The rolling credits fade, and an upbeat pop song begins playing as the scene pans to a crowded high school party. The lights are low and the music’s loud as the main character navigates his way through a sea of red plastic cups. He’s the stereotypical nerd, usually not the type to drink, but tonight is different. When his friends shove a beer into his hand, the hurling insults, laughter and expectant gazes make one thing clear: He won’t be taken seriously unless he plays along.

Sound familiar? This is a cliche movie trope, found in many high school film staples like “Can’t Hardly Wait” (1998), “Whatever it Takes” (2000) and “Mean Girls” (2004), that attempts to portray the potent effects of peer pressure.

However, while Hollywood often distills this complex phenomenon into easily digestible scenes of social conformity around substance use, the reality of peer pressure in high school is far more nuanced and widespread, shaping everything from the clothes one wears to the academic paths they pursue. Without understanding its psychological and developmental roots or contextualizing it within one’s everyday environments, one risks overlooking the many ways — socially, academically, positively and negatively — peer pressure influences one’s life and how one might begin to heal from its effects.

The Psychology behind peer pressure

Although peer pressure can manifest itself as substance usage, party culture and academic dishonesty, they are just symptoms of the phenomenon. According to psychology teacher Warren Collier, the existence of peer pressure in society can be traced back to the theory of mind: As children mature, they begin to understand that others have their own thoughts and feelings. In adolescence, this awareness deepens as teens start to question how others perceive them.

“As we get older, our social circles start to expand, and our friends become more socially important to us (than our families), so we start to worry more about what they think of us,” he said. “Now we feel this pressure to dress or act a certain way.”

Simultaneously, Collier explains, the surroundings and culture that facilitate one’s mental development contribute to the external influences — another subtle force that acts as a vehicle for peer pressure.

“(Exploring) might mean trying on different personas, hanging with different friends or trying new hobbies,” Collier said. “(People might think) I want to fit in with these certain groups, so I want to try out these different things and I want to be accepted by certain people. So we’re being influenced by many different groups growing up.”

One example of this societal shift is the emphasis on individualism. According to the Association for Psychological Science, statistical models from 2017 indicate that individualism has increased by about 12% worldwide since 1960. Due to this trend, growing up becomes a quest to seek out one’s own desires and dreams. This push, combined with the competitive nature of Gunn — an environment illustrated in The Oracle student poll with 101 responses, in which 85.1% of students state they have experienced academic pressure in the past year — creates pressure in academic pursuits to set up a successful future through colleges, majors and jobs.

Overall impacts

Peer pressure can often lead to feelings of anxiety and guilt when succumbing to outside influences or isolation if one decides to stand their ground. This predominantly negative impact is echoed by Gunn students; in The Oracle survey with 94 responses, 68.1% of students believed that peer pressure has had a negative effect on their lives.

According to Foothill College sociology professor John Fox, the deviant behaviors many are familiar with, like substance use and crime, are typically influenced and learned by others — another product of peer pressure.

“There is this theory of differential association that says that just about anybody has learned more reasons to do something than (to not do something) within these interpersonal groups,” he said. “So a lot of times, people have learned — part of the reason why they should (do something) to conform, like commit a deviant act — is because they want to be liked.”

This desire to conform can transform one’s life in a number of ways. According to the National Institute of Health, surrounding oneself with high-quality friendships can cause one to be more empathetic, feel more understood and lead to an overall higher life
satisfaction and mental health.

For junior Talal Zabadi, these positive effects of peer pressure can especially be felt when his friends keep him academically motivated — a subtype of peer pressure called positive social support.

“Let’s say you don’t want to do something like log your community service hours (because you are too lazy),” he said. “But then your friends are all telling you ‘just log them,’ (and) ‘it’s not that hard, we’ve all logged them,’ so you feel left out and end up logging your service hours. In that case, (peer pressure) would be good for you.”

According to Collier, there is a delicate balance between the positive and the negative, but one’s human inclination to feel accepted can tinker with that balance.

“Certain amounts of pressure (are) fine — it’s good,” he said. “But we can definitely have too much pressure. That’s going to make us make choices that we probably would not normally make, (but you can feel like) if you don’t do them, you’ll lose your friend, and the social cost of that is usually too much for a person to deal with.”

Conflicting pressures

We have been trained to take a one-dimensional look at peer pressure, with stock characters facing predictable pressures: jocks have to be buff and party animals, nerds must wear glasses and get straight As and theater kids are always ready for a musical interlude. But the truth is, at a community like Gunn, peer pressure is much more complicated, adding a whole new set of issues for students to navigate. Here, the usual social expectations of high school life are not just present: They often conflict with the pressures and expectations of an intense academic atmosphere. One must choose to hang out with friends and then
feel bad for neglecting their studies, or stay home and study but feel like they are missing out on important social moments.

Fox sees a similar clash and a similar occurrence when it comes to cultural differences prevalent in the mix of identities around the Bay Area.

“This (conflict) happens a lot with second-generation immigrants,” he said. “The parents want the kids to embrace and conform to certain cultural ideals, but they’ve been raised in the United States and they are embracing a lot of parts of American culture that might be in conflict. It’s individualism versus community-oriented things.”

Coping strategies

Living Skills instructor Joshua Little, who teaches about peer pressure and the strategies to overcome it, personally struggled with a form of peer pressure and self-worth when he first came to PAUSD.

“Even as a teacher, when I first came here eight years ago, I felt peer pressure from my colleagues and (I felt like) I was way out of my depth here (because) the teachers seemed to all have it together,” he said. “I felt that I wasn’t good enough to be here as a teacher.”

What helped Little overcome this initial barrier was talking to former science teacher Maria Powell and asking for help. He eventually formed a support system of other science teachers that helped him strategize a grading system, reassuring him that what he thought was flawless was capable after their 20 years of teaching experience.

“(That experience) really helped me through navigating my own self-worth,” he said. “And because I came out on the positive side of that experience, I want that for my students as well. So helping students navigate that feeling of, ‘Yeah, if you feel like you didn’t do well, then you didn’t do well. Let’s take a look and see how that happened, and let’s not compare ourselves to other people.’”

Fox echoes the importance of having a support system and building a community to mitigate the negative effects of peer pressure.

“I think forming your own community is very valuable,” he said. “This (can be seen a lot) in the LGBTQ+ community, where, if they were rejected by their families or the people of their upbringing, then they look to their peers to form their own families. It’s about forming a support system that reinforces who you are.”

Ultimately, finding a specific universal approach to tackle peer pressure is difficult because it is an umbrella term that encompasses everything from social anxieties to academic pursuits. One widely acknowledged truth, however, is that prioritizing oneself and one’s well-being over the judgement of others can help prevent peer pressure from driving one’s life.

For Zabadi, this means having a set of morals and core values that he tethers himself to at all times.

“People who don’t stand on their morals or stand their ground (will be more influenced by peer pressure),” he said. “If you have
boundaries that you set for yourself, you are likely to not (be pressured) to do things you don’t want to.”

Collier finds that growing up and recognizing the spotlight effect — one’s tendency to overestimate how much others notice and care about one’s actions — diminishes the crippling negative impact of external pressure, making it more manageable.

“As we become more confident in ourselves, which takes a while, we can become more okay with the idea of ‘I don’t fit in with this group, and I’m okay with that,’” he said.