TeenConnect: UpFront October 31, 2016 ISSUE

Under pressure

Jenny Sawyer

Originally appeared online in the teen column: UpFront - September 7, 2016

In the cheesy videos they made us watch during my high school health class, the characterizations of peer pressure made it seem so obvious. A “good kid” would find him- or herself around “bad kids,” who would be pushing alcohol or drugs. The message was, “Beware: This is what peer pressure looks like.”

But often, peer pressure doesn’t even feel like pressure. We think we’re choosing to do something because we really want to do it, not because we’re responding to a pull to be accepted.

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