Peer pressure

[tenlegspider]

At my school, kids were smoking at 11 and having sex at 13, including a significant portion of my friends. I used to hang out in the woods with the smokers, and once went to a party where a condom and a date were required for entry. I never tried so much as a drag or a snog, though

Comments

[actually_not]

My school profile was much the same as yours by the sound of it..lots of smoking, quite a bit of underage sex. Several of my friends were into both but there was never really a sense that they wanted other people to be doing it too. As long as I was happy to listen to their exploits and not judge then they didn't really care whether I indulged or not.

I guess if you have low self esteem or are desperate to belong to a particular group of friends you might succumb to the 'pressure' to fit in. I never wanted to hang out with the 'rich bitch' girls but I'd have had to make a few changes in order to be accepted by them. As it was I was perfectly happy hanging out with people I had a laugh with...

[tansu]

It depends on one's view of one's position within the group.

[fourteen00sixty]

If what you're describing (i.e. strong encouragement but no real shunning of nonparticipants) is peer pressure, then peer pressure is one of the best things that's ever happened to me.

[pecosy]

That sounds more like peer suggestions or peer encouragement than peer pressure. Maybe it's midl peer pressure, but I think of true peer pressure as involving more taunts and/or shaming. Like it would be hard to say no and not feel incredibly lame.

[kittiethedragon]

It gets tougher, and it gets meaner. Sometimes I saw much more over goading, mostly amongst guys. But it was the girls and their passive-aggressive shit that /really/ did damage to psyches. Note: I went to catholic school for over a decade, maybe my take is different from the average.