Introduction
Parents all over the world face pressure to control their teenage sons and daughters. They are crying for help to save their wards from the peer pressures. As soon as the children leave their school and step into high school they find themselves in a kind of glamour world. They intend to perform some odd jobs just because either their friends are doing it or it becomes a matter of showing self standard. Among these are the vices of taking up smoking and alcohol. This mainly happens especially when it is a matter of showing off in front of peers. In order to keep up with this trend students become rebellious and their parents feel helpless. Thus, the cause lies in responding to peer pressure by creating an identity in front of the peer group and the effect is the inclination towards various vices during teens. (Hill, 89)
Discussion
The first step to drugs is a very common symptom of this issue. This may lead to addiction and ending up into rehabilitation center. It is impossible to idealize what peer pressure can make one perform. Different criminal activities or teen sexual acts are common outcomes of this pressure. The cause of this peer pressure starts with the search of self-identity and it lies in the path of development of self-belief. Once a teen is out of the emotional and physical shelter of the parents it becomes obvious that there waits a competitive world to face and environment of high school provides the first step of this outer world. Under such conditions, it becomes necessary to make a mark of ones existence in the real world, in front of the peer group and to oneself at the same time.
However, the best and easy way in this tough world, or in the peer group, is to prove oneself as a rebellious teen. Sure, being an exceptional student is always a better choice any day, anywhere. Nevertheless, to achieve this goal needs a hard and arduous schedule to follow and the result is not quick either. Thus, to achieve importance in the peer group it needs rebellious image. Creating a tough image is the best and the easiest way out. (Brown, 7) It is a common practice in Oxford for the new students to attend drinking parties in local pubs. It is an act of binge drinking that is supposed to be proof of toughness in front of peers and worthy of the admission in the student community. (Hill, 104)
Conclusion
In order to create a tough and rebellious image the elements needed are always wrong. These are smoking and alcohol, drugs and teen sexual activities. Sure, most of the time the peer group is directly not putting the pressure on the student or handing out a well formulated manifesto with lists of vices to be followed but simple gestures with indication of the student being a ‘good’ but ‘boring’ fellow makes the student afraid of identity crisis or popularity loss. (Hill, 103) Both of these elements are fearful to a student and thus the student feels that in order to be recognized it is important to indulge in activities related to smoking and alcohol, drugs and teen sexual acts. Thus, it is quite obvious that if the elements of peer pressure are taken into consideration as the ’cause’ then the indulgence into these vices are the ‘effects’ of this ’cause’.
Works Cited
Brown, B. “The cultural context of family-peer linkages in adolescence.” New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development 27.116 (2007): 1-15.
Hill, Martha S. “Timing of childhood events and early-adult household formation.” New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development 19.71 (2001): 87-109.