PEER PRESURE AND ADDICTIVE SUBSTANCES
The implication of the word PEER basically means, it is a group of people of the same age, profession or standing in life, who spend a great deal of time together. Many, who have become victims of drugs or alcohol addiction, were influenced by their friends or peers. The peer pressure is the impact these friends have over that individual to adapt to any behavioural pattern that they want them to conform to. With the person involved in this manner it is very hard for them to say no as they feel they want to belong and become part of the group. It is a fact though, that as a person gets older the influence or hold on that person to give in to peer pressure decreases dramatically.
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We are all aware that “Social Media” today has taken the world by force. Unfortunately this method of communication has also been a major factor in peer pressure, intimidating its users.
- It has been proved that almost 75% of young people watching the posts and tweets on social media, will be persuaded to try and do the same
- This resulted in nearly 50% of young adults, after watching others partying together, wanted to try it out as well. Their comments suggest that it looked as if the people were enjoying themselves.
- This brings us to a further problem as social media is not limited to the school playground or school hours, but is available anywhere and anytime.
We may also consider the effect “Social Learning” has on peer pressure. This is the philosophy that says, we can learn by watching what others are doing. This in itself is a good thing, as it helps us to learn from others without us actually going through the experience. However if people notice that others are enjoying, and gaining rewards for what they are doing, it may lead them to try and do the same things.
It has been found that peer pressure in students, enrolling in higher education at our universities, are more susceptible to experimenting with drugs or alcohol. This can be due to the fact that they are now free from parental supervision and are free to make their own choices.
They are faced with pressure that comes from various sources such as:
- Academics
- Career
- Financial
- Peer
Out of these four pressures, peer pressure is the most stressful. Students often compete amongst themselves to improve on their grades. There are students that have already decided as to the career they will follow before they enrolled. Some students have to engage in an evening job in order to meet their financial commitments. However peer pressure can have negative connotations to the student:
- Being away from family and loved ones could leave the student with a feeling of insecurity, which will lead to loneliness.
- Many students find themselves joining a group in order to overcome the stress of their busy schedule, which may lead to drug addiction.
- The student is constantly required to make decisions. Making one or more bad decision, pressured by their group, could lead them to feel devastated by their choices. This could result in them dropping out of their career choice which will affect their lives in the future.
The bottom line is this, if you really don’t want to participate in drugs and alcohol, you should be firm and say NO. Then look for a new group who occupy their time in more constructive ways. Bear in mind in mind that abuse of addictive substances inevitably leads to other problems. Problems like depression, anxiety and other physical diseases.
Peer pressure will always be there, try to be aware of it, focus on positive things and make sure you surround yourself with like-minded people who build you up and will not break you down.
