Challenges that Teenagers Face

Peer Pressure: social pressure by members of one's peer group to adopt certain values, or take a certain action.


Peer pressure really does rule the way teenagers live their everyday life. It isn't just dressing a certain way, or listening to the 'popular' music. Peer pressure can also affect one's lifestyle. Let's say you're out with a group of your peers, and they offer you a smoke, you can easily say no because of the way adults inform us of the health dangers in smoking. But, if you were to go to the mall with your friends and decided to grab a bite to eat, if you noticed that they were all going to McDonalds to get a big mac. You would likely join them so you wouldn't have to leave them. 


Peer pressure can also affect the kinds of activities we participate in. If you hung out with a group of friends who didn't play sports and considered 'drinking' their sport, they might drag you down. This might seem close to impossible, but I have happened to me. One of my friends considered 'drinking' to be there sport. They asked me to go to parties with them, but I knew that's not what I wanted. And I had friends who were with me, and wanted to play soccer instead of dragging our lives down and drinking. 


Peer pressure can ruin the lives of teens. But if you have the right friends who want to help you achieve your healthy goals, then you can succeed.