How Does Peer Pressure Affect Teens Negatively
Peer pressure can have a significant impact on the mental health of a Teenager and can affect all aspects of their life. It can indirectly affect the everyday life of any teen that is subject to external peer pressure through the mental toll on them. In this article I will talk about the mental health effects and how it can affect the everyday life of someone in negative ways.
How Does Peer Pressure Affect Teen Mental Health?
Peer pressure has many negative impacts on the mental health of someone subject to it. Research states the teens are more vulnerable to peer pressure due to the fact that teenagers are still finding their place and have no sense of self in the public life, seeking where they fit, mainly in groups of similar characteristics. The first of many effects is decreasing self-esteem and an increase in risk or even the development of depression and anxiety. The heavy amount of peer pressure makes people think of their self image as a negative and causes them to have significant behavioral changes that will cause their everyday life to change. Drastic behavioral changes that may even conflict their own ideals and push them to do things they would never normally do. Such abnormal behaviors lead to an increase in stress and anxiety. Behavioral changes that may include consumption of substances that may be harmful to them, bullying to other people, and a disliking toward themselves through the thought of them having bad body image.
How Does Peer Pressure Affect the Everyday Life of Teens?
The peer pressure from the public can cause teens to think of themselves in different ways, causing them to change their personalities and behaviors in ways to help them fit into the public. Often caused by external factors, peer pressure causes drastic behavioral changes and can affect the individual's academic performance, causing them to distance themselves from certain family members or friends. The life of someone that is subject to peer pressure can easily get negatively impacted based on who is pressuring them or what they are pressuring them to do. Peer pressure can cause people to do things that can get the person in trouble with the law or people in their personal life, having a heavy impact on their everyday life. People may even be peer pressured into forming bad habits that can be difficult to get rid of such as substance abuse in sadly common cases. It can affect clothing choice, eating habits, substance consumption, health related choices, and academic choices. Peer pressure can cause people to question their self worth and become blind to their own characteristics, making them unable to accept themselves, this heavily diminishes the person’s self esteem and causes them to resent themselves for what they are. This can further change the behavioral patterns of the teen for the worse and can lead them to partake in harmful behaviors and use harmful substances. These activities can be harmful to themselves and even their self image and future self, skipping school and not taking it as seriously can harm them in the future when it is needed.
Written by: Ariya