Spotlight #3

--Original published at Marlee's Psych 105 Blog

In today’s world, it is nearly impossible to escape peer pressure. It is not tied to race, gender, or age. It is all encompassing and something everyone must cope with on a daily basis. It can affect anyone from teens to college students, even parents. Peer pressure or peer influence is “when you choose to do something you wouldn’t otherwise do, because you want to feel accepted and valued by your friends” (Peer Pressure and Influence Teenagers). This idea can also be referred to as normative social influence. Normative social influence results from a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval. Peer influence doesn’t always have to involve doing something you don’t want to.

When we hear the word peer pressure we instantly assume it’s a bad situation, but it’s not always the case, peer influence can also be a positive thing. Someone could be peer pressured into listening to different music or even into becoming more assertive. These are not bad things, but they might be out of character for the individual. Being said, there are also bad types of peer pressure. Teens and college students can be pressure into trying drugs or drinking. Most people will give in to the pressure because they want to conform to the group or be “cool”. Conformity occurs when we adjust our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard. This sense of conformity is very present in teens and young adults. Today’s world revolves around appearances. Everyone sees the fake wall we put up on social media. We are constantly trying to mimic other, whether it be their appearance or their lifestyle, but sadly we are trying to reach a fake standard. This constant desire to reach approval can be seen in some age groups more than others.

Upon arrival to college you are instantly faced with so many new things. You are away from you parents for the first time, meeting new people and making new friends, but most importantly you are making decisions as an adult. In college your parents are no longer there to baby you and make sure you are on the right track; the cards are in your hands now. With this new sense of freedom comes a lot of students wanting to push their boundaries and try new things while also making an image for themselves. While it will be hard to go through your day without being peer pressured at some point, it is important to know ways to fight it. One way to cope with peer pressure is finding a group of friends who share the same interests as you; people you know who will not force you to do things you do not want to do. Another approach you could take could be just a simple “thanks but no thanks” response. Sometimes all it takes is just a clear no to tell the person you are not interested. These are both effective ways to avoid and address the situation directly.

Another population which faces peer pressure are teens. Teens are undergoing one of the biggest changes; going from being a child to a young adult. At this stage in life teens are trying to find themselves. This involves trying new things and even taking risks here-and-there. The teenage years are heavily influenced by pop culture: music, clothes, makeup, hairstyles. Everyone wants to do what their friends are doing even if it’s not what they would typically do. It’s all about finding a balance and making sure you do not loose sense of who you really are. It is important to talk to your parents during this time. Ask your parents for ways to say no. You might need these in certain situations when you are feeling influenced to do something you do not want to. It is also important to have a good self-esteem. This can allow you to feel confident in your decisions and not feel trapped when faced with peer pressure. Now it’s very easy in theory to say you need to have good self-esteem and talk to your parents, but in reality, we all have things we wish we could change about ourselves as well as situations we aren’t comfortable talking to our parents about. These are things which will be helpful if you can practice them.

Finally, one group we don’t think about when we hear the word peer pressure are parents. Being a parent, you are constantly being judged and criticized how you raise your child. As a parent you are not only making decisions for yourself, but also your child. For example, your child comes home from school one day begging you for the new iPhone which just came out because they still have the iPhone 5. He says his friends have been making fun of him for having such and old phone, but in reality, you don’t have the money to purchase the phone. You decide to pick up extra shifts, so you can make the money to buy the phone as a surprise, but because of this you’re not home as much and cannot attend any of the school functions you normally would have. So, the other parents begin to question your parenting skills. They tell you, you need to be more involved in your child’s life. It all turns into a vicious cycle. The peer pressure in this situation is coming from two angles: the peer pressure on your child as well as the peer pressure from other parents. In order to deal with this, it is important to make compromises as well as look inward at the situation. Both of these are effective depending upon the situation you’re dealing with and if you want to benefit your child or yourself.

