Peer pressure among late adolescents: Sources and remedies

Pages: 1044-1047
Suresh Kumar (Department of Psychology, Govt. College of Girls, Sec -11, Chandigarh)
Rakesh Kumar Behmani (Department of Applied Psychology, G. J. University of Science and Technology, Hisar)

Adolescence is a time of change in life and peer pressure is a main issue of discussion among different fraternities. Peer pressure refers to the influence exerted by a peer group in encouraging a person to change his or her attitudes values or behaviour in order to conform to group norms. Youth peer pressure is one of the most frequently referred to forms of peer pressure. It is particularly common because most youth spend large amounts of time in fixed groups regardless of their opinion of those groups. In addition to this, they may lack the maturity to handle pressure from friends. Peer relationships can be a powerful positive or negative influence. Friends and other ideals of the same age are main source of peer pressure because they affect an adolescent’s decision making a lot.