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Shore Up Your Kids Against Peer Pressure
As the parents of a teenager, you’ve undoubtedly noticed that your influence is fading just as the influence of your child’s peers is growing. Teenagers have always sought cues and direction from people their own age and attempted to blend in with the “crowd.”
According to youth-culture expert Walt Mueller, peer pressure used to involve verbal invitations to do something you knew was wrong. But today, it “typically takes the form of an unspoken expectation to participate in behavior that the vast majority of the peer group believes to be normal and right.” These days, Mueller adds, it’s much more difficult for kids to go against the flow when the behaviors promoted are no longer sneaky but celebrated.
Teenagers are prone to peer pressure not just because they want to fit in but because their brains are still developing. The pre-frontal cortex, which regulates self-control, emotions, and judging consequences is the last part of the brain to develop. In other words, your adolescent is not yet an adult, so expect an interesting mix of adult thinking ability tainted by immaturity, impulsivity, and inconsistent logic.
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