Website 1 (Teens): https://raisingchildren.net.au/teens/behaviour/peers-friends-trends/peer-influence

Website 2 (Parents): http://blogs.uwhealth.org/kids/2017/05/parent-peer-pressure/

Website 3 (College Students): https://www.bestcollegereviews.org/dealing-peer-pressure-college/

spotlight post3: How to resist peer pressure

--Original published at Manami PSY105blog

Some people suffer from peer pressure which people feel to have to follow majority regardless of whether they do right things or not. It is difficult to resist peer pressure. People have a fear that may be excluded There are some methods to deal with peer pressure.

adolescents and young adults

According to the article, How to Resist Peer Pressure, Paul Chernyak says they can help adolescents and young adults to resist peer pressure to choose healthy options, to select good friends and to identify yourself. It is difficult to reject a friend’s recommendation such as alcohol and drugs. It is because people prefer conformity in a group. There is the result in the experiment of Solomon Asch people tend to answer same with the other although the other’s answer is obviously wrong. The experiment also showed that people answer differently when they are not in a group. In this case, it will be an effective way to respect individual decision to ask friends to have time to think of their demands, find an excuse such as over-protect of parents, give friends better or another idea. Because, if people can contact with one of their group’s members individually instead of making a decision in a group, it would be much easier. In addition, proposing a better idea will be helpful to enjoy to have friendship in a group. For example, you can bring a non-alcohol beverage to a party if you do not want to drink. Moreover, it is important to question whether your friends influence positively. Firstly, it is never good to hang out with friends who make you feel bad because it is stressful. People will be happier by having a new friend who gives you positive influences. For example, the author says social roles such as joining group activities in school help people to avoid to get in trouble. Besides these, it is important to identify your values, goals and what you like to be. Life decisions based on personality and goals to accomplish may be beneficial excuse to resist negative peer pressure. Everyone has differences. People need to know their what they feel comfortable to do and have a right to say no to avoid from other’s judgment such as stereotype and prejudice.

Workers

In the article, Three Tips for Resisting Peer Pressure at Work, Ryan W. Hirsch suggests that suggesting opinions directly, preventing social loafing and being consistent can be good strategies to deal with peer pressure at a workplace. In detail, the author recommends readers to indicate what you think directly. For example, people should suggest disliking sushi when coworkers ask you to go dinner instead of using different reasons so that you can prevent next invitation to go to sushi restaurants. Next, people should not break a role in terms of works just because others break a role. Social loafing is that people are likely to lose responsibility and motivations to complete given tasks in the group. Social loafing at a workplace may create unfair treatment and negative consequences. Therefore, workers need to

set a clear goal and think of themselves as individuals in the group. Consistent communication is also helpful to make a decision without peer pressures.

Female athletes

Lindy Wilson, the author of the article, Female Athletes and Peer Pressure, says female athletes are more likely to lose a chance to succeed and keep harmony in girl’s group not to be excluded and have to support physical handicap by other strengths. Especially, female athletes sometimes are required to choose either their happiness in group or own success. There are five processes to resist peer pressure: awareness, the simple question, gather support, own in every day and inner armor in the article. Firstly, being aware of your social role which is changing frequently and putting yourself in comfortable places can be helpful. If you can be in a smaller group, it would be easier to say your idea to get conformity without normative influence which people do not want to break a harmony. Finding another supporter will help you in several situations to achieve a highly future goal. It can change entire group’s motivation to focus on own task because people tend to be active when they have a clear goal and specific roles. The others may get inspired from you and the group identification can increase.

#Spotlight #Social

Citation:

Chernyak, P. (2018, March). How to Resist Peer Pressure. Retrieved from https://www.wikihow.com/Resist-Peer-Pressure

Hirsch, W. R. (2014, October 17). Three Tips for Resisting Peer Pressure at Work. Retrieved from https://thecpt.org/2014/10/17/three-tips-for-resisting-peer-pressure-at-work/

Wilson, L. (n.d.). Female athletes and peer pressure. Retrieved from https://www.positiveperformancetraining.com/blog/female-athletes-and-peer-pressure

Chapter 15 Fist Impression Post

--Original published at Garrettscollegeblog

When it comes to psychotherapy, four major types prevail: psychodynamic, humanist, behavioral, and cognitive. These psychotherapy methods all differ from each other in multiple ways, but ranking them proves a difficult task as each one elicits great ideas. The ranking I will propose will be based off of ability to help the majority of people rather than just a small group.

