Peer pressure Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Peer pressure - Essay Example In most cases, a young person’s personal values  are altered  and shaped by his peer group so as to increase his  similarity  with the other group members. Peer groups are usually well established in most high schools, workplaces and members of the  group  exert pressure to the new members joining the group. Friendship among teenagers is one of the most  important  factors during development. Friendship gives them  secure  venue to discover their identity and experience a sense of belonging. It also cultivates their social skills  relevant  for their future success. On the contrary,  friendship  can  influence  them negatively or positively whereby they end up submitting to negative or positive peer  influence. Young people  become  influenced because of their self-image and self esteem. This serves as a  motive  for them to  identify  with groups that they  fit  or groups that will  accept  them. Those dimensions of the  self  that  are valued  by one’s own peer group become  very  outstanding  in each young person’s self-assessment.   Some peer pressure can be  good. This  is measured  by their outcome whereby positive  influence  of friends  is seen  to play  important  roles among the lives of peers. Positive peers  set  good  examples among themselves, and they tend  to become  good  role models for each other. They can influence each other on goal oriented activities such as working together in  school  work, discussing problems and personal issues together that can help one to make  good  decisions, listening to each other, offering  good  advice and developing a positive  culture  among others. Positive peer pressure can be used to encourage and promote social behavior, because as observed peers can have a  powerful  effect  on self-esteem. Well accepted children can  display  positive  academic skills, social behavior and even