College students are much more susceptible to peer pressure than the average adult. With cravings for acceptance and companionship and a not yet fully developed brain, it's not acceptable but easy to engage in negative activities. With many living away from home and away from their parents, sometimes the threshold line between actions that should be acceptable and typical is unclear, and that line tends to be dictated by those you spend the most time around: your peers.
We're constantly bombarded with messages to avoid peer pressure, and this is especially true when it has a negative connotation, especially in instances to avoid drugs and alcohol when we're younger. In particular, avoiding peer pressure is important in avoiding the bystander effect when someone is being hazed.
But peer pressure is a phenomenon with the capacity to have positive ramifications as well. We're influenced by our siblings to obtain similar or higher levels of achievement when we're compared to them. We go to volunteering events when our friends do. We study more when we hear the superior grades of our friends on the last exam. We go to the gym because we see our friends getting more fit and jacked and want to be more physically attractive or healthy ourselves. These are only some of the few moments where peer pressure is positive.
So how do we cultivate a culture of positive peer pressure? How can we change the connotation of peer pressure as something extremely harmful for our impressionable youth to do something positive, or even neutral? The examples listed above are bounded by common themes: friendly competitiveness and egalitarianism. As children we were motivated by teachers to possibly obtain the most amount of stars for good behavior. As long as the competition doesn't grow too fierce, and as long as the playing field is relatively equal, this competition promotes and improves good behavior. Likewise, even if we're not the winner, we want to be on the same level as most to not be lonely and feel left out.
As humans, we love accomplishment and achievement, especially when competing against those with relatively equal abilities and capacities. We're negatively reinforced to work harder when we're falling behind -- because we want to keep up and not be left behind.
In my opinion, one of the most impressive things in my high school was the positive peer pressure against drunk driving. People planned the designated driver prior to the party and saw him or her as someone to be respected. Likewise, if someone planned on drinking without a ride home, the host would sometimes let the person drive to the party and sleep over with their car parked in the driveway.
Above all what most college students want, and frankly crave, is acceptance. Since the threshold between what is and is not "cool" is malleable and within our control, we can utilize this to create a culture of positive peer pressure that promotes values in our own best interests, and that starts with how each of us acts individually.