Cognitive therapies provide the best ideas overall. Many times our internal feeling and thoughts shape our emotions and actions. For example, if someone internally thinks of themselves as the best or the worst, their responding emotions will reflect these feeling. This type of therapy molds a new way of thinking in the person in order to change these outward emotions for the better.

Humanist therapies, similar to cognitive therapies, attempt to assist internally rather than externally. Inner conflicts hinder human maturation and growth and this therapy aims to create self-awareness and self-acceptance within the individual. Very similar to this form of therapy is psychodynamic therapy. Instead of focusing on a growing self-acceptance, however, this method concentrates on unconscious thinking. The therapist aims to dive deeper beyond conscious thinking to allow the patients to gain a greater knowledge of themselves. These two methods both have a disadvantage. Since the therapy is patient oriented the therapist needs one hundred percent cooperation and openness, which proves difficult in many people with someone they do not know or trust yet.

Behavior therapies differ from all other forms where they deny that internal growth in self-acceptance and our thoughts actually help. This form of therapy attempts to condition a new behavior into the patient that completely replaces the other behavior, such as a phobia. This works well but only works for a small amount of people as a therapist cannot condition depression, mania, schizophrenia, etc. out of person. Also, these methods completely remove a sense of self out of the patient. Instead of learning to cope and grow, this method attempts to remove this part of a person’s identity from them.

Chapter 15 First Impression

--Original published at LivsCollegeBlog

For this weeks first impression post, I decided to go with option 1. I evaluated the 4 major types of psychotherapy, psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, and humanistic, and rated them according to which I thought would be the most helpful if I were to need therapy. I started by defining each type of psychotherapy. Psychodynamic therapy views individuals as responding to unconscious forces and childhood experiences. These childhood experiences are what led to the individuals current state of being. I rated this therapy as being the least helpful because I dislike how it mainly just aims at explaining why individuals feel the way they feel, failing to actually provide ways for the individual to alleviate their feelings. Humanistic therapy attempts to reduce the inner conflicts that interfere with natural growth and development. Therapists aim to boost people’s self-fulfillment by helping them grow in self-awareness and self-acceptance. Clients should take immediate responsibility for their feelings and actions, rather than uncovering hidden causes. I rated this therapy as slightly more helpful than psychodynamic therapy, but not the most helpful. I dislike how individuals would just be talking about their feelings and realizing why they feel the way they feel, without taking actions to fix anything. Behavioral therapy applies learning principles to the elimination of unwanted behaviors. Therapists don’t look deep into the problems, they simply refer to the problems themselves as the problems. There are many therapies within behavioral therapy that aim to eliminate these unwanted problems. I rated behavioral therapy as more helpful than humanistic therapy, but still not the most helpful. I like how behavior therapy just goes straightforward with everything. “Here are your problems, let’s fix them.” The different types of therapies actually aim at fixing or getting rid of the problems. Cognitive therapy teaches new, more adaptive ways of thinking. It is based on the assumption that thoughts intervene between events and emotions. Therapists aim to change the way an individual thinks about a certain event in hopes to alleviate the way the individual is feeling. The example given in the book shows the cognitive perspective on psychological disorders. An individual loses their job and thinks that they’re worthless and it’s hopeless, leading to depression. Cognitive therapy aims to change the individual to think that losing their job was because it wasn’t a good fit and they deserve something better, leading to no depression. I rated cognitive therapy as the most helpful because it aims the change the way one thinks. Personally, I think about things more often than I act on things, so cognitive therapy would be more helpful to me than behavioral therapy. Each therapy has its benefits and disadvantages and some may work better than others for other people. It is all unique to the individual.

