Positive and Negative Effects of Peer Pressure - Essay Example

Peer pressure Young people are the bedrock of any society wishing to succeed. This means that the government or any other responsible stakeholder have the duty to protect this group from succumbing to the pressures of life that often emanates from their peers. Therefore, it is upon these custodians to harness peer pressure to become a positive culture that builds and transforms young people into responsible citizens. Numerous psychologists agree that peer pressure assists the youth in forming their identities; inculcating socialization skills; and assigning gender roles. Peer pressure also motivates the youth. Despite the negative attributes often associated with peer pressure as being destructive to young people’s overall development, it has instrumentally uplifted youth from the depths of confusion and emotional turmoil to clear paths in life. Peer pressure is erroneously thought to only elicit negative effects amongst young people. However, this fails to consider the numerous positive benefits that can be gained from peer pressure. For example, peer pressure could act as a motivation because it boosts one’s morale in becoming better at certain things. Additionally, under motivation, children coming financially unstable homes find an impetus to work hard in their academic studies to get better jobs and earn handsome salaries. In the same capacity, motivation helps people in understanding different issues from multiple spectrums. Overall, it raises a person’s self-esteem and confidence. It is usually peer pressure through motivation, for example, that leads young people to embrace activities such as exercising to maintain healthy bodies. They also practice healthy habits that does not make susceptible to diseases. Integration of socialization skills is another way how peer pressure can be turned into a positive thing. This is because it enables the socializees to make friends that usually expand their networks in terms of opportunities and chances in life. Alternatively, socialization is a healthy exercise that inspires people to join different co-curricular activities such as drama, sports, and clubs among others to achieve popularity amongst their peers. Therefore, through socialization, citizens cultivate vital cultures of collective behavior and unity as benchmarks for group norms. In other words, peer groups interconnect its members through creating platforms for group conformity and group consensus. Identity formation is equally an integral merit emerging from peer pressure that is often overlooked. This feature is instrumental in establishing the sense of self to understand one’s strengths and weaknesses. According to behaviorists, peers provide a comfortable platform for people to test some of their social behaviors and experiment with certain roles. Consequently, these roles guide them toward forging particular identities that result to individual development. Similarly, formulation of identities is interlinked with delving into a person’s moral frame in terms of ethical choices when relating with others. It implies that peer pressure in identity formation is directly linked to differentiating right from wrong. Assigning of gender roles is another positive effect coming from peer pressure. In spite of being ignored as a part of positive aspect of peer pressure, men and women learn their roles through peers. For example, girls learn the domestic roles and responsibilities of cooking and making babies while men adopt fatherhood and become income earners. In retrospect, it echoes the lasting role of peer pressure in according young people direction in life by instilling discipline in learning their duties. Serving as a conduit to adulthood equally forms the bulwark of peer pressure in the lives of young people. According to development psychologists, youth grapple with a lot of challenges in their attempts to become better adults. This is because of complex patterns of personalities and characters that keep flashing before them from their fellow peers. However, in a positive interaction with peers, they can transform themselves into better persons with clear and strategic adulthood goals and ambitions. Establishment of peer groups is instrumental towards limiting negative peer pressure and encouraging positive peer pressure. Peer groups thrive on the strength gained from interacting with other people facing the same problems. Students in teenage years face the problems associable to adolescence. At this stage, their bodies and emotions experience profound changes that may confuse the teenagers. It is, therefore, essential for students to belong in groups whereby they can closely observe similar changes occurring in other peers’ lives. This is the same intuition behind self-help groups, as individuals with similar health problems, such as alcoholism, spend time together as they ponder over their own problems. In this scenario, the teenagers may not blame an assigned external party for not understanding their problems adequately. In turn, peers may be free to receive compliments and criticism from their peers because they deem such people as fully understanding their problems. Besides, peer groups are significant platforms for discussion among teenagers. Such discussions enable students brainstorm about their own problems. Peer groups help a student understand oneself in terms of gender and sex differences against the opposite identity. This empowerment tool enables the individual to create the best solution for oneself. Stakeholders should establish robust initiatives for nurturing students’ talents. Besides academics, most students possess distinct talents and interests that they can harness. Since talents develop from strong and deep interests in individuals, it is one of the most effective ways of helping a teenager desist from the influence of negative peer pressure. This is, especially, observable in mind-involving activities that help students desist from drug abuse and irresponsible sexual behavior. Since these activities, such as football sports, physically exhaust students, involved teenagers will have limited incentive to engage in other destructive behaviors. In addition, engaging in talent-oriented activities help a student acquire the satisfaction that one would seek in an alternative negative activity (Newman and Newman 143). A school, for instance, can establish an organization that helps students nurture their talents in visual arts. Teachers and other stakeholders should regularly oversee the activities of such peer groups and give talks that encourage the growth of the entities. Mentorship program is highly instrumental towards enabling students articulate their behavior positively. In this case, mentors could be teachers, alumni members, and fellow senior students. Mentors serve two notable purposes. In their passive role, mentors are individuals who students admire in terms of their achievement and character. This suggests that mentors should uphold proper characters and composure that draws admiration from the student body. Moreover, the mentors should be individuals who are able to relate with students’ situations. In case of limited experience with a given group of students, a mentor should undertake the responsibility of closely learning the group. In the second role, mentors perform an active role of engaging one-on-one with their mentees. The mentors should commit themselves to a regular program that enables frequent contact with mentees. Frequent contacts help forge a gradually growing positive behavior as mentees stay on course. In addition, regular contacts with mentees enable the students express the problems they encounter in their development. In this role, the mentors provide a listening ear to the young students. Psychology proves that talking out one’s problems is a crucial way of venting out the emotions that clog one’s subconscious. It is notable that peer pressure can significantly help students in forging identity and solving various problems in their lives. Positive peer pressure helps in the understanding of one’s gender roles and forging an adult identity. It is essential to establish peer groups that enable critical discussions among students. Such groups help forge the comfort in facing similar problems with their peers. In addition, discussions and brainstorming sessions help students create solutions that are appropriate to their personal scenarios. In addition, there should be platforms for nurturing students’ talents. Students with similar interests should coalesce in developing their innate talents. Mentorships programs are essential for articulating positive behavior among students. In addition, they provide the platforms for students to vent out their problems. Works cited Newman, Barbara, and Philip Newman. Development through life: a psychosocial approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2012. Print. Read More