Peer pressure is something that everyone in high school struggles with. They feel the need to be “cool” or “popular” because their actions are what everyone else is doing. People might not agree with the actions that are going on but do it because their friends are doing it and feel pressured to do it as well. I interviewed two people that I know have experienced peer pressure. The first person I interviewed was very open and said “that they do not want to drink/smoke every weekend but do it because their friends do.” She is aware that it is not good and recently stopped smoking because she was feeling the effects of getting addicted. She said, “If I was in a room full of people that were drinking and I planned to not drink I would most likely begin to drink later in the night just because I am surrounded by people that are.” Peer pressure might be hard to recognize because it comes in so many different ways. There is verbal peer pressure and through action. After I interviewed one individual I went to the next one. She does not drink very much, she says “It is only a social thing”. This means these people think they have to ruin their bodies to fit in or be social with people. This is something that a lot of people in school think of, not only these two people. It affects everyone. This is something that needs to be changed.