Chapter 15 first impression post

--Original published at Marisa Psych Blog

In the textbook we are given for this course, it lays out four different types of psychotherapies used during a mental illness patients care. These consist of behavioral, cognitive, psychodynamic and humanistic. In my person opinion, I believe the method of therapy that works the best is cognitive. It allows someone to open up and learn about new things and gives someone different perspective view on things in life. It teaches patients something different and allows one to connect inside with their inner emotions and feelings. Having an outlet that I able to change the way you see things and give you an overall outlook on what is going on. Being able to hold different views and perspectives is essential to life. Being able to shift how you feel and embrace what you face is the best typeof therapy someone could receive.

The next method of therapy I would recommend or choose would be behavioral therapy, This type of therapy helps you weed out what you should and should not be doing. Giving you a perspective and set of principles to follow in order to behave in an orderly manner. This type of therapy is very helpful in giving a person help with what parts of their demeanor they would like to focus on and channel. Being able to distinguish what behaviors suit your life. Also being able to help change your unwanted behaviors through this method is quite popular. Although that might take a longer time, I feel as if this is the second best h=therapy one can receive.

The next type of therapy I would choose to use would be psychodynamic therapy. This type of therapy involved various things. Being able to examine what you are feeling inside and looking at the symptoms for your actions and what you are feeling. Helping a patient understand what they are experiencing and how to deal with every day situations more effectively. This method looks for complications in your life and gives you ways to fix or at least understand. It allows you to go over your past and even into your childhood years. Looking at connections to younger years of someones life and help them with current days. Childhood is a big impact on someones overall dynamic. It creates and molds you. Anything bad or traumatic that you have experienced can be spoke about and you may even learn from them. Connecting events from childhood to adulthood is one of the major things that this method of therapy does for someone. Being able to sort out past feeling and emotions will define the symptoms they have been experiencing and how to continue on.

The last method remaining that I would choose to use would be humanistic therapy. This is less likely to work with the ways it uses. The therapist excepts the patient to begin to change as soon as they tap into their feelings and emotions. This does not fix someones problems, but it allows one to speak about what and how they are feeling. Dilemmas in peoples lives do not just go away. They are still their inside you until you find a way to fully deal with it or let it go completely. Being able to get in touch with how you are really feeling is important to this method. Having a therapist open you up and have you speak about your personal self is hard for some. But for most people, being able to recognize your feelings does not create a drastic life change. It takes a lot of time for someone to figure their personal emotions out and how to deal with them. Although this method helps a person step by step, I think that more is needed than just having humanistic therapy sessions.

Chapter 15 First Impression Post

--Original published at Rachelsblog

There are four types of psychotherapies used for mental illness patients: psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, and humanistic. I personally like the cognitive therapy approach the best. The cognitive therapy involves therapy that teaches people new ways of thinking. It believes that thinking directly correlates to our feelings. I agree with this and I think that therapy would work best. Changing your mindset and outlook on the things one fears or the things that add to ones mental illness can lead to feeling better. Seeing things at different view points and at different angles can help one change their thinking on negative things so they do not have negative feelings.

The next type that I would choose would be behavioral therapy. Behavioral therapy involves learning principles to eliminate unwanted behaviors. I like this one because it helps to decrease unwanted behaviors and it does not dive deep into inner causes, instead it focuses primarily on behaviors. Although, I feel as if behaviors are hard to change and this may take a little while to do.

The third one I would choose is psychodynamic therapy. This involves looking at ones symptoms and helping them come to terms with them. It looks for common threads among their problems and within their relationships. This includes childhood experiences too. I believe that childhood experiences really do impact a person as they are growing up because it is a trauma that they learned young and do not want to experience it again, although the trauma of it sticks with them throughout adulthood. I also like this one because it brings the patient more in touch with their feelings and insight about themselves and their symptoms.

The last one I would choose would be humanistic therapy. This involves therapists expecting people’s problems to diminish as they get in touch with their feelings. I do not think a person’s problems ever fully diminish because they could come back again. They can fade temporarily but it will always be with them. Getting in touch with ones feelings is a complicated thing to do and I do not think all their problems will diminish just by coming in touch with their feelings. Although, I do believe that is one step to resolving the issue, but this method needs to be paired with other therapies if it wants to be fully successful, I believe.

