Peer Pressure Essay

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Peer Pressure What adolescent in today’s culture has not heard of or experienced peer pressure? There might be a few out there in the vast world, but to the majority of teens peer pressure is a common term. We have been hearing about peer pressure since we were small. “Just say no”: the phrase that practically everyone has heard a countless amount of times. In my opinion though, we have the wrong idea of peer pressure. In our minds peer pressure is always bad. It’s always when we are forced to drink, or smoke, or something of that matter. But what we do not realize is that peer pressure can be a good thing. Another misconception about peer pressure is what it can be; how and when you can be influenced by your peers. Also, we don’t always understand that we are not the only ones who deal with this. We think that teens are the only ones who experience peer pressure, which is completely false. My hope is that teens have a better understanding of this common problem. The basic peer pressure story: You and a few friends are hanging out after school. Before you know it, they are passing around cigarettes. When the box gets to you, you don’t know what to do. You know you shouldn’t but everyone else is doing it, and your friends will be disappointed and cautious towards you if you don’t. It is endless stories like this that give people the wrong idea about peer pressure. It can be things like your friends pushing you to tryout for something, or your teacher pushing you to make an A+ instead of an A-. Peer pressure can be something good. This common type of peer pressure is more accepted by youth. Although we don’t always call it peer pressure, it is an extremely recognizable part of the term. Not that there isn’t such thing as bad peer pressure. The bad side of this can be like being pushed to join a gang, being pushed to smoke, or being pushed to take a risk you don’t

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