Notes

teenage years are a time of many important changes—physical, social, mental, and emotional.
Peer pressure can often be negative, encouraging you to act in a way you normally would not. For example, you may feel pressured to drink, smoke, take illegal drugs, or engage in sexual activity before you’re ready. Peer pressure can be spoken or unspoken. Perhaps it's easiest to recognize peer pressure in its spoken form. Spoken peer pressure occurs anytime one of your friends asks you to do something you’re not comfortable doing.

A few common types of spoken peer pressure are:

put down: insulting people to get them to do something they would rather not do
rejection: threatening to end a friendship if a person doesn’t do something
reasoning: giving convincing (but often flawed) reasons to do something Unspoken peer pressure might be harder to notice. Sometimes you might feel you need to act a certain way to fit in and be accepted by friends or people you think are “cool.” This is unspoken pressure because no one tells you directly what to do. Rather, you have an idea about how other people will judge you.

Some teens abuse drugs or alcohol to avoid confronting their problems or to relieve stress, and many teens abuse such substances to fit in with a group or look “cool”—that is, they do it because of peer pressure.
Here are some factors in your life that might make you more susceptible to peer pressure and substance abuse.

Low self-esteem: Teens who do not have a healthy opinion about themselves are more likely to go with the crowd or be easily swayed by others’ opinions.

Family background: Someone from a caring, supportive family is more likely to have high self-esteem. Having a supportive family means that you have someone to talk to and ask for advice, making you less susceptible to negative influences. Teens from uncaring families are more likely to engage in destructive behavior or to be drawn toward those who engage in destructive behavior.

Media images: You must have seen many advertisements for alcohol showing images of happy, attractive people drinking in social situations. The message is clear: drinking is cool and helps you to fit in. Many teens are swayed by this portrayal of alcohol in the media and think that drinking will make them more popular. Images of actors and rock stars doing drugs, drinking, or smoking have the same effect.

Remember, if someone pressures you, you always have the right to firmly refuse and walk away from the situation. But how do you say no? Imagine this scenario.
Here are some effective strategies for saying no:

Be assertive but not aggressive.
Make eye contact with the person pressuring you.
State your reason for saying no, such as, “No thanks, but I don’t drink.”
Don’t make excuses or suggest that you don't really mean it by saying things such as, “Maybe some other time.”
Act confident so you will be taken seriously.
Don’t try to change the subject.
If they still persist, just walk away from the scene.
Here are some strategies for resisting unspoken peer pressure.

Make new friends. Good friends will never try to pressure you into doing something that makes you uncomfortable. So, if you think you are being pressured into substance abuse just by hanging out with a certain set of people, find others whose values are similar to your own.

Build your self-esteem. It’s a fact: people with high self-esteem are less likely to be swayed by what others are saying. Identifying your strengths and working on your weaknesses is a good way to develop a healthy self-esteem that will increase your resilience and ability to make important decisions for yourself.

Learn to see through the media. Always remember that alcohol, drugs, and tobacco do not make you more popular, happier, or funnier, despite what you see on TV, in movies, or in advertisements. See an advertisement for what it is—something purposefully designed to make you buy a product.

Seek out friends with healthy habits. The best thing about friends is that you get to choose them yourself! So pick people with healthier habits who do not engage in substance abuse. This will save you from the stress of pretending to be someone you’re not.

Avoid places where substance abuse may occur. Sometimes you don’t want to be the only one not drinking at a party. Avoid going to parties or other social situations where you think alcohol or drugs may be present. This will save you from feeling pressured.

Remember that NOT everybody’s doing it. When your peers brag about abusing substances in front of you or you see “cool” people on television or in movies smoking or drinking, you may start thinking that everybody’s doing it. Fortunately, this is not true. Statistics show that more than 50 percent of American teenagers have never tried marijuana. So next time you hear people bragging about abusing drugs, alcohol, or tobacco, don’t take them seriously!