Why is peer pressure so powerful for teenagers?
Adolescence brings with it lots of fear, uncertainty and awkwardness. Everything in their lives is changing at this time. Being a member of a gang or group gives them a feeling of self-worth and acceptance. They move away from their parents emotionally and use their friends as their support network looking to them for sympathy and camaraderie. If the group or gang is a bad one the teenager will take on board the opinions and behaviour of their ‘friends’. They can almost lose the ability to think for themselves and become so dependent on the group that they lose their individuality. Sadly they almost never recognize this. Why does it affect some kids and not others? All teenagers want to be accepted by their friends and will take steps to gain this acceptance. Most of them will have an inbuilt mechanism to recognize when a situation is dangerous, illegal or hurtful. Particularly, troubled teenagers appear not to have this mechanism, or are unable or unwilling to use it. They cast all ca
