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Peer pressure is something that people of all ages face throughout their life time. I believe that peer pressure is the highest during the college years. It can be really hard at times to say “no” due to the pressure to fit in and look “cool”. For this reason I choose to look up ways to resist peer pressure for teens/college students. Some of these methods include following your heart, knowing you do not have the obligation to fulfill someone’s request, and to act cool when someone is pressuring you. There were other methods listed but these are the ones I personally believe that most college kids would agree with or think of when put in these situations. I think remembering these tips when being pressured can be successful. Deep down everyone has their ID and super-ego reminding them of the right and wrong choices and if they listen to their heart, or super-ego they will be able to make the right decisions. I also think acting cool when someone is pressuring you can be a successful task because it is easy to come up with excuses for why you cannot do something, such as “I can’t, I have a lot of homework to do”. I also found a website with ways to resist peer pressure for athletes since that is something that I can personally relate to. A lot of athletic teams operate under a “dry season” where alcohol is not permitted to be consumed throughout the duration of the season and at times this can be very difficult. The methods from this website that I find to be most successful are earning the respect of your teammates by your hard work, when you earn their respect they will also respect your values and to make friends outside the team who share common values. I know when someone on my team is working hard and is successful on the field it drives me to become a better version of myself and I would not want to give into peer pressure and drink alcohol and risk getting my team in trouble or disrupting my performance. I also think finding friends outside of the team is an easy solution to avoid peer pressure if you are uncomfortable with the activities your teammates participate in outside of practice/games. This can easily be accomplished by finding clubs with people who share the same beliefs/values, for example a Christian Athlete Group. Lastly I looked up ways to avoid peer pressure that parents can use to guide their children. Some of these methods include talking to children about how to avoid undesirable situations or people who break the rules, remind children that there is strength in numbers, and let children know that it is okay to seek an adult’s advice. I think these are all successful methods especially if they are taught at a young age. Teaching children at a young age to stay away from people who, for example smoke cigarettes, can help ensure that if put in a situation where they are offered a cigarette they will remember this and resist the temptation. Reminding children that there is strength in numbers is also a good lesson. Groups help keep each other accountable when placed into tough situations. Being able to turn to someone you trust such as adult that has been through the same things when they were younger is another key part in avoiding peer pressure.
https://collegelife.nl/peer-pressure/
https://www.universitysurvival.com/student-topics/avoiding-pressure-from-teammates/