Peer Pressure Increases Stress in TeensPeer pressure is very strong during the adolescent years. Since so much time is spent with peers, the influence can be more powerful than that of parents, teachers, or other authority figures. During the day, teenagers spend more time with peers than with their family members. Friends, or peers, with whome your teen associstes directly affects the perspectives and values the teen holds and directly influences the decisions your teen makes. Today's teenagers are using social media and smart phones 24/7. They stay in constant communication with friends and the last thing before retiring for bed and the first thing when awakening is check their phones. Text messages are the communication vehicle of choice. The concern about peer opinions is always on their minds. Teenagers are trying to fit into their soccial groups and peer pressure is intense. Teen stress is everpresent in their lives but handling peer pressure adds another layer on the stress they feel about academics, family and outside activities. Teens need to choose their friends wisely. Friends who make healthy, safe and positive decisions help motivate your teenager to follow a similar path. But peer pressure becomes more dangerous when friends have a negative influence by making unwise decisions. Your teenager can experience low self-esteem and may experiment with drugs, alcohol, shop lifting, skipping school or unsafe sex just to fit it and answer to peer pressure. Peer pressure is often a cause of cyber-bullying. Watch for sudden changes in behavior, appearance, or attitude may indicate the patterns of a a rebellious teen. Peer pressure increases stress for these teens. Three Ways that a Parent Can Assist a Teen With Peer Pressure 1. Help you child develop a strong sense of values. By establishing values about what is right and wrong, your teenager will have a sense of what Stephen Covey calls “true north.” He says that the term, “true north” describes an inner compass that helps us understand where we are, where we want to go, and how to get there. As parents, help your teen create an inner compass that empowers her to align her life with it. The compass helps her use her values to define the difference between right and wrong. Even if they make poor decisions because of peer pressure, it will be easier to survive the peer pressure during adolescence and mature into a productive young adult. 2. Help your teenager learn how to set goals. Goal setting is an important skill to possess in order to do well in life. Reaching goals allows the individual to be successful and feel the rewards of accomplishment. The goal might be finishing a difficult school assignment, making a sports team, getting into a specific college, or landing a job. Goals help give your teen a reason to strive and help the teen stay focused when there is peer pressure to stray off course. Goals help teens maintain their priorities, stay focused, and achieve positive results. 3. Be available to listen and encourage positive self esteem. Without getting in the way of your child’s social interactions, be ready to respond to your teen’s discussions about friends, activities, and decisions that she is making. Remember that you are the parent and not just another friend. Your teen has lots of friends but needs you to be the parent. That can mean setting the parameters for what she can and can not do. As a parent, model the type of life you want your teen to live. Talking with your teen and modeling healthy behavior will go a long way in making certain the peer pressure does not increase the stress for your teen.
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