“Come on David,” one of his friends teased. His conscience was telling him otherwise.
“He glared at me with a look of disapproval,” David* said. “As I went for my first hit, I started to think of my friends, the ones who loved me for who I was, and my family, the ones who had always loved me…and my mom.”
It was his 8th grade year, and David was being pressured to take drugs.
“I was making good grades, was on the football team, I had the greatest friends,” David said. “Then I started being with a bad crowd.”
Studies show peer pressure is one of the main reasons students decide to take drugs which also can lead to unhealthy habits ]
David’s life took a turn for the worst. When David was 14 he tried Oxycontin for the first time. His grades started to drop lower and lower, then he was arrested when caught with possession of marijuana. On average, peer pressure is most common in students of impressionable age, mostly adolescents, but can also be cited at later stages in life.
“When I heard my mom crying, it was the worst feeling in the world,” David said. “I knew I needed to start saying no to the people who were trying to offer me drugs and change my life.”
Statistics estimate that 30 percent of teens are offered drugs in high school.
“My old friends started to realize I wasn’t being myself, ” David said. “Day by day I started losing my friends, people I had known for so long, but at the time I didn’t care about anything. That’s what drugs do to you. With my new set of friends, they always wanted to do drugs. I started feeling like I had to do it so I wouldn’t feel left out.”such as smoking and drinking as well as drug abuse according to Sources of Insite. com.
That desire to fit in leads to stories like David’s on a regular basis.
“My advice to kids that come to me about peer pressure is to sit back and look at the short term and long term effect,” Rider counselor Jennifer Spurgers said. “Is what you’re thinking about doing going to put you in danger?”
Sometimes, though, even knowing the danger doesn’t keep kids away from dangerous actions.
John* never felt like he belonged.
“Drinking, drugs, anything to belong, I did it for acceptance,” John said. “I wasn’t happy with who I was. I was an outcast, was picked on a lot, and never really had a best friend.”
Spurgers said she understands kids who give in to peer pressure.
“I was peer pressured when I was in high school and as an adult look back and wonder why did I do that?” Spurgers said. “If your friend truly cares about you, you shouldn’t have to wonder whether if you don’t do what they want are they still going to be there for you.”
Studies show that people give in to peer pressure because they want to be liked or fit in, or worry that others may make fun of them if they don’t go along with their group.
“I was a pushover and never stood up for myself,” John said. “When I got into junior high, I started changing who I was. I started acting out in class to make other kids laugh and smoking with people to fit in, but they weren’t liking me for who I really was.”
Age made the difference for David.
“When I got into high school I started to be happy with who I was and started to be myself,” David said. “Now I have a close friends who accept me and love me.”
However, age doesn’t always result in a positive behavior change. Results from the 1999 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey demonstrate that numerous high school students engage in behaviors that increase their likelihood of death from alcohol and drug use.
David says his life is on the right track now that he doesn’t give into pressures to fit in.
“Once I told my friends that did drugs that I was going to quit, they started dropping like flies,” David said. “Now that I’m clean, I feel amazing. I got my old friends back, but more importantly, I realized what really counts is those who love and care about you. I would rather be hated for who I am than loved for who I’m not.”