A peer group is both a social and primary group of people that share similar interest, age, background and social status.
Peer group is not confined to any particular age bracket; thus, we all at sometime belong to a peer group.
However, the need to identify with one peer group or the other whether in school or outside the school, heightens in adolescence. Thus, membership in peer groups is a powerful force during adolescence.
Peer groups exert a powerful influence on the adolescent and the impact of this peer pressure can be positive as well as negative.
Most often, the negative connotations associated with peer pressure presents people from seeing the good in peer groups and how the peer group can be used as a vehicle for problem solving development; which up till now has not been fully utilized in our society at large.
Many parents worry about peer pressure forgetting that peer pressure is hardly about a group forcing someone to do something against their will, rather, it is more about a person choosing to do something because they want acceptance, to belong and to feel valued.
The vacuum, the peer group is meant to fill in the life of an adolescent, the family cannot fill it. During adolescence, the adolescent becomes unsatisfied with the relationship the family offers and wants to identify with people of the same age who are going through the same storm and stress he is going through. The child prefers to talk about school and careers with the parents and talk about sex and other inter-personal relationships with their peers.
Although there are social effect of peer pressure, today, we are going to focus on the positive impacts of peer pressure on the adolescent development.
Peer groups serve as a source of information. As children progress through adolescence they build knowledge bases that help them navigate social situations. Peers, especially group members become important social references for teaching other members customs, social norms and different ideologies.
If the peer group happens to be in school, there will be a lot of positive changes which includes improved academic performance. In trying to meet up to the standard set by a particular peer group, a child who identifies with a peer group that believe in doing well in class and doing their assignments with care will automatically follow suit in order not to be the odd one.
Peer groups teach unity and collective behavior. They provide an influential social setting in which group norms are developed and enforced through socialization processes that promote in-group similarity. Peer groups’ cohesion is determined and maintained by such factors as group communication, group consensus and group conformity concerning attitude and behavior. A normative code arises when members of peer groups interconnect and agree on what defines them as a group. The normative code can be very rigid, in which case, members deviation from the strict normative code can lead to rejection from the group.
Peer groups can help an individual to get to know his limit and what they can willingly accept.
Peer groups serve as a platform for practicing adulthood. Adolescents, through peer groups, expands their perspective beyond the family and they learn how to negotiate relationships with others in different parts of the social system.
Also, the peer group is a safe place where the adolescent can take positive risks and test out values and ideas. They also learn how to become independent of their families and make their own choices.
Peer groups help teach gender roles. Through gender role socialization, group members learn about sex differences and social and cultural expectations of the sexes. Peer groups can consist of all males, all females or both males and females and they can have great influence on gender role behavior of a member depending on the gender make-up of that peer group.
Generally, just as there are a countless number of danger a child faces in joining a peer group, there are also a countless number of positive attributes a child stands to gain by joining or associating with a peer group.
Parents, especially the mothers need to take it easy in worrying and being over-protective of their teenage child. There are many ways to keep track of a child’s daily activities without making the child feel uncomfortable, controlled and watched.
Sometimes, rather than the usual parent-child relationship, parents can relate with their teenage child as though he (the child) is an adult. You can allow the child to bring his/her friends home for lunch once in a while. Thus, creating an avenue to understand the kind of peers the child belongs; whether they are up for good or not. The parents should also allow their teenage child to air his view sometimes.
Just as much as the adolescents need the peer group, they also need their family to have their back in case they should fall and also to help put them on the right track when they are on the wrong track.
