By Elizabeth Lande, Reporter
Most people are familiar with the phrase “Don’t give in to peer pressure.” From about fifth grade onward, this concept is linked directly with substance abuse, especially drugs and alcohol. Parents, teachers and coaches alike take great pains to educate their children in the importance of saying “no” to offers of harmful, and often illegal, substances.
So what we hear is that “peer pressure” is bad. But from what I’ve seen and experienced, it can have a profoundly beneficial effect as well.
The motivation students feel to gain respect from their peers often manifests itself in objectively positive actions such as challenging themselves academically, pursuing new activities or exercising.
From my perspective, groups of friends have a way of keeping each other on track in their classes. Students with common classes will often form group chats, which they use to — among other things — remind each other of homework.
In this method, students are socially incentivized to keep up with the class so that they too may prove to be a useful part of the chat. Shared projects and even casual conversation can procure the same effect.
“If kids have friends who are working out or in a study group, they’re much more likely to partake in the activity that their friends are doing in order to spend time with their friends,” Dr. Katherine Kuniyoshi, a Seattle-based psychiatrist, said. “Spending time with friends is really the priority in junior high and high school kids.”
Friends may decide, as a group, to join a new club. The suggestion may be posed by one individual, yet everyone in the group could end up going.
When students’ hesitancy to join an activity battles with their reluctance to be left behind, it is peer pressure at play. And in cases such as this, peer pressure can encourage students to explore new activities and clubs which they may end up truly enjoying, yet never would have tested out otherwise.
The same can be said for trying sports, running with friends or going to the gym. Students are more likely to not only try, but also pursue new activities when their friends are involved.
Boosted work ethic and increased levels of activity can lead to healthier individuals and greater success later on — particularly when the effects show up in students’ GPAs and extracurriculars on college applications. The work habits acquired due to peer pressure also set students up for later success.
In a less obvious scenario, peer pressure can also influence fashion. Even if no one tells you directly that a certain clothing item is ‘cool,’ if people are wearing it, the influence it has over you grows. So does giving in and buying that clothing item count as succumbing to peer pressure? That depends on if you bought the clothes to fit in and gain a feeling of coolness from it.
It can become fairly hard to argue that you didn’t buy that apparel piece from Lulu Lemon, for instance, in order to look good. So fashion, too, follows suit in the trends of peer pressure’s positive force.
Thus, “peer pressure” quietly surpasses much of its popularly negative connotation. Though “Don’t submit to peer pressure” is entirely valid when applied to underage trials of drugs or alcohol, many of its positive effects go unnoticed.