Spotlight Blog 3: Peer Pressure

--Original published at Rachelsblog

Peer pressure is something that is not easily avoidable and is usually present in every social situation. Peer pressure is the influence from members of one’s social group. Everyone is guilty of falling into peer pressure, especially college students, parents, and athletes. Although, peer pressure is hard to avoid, there are tips on how to help it.

College students are one of the biggest population of people who fall to peer pressure. They are entering a world with no adults telling them what to do or to watch their every move. They are on their own making their own decisions. An article on College Life gives a ton of tips. One tip to college students on avoiding peer pressure is knowing when to say no. Saying no can be hard but it is important to know when you have to draw the line and say it. Building self-confidence is something that can lead you to being able to saying no easier. Another tip is to follow your heart but to take your brain with. This means, do what your heart wants you to do, but use your brain to make sure it is a smart thing to do. In the textbook it mentions “attitude affects actions”, which basically explains how people react based on their attitude to the situation and not thinking of the consequences of their actions. If it is what you want and is smart, then do it. If it is what you want but is not smart, don’t do it. Another tip is make sure you do something because you feel it is right, not because someone is telling you to. A lot of college kids look to go out and drink on the weekends and this is not right, but in college that can be the atmosphere that kids tend to get sucked into due to peer pressure. College kids also conform to the normative social influence of college, which is not always the right thing to do. Although, if a kid goes out to a party and everyone is drinking, they may feel pressured into doing it because it is the social norm at the given moment and they don’t want to be looked at as different. Knowing right from wrong is a big key to avoiding peer pressure. I think all of these tips are very helpful and I tend to use them in my daily life since I am also a college student.

Another population of people that face peer pressure are parents and their kids. Parents are more of the group who have to teach their kids how to avoid peer pressure. It is important for a parent to teach their kid young to avoid peer pressure so when they get older they can do it more easily. In an article on The National, there are a lot of ways parents can teach their kids how to avoid peer pressure. One tip is to promote positive friendships and to meet their friends and really get to know them. If your child has friends you do not know, you do not know what they are doing or if they are good friends for your child to be hanging out with. Another one is to have an open relationship with your child, so that way when they are being peer pressured, they can come to their parents without hesitation and know that they will be helped. Parents are also told to teach their kids how to say no and mean it so when they get asked something that they don’t want, they can be confident in saying no. It is also very important to teach your child that they are responsible for their actions, and while doing something wrong in the moment while falling to peer pressure may seem “cool” or “fun” to their friends, the consequences will not be. I think all of these tips are very helpful to parents to help teach their child to avoid peer pressure and I think it would be very effective.

One last big group that falls to peer pressure is athletes. Athletes tend to want to go out with their teammates to social events with other teams in their college or at their high school. In an article on Teen Drug Abuse, it has tips on how athletes can avoid peer pressure. One thing that can stop athletes from falling to peer pressure in social settings where there may be drugs or alcohol, they can offer to be the designated driver for those who are consuming the alcohol, that way they do not feel pressured to drink because they are driving. Another tip is to be firm when saying no, or refer to the fact that you are an athlete and have a lot to lose if you were to make a mistake under peer pressure. Being an athlete comes with a lot of responsibilities and they can use their title of “athlete” to confirm their answer of no when being peer pressured. Also, having the whole team say no makes them feel as if they are not the only one saying no, the athlete and their team are sticking together to not fall to peer pressure. I think this would be very effective and would help the athlete out of peer pressured situations.

Works Cited:

Alexandra, Shawn Francine. “Peer Pressure: 9 Ways You Can Avoid as a Student.” College Life, College Life, 28 Dec. 2017, collegelife.nl/peer-pressure/.

Lewis, Rachel. “How Parents Can Spot and Deal with Negative Peer Pressure.” The National, The National, 3 Jan. 2012, http://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/family/how-parents-can-spot-and-deal-with-negative-peer-pressure-1.410899.

“6 Tactful Tips for Resisting Peer Pressure To Use Drugs and Alcohol.” NIDA for Teens, teens.drugabuse.gov/blog/post/6-tactful-tips-resisting-peer-pressure-to-use-drugs-and-alcohol.

