Imagine this: Your friends invited you to go to a party, but your parents forbid you from attending. Your friends actively coax you to just come either way, and while you hesitantly consider it, you’re suddenly hit with an ultimatum: “Come to the party, or else we’re not friends anymore.” What would you do? You’d probably go anyway—against your parents’ wishes—choosing to bear the severe consequences later at home rather than lose your precious friendship that you’ve spent so much effort to build. But what exactly is it that makes us inclined to listen to our friends instead of doing the right thing?
Peer groups often make up the majority of our social lives throughout our adolescence; they serve as perfect ways for multiple like-minded people to connect together and build strong bonds, creating friendships that are bound to last. It creates a sense of belonging for most individuals, being able to fit in with others and discuss the same interests freely. It can even be seen as part of our identity, granting you a high status that is well-respected by others. Peer groups also provide the most emotional support to youths, as people with the same interests tend to be more empathetic towards each other, and therefore peer groups can be a place for individuals to safely seek comfort in.
However, this sense of ‘comfort’ can easily be exploited by certain individuals; our peers may not be as like-minded as we think. They may have other differing interests that do not suit ours, and they’d do anything—even pressure their peers—to make every other person fit in with them. This is especially effective with individuals seeking a sense of belonging, which also happens to be most youths, where they are easily pushed to conform in order to fit in with the group and not be seen as the ‘odd one out’ and ostracised.
To these people, being excluded and kicked out from their peer group is the worst nightmare that can be; they lose their status, friends, and worst of all—their vital source of emotional support. This effectively ruins one of the most memorable parts of their youth, a part of the “Teenage Dream”; as they cannot afford to miss out on these experiences, they are then forced to give in to peer pressure.
As youths, we frequently end up relying on our peer groups to influence how we build our character and personality, but it can only go so far before the positive effects hit their limit; too much reliance on peer groups can result in us being gullible to peer pressure and having to make decisions we normally wouldn’t make, which we eventually can’t resist without our relationships being challenged.
