5 Ways to Tackle Peer Pressure

We’re all influenced by the people around us. It’s natural for us to change how we behave to fit in with our friends and family. But peer pressure goes further. It’s the feeling you have to do something you’d prefer not to do.

Younger children may experience peer pressure to play a particular game or act in a certain way. It can be hard for them to express their views and opinions if they’re different from their more confident friends, or if they struggle to make friends.

Peer pressure with older children

Older children and young adults often desperately want to fit in with the crowd, especially as they go through puberty. They’re longing to be accepted and feel they fit in.

The peer pressure they experience isn’t always blatant. It can be indirect and subtle. They may not even realise they’re being influenced.

Peer pressure can lead young people to:

• Break rules, like staying out past a curfew, writing graffiti, or skipping school
• Dangerous behaviour, such as drinking alcohol, trying drugs, or stealing
• Sexual behaviour, like sharing intimate photos, or feeling pressured into sex

Your older child or teenager might give in to peer pressure because they’re embarrassed about standing out, feel everyone’s doing it, want to be liked, or are just curious about trying something new.