Chapter 15 First Impression

--Original published at jennacampanellipsych

I think former First Lady Michelle Obama’s campaign for mental health awareness is a great idea, but might not be that effective. I think it is a great step in the right direction for mental health awareness, by informing people of the signs of someone who might need help. The five signs the website says are personality change, agitated, withdrawn, poor self care, and hopelessness. They have sections on the website to donate money, different ways to share the website on social media, a section to pledge to know the five signs, and more. They also have healthy habit tips for healthy emotional well-being. They say to take care, check in, engage, relax, and know. I think it is great they have so many tips and signs on the website and spreading the word is very easy to do using their hashtags and social media. For weaknesses, I feel like this would not be effective because from what I can tell it is mostly online. If they went to different schools for talks I think that would be more effective. I think some college students would pay attention to this, but those who do not care this would not change their minds. If Etown was to do something like this for mental health I think they should have tables about signs of mental health and maybe talk about it in specific classes. People who would be interested in mental health awareness would participate but I have a feeling those who do not care might start caring if maybe the school talked about how many people really have these issues and need help.

Spotlight Post- #3

--Original published at RachelsCollegeBlog

There are two different types of treatment for major depressive disorder. These two treatments are psychotherapy, which is counseling or therapy, or medication to help with the illness. Depression is very common in the United States and both treatments have been used and both work effectively.

“Psychotherapy vs. Medications: The Verdict Is In” is one of the articles that I found that supports psychotherapy as the better treatment option for mental illnesses. Though, antidepressants and antianxiety medications have the highest rate of prescription around the world. Most studies show that there is an advantage of not taking the drugs and going straight to the therapy. There is also concern that drugs may not treat the illness and can also add to it unfavorable side effects. This article is credible as the author is Susan Krauss Whitbourne, and she has a Ph. D. in this area of study

Another source that I found was “Are Antidepressants and psychotherapy equally effective in treating depression?” which is written by Michael A. Sugarman. This is a credible source as it was published in Issue 6 of the Journal of Mental Health. This research showed that psychotherapy is the better long-term treatment. The medication had positive short-term effects, but psychotherapy had better long-term effects. People who did go with the treatment of medicine, have a great chance of relapse following the medicated treatment.

Another source that I came across was “Cognitive Therapy vs Medication in the Treatment of Moderate to Severe Depression”. The authors/researchers of this study consisted of people all containing a Ph.D. making the information for this source reliable. This source did a study on the effects of both medication and psychotherapy. This study expressed that, after a second analysis of the study, people who were more severely depressed had better outcomes when they used medication to treat their illness. This finding has led to the recommendation, for people who have moderate to severe depression, to use medication for a treatment first before trying to use psychotherapy.

The final source that I came across was “Comparative Efficiency and Acceptability of 21 Antidepressant Drugs for the Acute Treatment of Adults with Major Depressive Disorder.” This is a reliable source as it was a study published in volume 391 of The Lancet. It is a study conducted by people who have obtained there Ph.D. or MD. This was a recent study on the efficiency of antidepressants. The results were able to conclude that antidepressants were very effective, when it came to treating major depressive disorder in adults. Though, the efficiency slightly varied going across different age groups as well as the cause for depression for someone. Though, some antidepressants are more efficient them others are. Sertraline and Paroxetine are just a couple that the article mentioned that had one of the higher responses when treating depression.

I think that psychotherapy is the better treatment for depression. Though, antidepressants and other medications can help someone struggling with depression, it is often not a permanent solution. People that go through psychotherapy, take a bit longer to get to a less depressive state, but they are less likely to relapse and go back into a severe depressive state, as they are often given different techniques that they are able to use to help them deal with their illness.

