Livewire Vol. 12 Issue 3 May 2021

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The Pressure’s On Hare believes peer pressure, “starts with just a natural influence of other people, but I think there’s a level from the outsiders, to try to persuade that person to do something, that they might not be comfortable with.” “I think for high school, probably the most common (forms of peer pressure) would be breaking rules, doing drugs, having sex, cheating on tests; things that you know you shouldn’t do, but you want to find a shortcut, or you want somebody to do your dirty work for you, and so that’s kind of what you’re trying to achieve.” There are many different things that can cause students to want to peer pressure other students.

by brodie curtsinger Not only negative. When people hear peer pressure, it is typically viewed as something negative, but it can also be positive, in some cases. Peer pressure seems to be common, when it comes to a certain age group. Health Teacher Dona Hare teaches about peer pressure to her students. Peer pressure can be both positive, and negative, depending on the situation.

Hare believes that people’s wants to not want to be alone are what pushes other students to want to peer pressure each other. “I think it’s because nobody wants to do things alone, because of risk, or because of getting in trouble, or because of insecurity. They just don’t want to do things alone. They want comfort from others,” Hare said, “I think if you look at society, there’s definitely ways where people can encourage, and influence others, to do positive things, because it seems like that’s the ‘norm,’ or that’s what everyone else is doing. I don’t think that’s as common though, as negative peer pressure” Hare does believe that there is such a thing as positive peer.

Peer pressure seems to be something not too uncommon, especially with teenagers, with it peaking at around age 15, and declining after such. According to Temple University Psychology Professor Laurence Steinberg, “Teens get better at setting boundaries with peers by age 18.” In other words, as a teenager, you are more likely to be affected by peer pressure, although, when you become an adult, it is less likely to actually affect you. There are many different kinds of peer pressure, and those different kinds include spoken, unspoken, direct, indirect, negative, and positive.

Hare believes that it is common for students to come to her, if something had happened to them, involving peer pressure. “I think so (that students come to her commonly about things involving peer pressure). The nature of my class, we do talk about a lot of real world things, and so it’s just kind of natural to apply those to our class content. Plus, I’m a pretty open and honest person myself, so, I think so,” Hare said, “I think I would address the influencer, myself, because there’s always two sides to

According to cvdapc.org, negative peer pressure is when an, “individual can easily adopt dangerous habits.” According to parents.au.reachout.com, positive peer pressure is “when someone’s peers influence them to do something positive or growth building.”

Someone being peer pressured into smoking, while other people are choosing not to be peer pressured into smoking. Peer pressure, according to Oxford Languages, “influence from members of owne’s peer group.” “It starts with just probably the most common (forms of peer pressure) would be breaking rules, doing drugs, having sex, cheating on tests; things that you know you shouldn’t do, but you want to find a shortcut, or you want somebody to do your dirt

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