Young people are often influenced by their peers. This is the called peer group pressure
Do the advantage of this outweigh the disadvantages
It is argued that peer groups of adolescents usually have great impact on group members. I am personally of the view that there are way more disadvantages of this development
Admittedly, peer group influence proves to be effective in two principal ways. First and foremost, it leads to healthy competition among the members. If the counterpart of the person achieve something, for instance, in the sphere of education, others will try to follow the example. However, as they are to some extent friends, it is clear that it will not be a cut-throat competition, but rather a more friendly one. This results in all the members being assets in various spheres. Another episode to being influenced by peer is being psychologically supported in any situation. Given that it is common among young people to feel depressed and isolated whenever they have some hardships in life, peer group pressure can practically provide them with a high sense of belonging and by this way motivate them. This as a result, can have positive influence on their self-esteem
On the other hand, it would be wrong to overload some negative aspects of being influenced by counterpart. One particular downside is developing unhealthy habits. Because of young people’s will to belong, they may end up developing unhealthy habits. If other members of group have such. For example, it is statistically proven that in more that 80% of cases teenagers, who supposedly belong to particular groups, took up smoking, drinking or even used drugs shortly after becoming a part of the group. Furthermore, people can find it hard to make decisions on their own. As every time when it comes to make decisions, group members have long conversations or listen to what the dominant one, namely the leader tells them they might find it hard to decide independently. This in turn can impact negatively on their further life. For example, they may fail to make important decisions about their profession, the university of their dream or having a family.
In conclusion, although there are certain upside to being influenced by peers, I believe that there are way more downside.