Citations

Whitbourne, S. K., Ph.D. (2015, July 21). Psychotherapy vs. Medications: The Verdict Is In.Retrieved December 2, 2018, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201507/psychotherapy-vs-medications-the-verdict-is-in

DeRubeis, R. J. (2005, April 01). Cognitive Therapy vs Medications in the Treatment ofModerate to Severe Depression. Retrieved from https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/208460

Sugarman, M. A. (2016). Are antidepressants and psychotherapy equally effective intreating depression? A critical commentary. Journal of Mental Health,25(6), 475-478. doi:10.3109/09638237.2016.1139071

Cipriani, A., Frurkawa, T., Salanti, G., Chaimani, A., Atkinson, L., … & Ogawa, Y., (2018).Comparative efficacy and acceptability of 21 antidepressant drugs for the acute treatment of adults with major depressive disorders: a systematic review and network meta-analysis. The Lancet. 391(10128), 1357-1366. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32802-7

Spotlight #3

--Original published at Rachel Bickelman's PSY 105 Blog

Parental Peer Pressure: https://www.courierpostonline.com/story/life/2017/01/20/8-ways-cope-parental-peer-pressure/96835714/

According Grande to not succumbing to peer pressure involves an inner strength, a strong support system, trusting your gut, being assertive, avoiding debates, practicing self-care, gaining respect, and increasing family time. I think these methods for avoiding peer pressure are adequate but not perfect techniques in avoiding peer pressure. Much of peer pressure can stem from a desire to “fit in” with the group and this can happen across any age. Thus, Grande’s advice of having a supportive social system is good advice. Having a trusted and genuine support system can facilitate positive peer pressure as well.

Grande’s tips on spending time with one’s own family also fits in with a strong support system. Grande reasons that when one spends time with their family, they will be able to discern the unique values they possess. This advice is good because having a strong relationship among family can remind the person and ground them in their own beliefs since the influence of peers would not be present. Furthermore, there is no outside audience when one spends time strictly within their family and thus judgement would not be present. This could also help with conformity since one would just be with their family and thus there are no outside forces that facilitate feelings of conformity.

The first tip Grande provides, however, is not the best strategy towards combatting peer pressure. Though an individual’s willpower and own strength can aid in avoiding peer pressure, willpower throughout the day decreases and insecurities can seep in at any time, especially if one lacks inner strength. Likewise, inner strength can be hard to automatically turn on especially when one feels peer pressure and the pressure to conform.

Adolescent/Teenager Peer Pressure: https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/peer-pressure.html

This website argues coping with peer pressure necessitates a balance between one’s own morals and fitting in with the group. The argument that one needs to have a strong sense of self can backfire though. One’s sense of self can be diminished if they are present within a large group of people and feel the pressure to conform to what the group is doing. While inner strength and self-confidence are both important, these skills can be spotty when in the midst of peer pressure.

Another tip offered by the website is to join forces with another peer and stick to a decision together. This may be a good strategy because the person would not feel alone in their decision. They also suggest joining a peer and simply leaving the situation together. Since two people would be together in their decision their combined confidence may help in escaping peer pressure.

One of the tips is to “choose your friends wisely,” however, this does not guarantee that someone will or will not experience negative peer pressure. The urge to conform to what others are doing still may be present.

College Peer Pressure: https://caps.ucsc.edu/counseling/aod/peer-pressure.html

UC Santa Cruz’s Counseling and Psychological Services provides a few methods to avoid and navigate negative peer pressure. The first few tips highlight one’s recognition of their own morals and values. While this could be helpful in discerning whether an individual feels they should or should not do something, it may not aid with peer pressure since with peer pressure there is an urge to conform or “fit in.” One of the specific tips is to weight the pros and cons of the situation at hand. This may help an individual to look at the situation rationally rather than through a peer pressure perspective.

Another tip that may prove helpful is the delay tactic. This tactic may be helpful because the individual withholds their morals and values and politely declines. The individual could still be in their friends’ company but would not partake in activities they do not approve of. Some helpful phrases the website suggests replacing “no” with are “not today” and “maybe another time”

Like the previous website, UC Santa Cruz suggests taking a friend who supports you. This was the tension of conformity is mediated by someone who possesses the same perspective on the issue at hand. Having a person “in your corner” may help to alleviate peer pressure because of the increase in confidence to say “no” and stick with your decision.

Finally, the website suggests removing yourself from the situation. While this may alleviate peer pressure in the moment, if the individual continues to spend time with the same group, negative peer pressure could arise again.