you develop a closer walk with God. The need to feel loved is at the heart of falling for peer pressure. We’ve all been there, but we know the answer is not to which of the following is a type of indirect peer pressure? follow the crowd and live outside God’s will.
Consider as an alternative using an example from TV or a movie. When a teachable moment presents itself, ask how your teen would have responded to a similar situation. Or as you’re riding together in a car you may be exposed to real life situations on the streets around you. Comment on what you notice and ask your teen to consider how the kids you pass should handle a given situation. These strategies allow teens to develop skills without forcing them to focus on themselves.
Different Ways To Avoid Peer Pressure
Expectations for student behavior and adult responses to enhance school safety and to create a fair, equitable and supportive school environment. Instead of quickly agreeing to do something you’d rather not do, pause and take a few deep breaths. If someone is waiting for you to answer them, tell them you need to take a few days and think about it. It’s easier to resist the pressure when you put some time and space between yourself and the situation.