Peer Pressure

2.      In chapter 16, the topic of peer pressure came to be interesting to me because of how I could easily relate to it. Peer pressure is something that anyone can experience. Peer pressure is the encouragement to conform to one’s friends or contemporaries in behavior, dress, and attitude. It is usually considered to be a negative force, especially when adolescent’s pressure another peer to go against the authority of an adult. Peer pressure is a concept that I think occurs, when a person cares about what other thinks about them. Adolescents, and in my opinion, adults, organize themselves in groups according to their likes, dislikes, and even one’s ethnic identity! These organization of groups can be made into cliques and crowds. Cliques and crowds are something I am proud that I was never part of. I had a group of friends, but I was known to accept anyone into the group regardless of their preferences. Everyone in my friend circle was so different, that I don’t consider it to be a clique.  In high school, I also remember how certain brand name clothes were trendy. If you didn’t buy and wear the clothes, you were less likely to be socially included in the school. Of course, as a young teen, I wanted to be accepted by my friends. So, I begged my parents to buy me the clothes so that I could better transition into the school and the American culture. Looking back, I laugh at myself because it was a waste of money to wear clothes that I didn’t even find fashionable. Also, I regret caring so much about what my peers thought of me.