“What is right is not always popular, and what is popular is not always right,” Albert Einstein said.  

Peer pressure is not always a loud shout, sometimes it is a whisper. Those whispers can change the course of a teenager’s life. 

Teens’ lives can be shaped in very many ways including influence from peers, family, social media and more. Teens feel pressured to fit in, reach certain standards and are pushed to be someone they are not. Peer pressure seems to be a big issue amongst teenagers today. 

According to Scripps, Teens’ brains are only about 80 percent developed and are very malleable at this stage in life. That means adolescents can easily be pointed in the wrong direction.

Teens tend to give into peer pressure to give off their best impression, so more people will like them.

“They want to be cool and they want people to look at them and think they are cool,” freshman Mason Pavicich said.

Peer pressure causes people to disregard their values to conform to the norm.

“They try to look good in their friends’ eyes, not really caring about their own values and beliefs,” sophomore Jakub Nurek said.

Some teens will abandon their morals to fit in and be ‘normal’.

Other teens feel there is a standard they feel pressured to meet. They want to do as well as everyone else.

“I would say a lot of people, especially on tests, tend to cheat, and if everybody around you is cheating to get a high grade, I feel like I am pressured to get the same grade as them,” sophomore Karam Erbini said.

However, some teens recognize they should not change themselves to fit in. When it comes to being pressured they do not give in, they stay true to themselves.

“I just go back and try to remember what I’m trying to do with my life and not what other people want me to do,” Nurek said.

Some teens find it important to focus on their own goals for their lives and not worry about conforming to what others want to see. Teens have come up with their own, unique ways to withstand peer pressure. 

“I handle peer pressure by thinking about future consequences of what could happen to me if I give into peer pressure,” Pavicich said.

Many consequences can stem from submitting to peer pressure, mentally or physically. 

According to Tikvah Lake, Seventy-five percent of adolescents participate in risky behaviors due to peer influence. Teens being around bad or risky behaviors multiplies their chances of also engaging in these behaviors. 

“At the end of the day you should establish boundaries between you and your friends,” Erbini said.

A person putting up boundaries between friends can help their peers know where an individual stands. This allows for every person to remain true to what they see as right and wrong, and boundaries will not be crossed. 

All in all, the pressure students feel from their peers can greatly affect the way they go about their daily lives. 

Growing resilience helps individuals combat negative peer pressure. An essential part in resisting peer pressure is recognizing the factors and effects.  Building up this knowledge helps one to withstand peer pressure when it comes.