Peer pressure influences young adults to substance abuse

A common motive for first time alcohol or drug use among young adults is peer pressure. The desire to impress their friends may override the fear of taking drugs. To fit in these social groups that support drug or alcohol use encourages people to keep on using these substances and may later develop as an addiction.

In order to cope with the peer group, young adults easily get enticed towards wrong doings. Peer pressure is an important factor when it comes to using alcohol and drugs among the teens. Once addicted, they get trapped into a vicious circle and it becomes difficult to come out of it.

A study by NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse) attributes that teenagers are prone to assessing both risk and rewards; they are also more apt to ignore the risk and go for the reward. A peer pressure present carries serious weight with teenagers. The consequence of drug abuse must be clear to a young person. Then his/her own awareness of the dangers involved has a better chance of outweighing that desire to be liked or fit in.

Peer pressure is the influence of peer group on the life of an individual. If members of the group value a particular behavior like substance abuse or drug abuse there will be a kind of pressure to conform to this, it can be hard to say a no. But sometime the easy way to fight pressure is to be honest and simply say no.

Make excuses can create an opportunity for others to convince you or add pressure. A critic of the “Just Say No” ignores many of the other contributing factors that lead to drug abuse.

There are a number of things that can be done to help the individual withstand such pressure to indulge in destructive behavior:

• Spend time with positive role models which encourage the individual to make the right choices in life.
• A strong family bond and always an emotional support from the family members.
• Children should be able to come to adults for advice if encountered with a feeling of peer pressure. If kids feel that adults are going to be judgmental or that they will react badly, it will be harder for them to talk about their problems.
• Strict norms in the institutions to minimize differences in income differential. Curbing all items which lead to demonstration effect. (For e.g. No smart phones in the university premises. Strictly banning any infiltration of substances at institutions. Those breaking the rules may be severely punished.)
• Introducing ‘Healthy Lifestyle’ as a part of the curriculum. This would go a long way in empowering the youth on self-understanding and self-defense. Those with high self-esteem will be less likely to bow to negative peer pressure. It is important to build up self-esteem in every individual.
• It is important for people to have good information about the dangers of drug use. These dangers should not be overdramatized nor should be sugar-coated. Knowing the real risks of a behavior they may think twice about engaging in it.

“Drug users tend to spend time with those who share their habits. It can be difficult for the individual to give up the comfort of belonging to a group of yellow drug users or alcoholics but it is not impossible.

However this is something that an individual must do to escape from their addiction. In additional, belonging to a group that supports recovery can help the individual escape from drug abuse.

Increasing your self-efficacy will help making positive changes in life.” says Dr C.P. Reddy.

By: Dr CP Reddy
(The writer is a psychologist at Aware Gleneagles Global Hospitals).