High School Cheerleaders

Peer Pressure for Teenagers During High School
By Christina Botto

Your teenager faces several areas of peer pressure during his or her high school years. What makes it even harder for your teenager is that most parents do not understand the depths to which these pressures go.

Cigarettes and Alcohol

Cigarettes and alcohol more than likely will be among the first areas which your teenager will have to face peer pressure. With movies and television flashing images of underage smoking and drinking, most teenagers are shown only the more enjoyable and funny sides of these habits.

High school years are very competitive, and where your teenager stands on the popular scale with the rest of his or her peers is very important. To be considered a "looser" is one of the biggest fears of today's teenager.

To avoid this label they sometimes will portray an image of being tough, rebellious and uncontrolled by their parents. For today's teenagers, smoking and drinking are the easiest ways to declare their independence.

Drugs

A more dangerous and potentially life-threatening pressure teens face is drugs. The first and most commonly available is marijuana. This is a cheap and readily-available drug in today's society, and most teenagers do not consider it harmful. In their eyes it does not cause serious addictions like heroin or methamphetamines. The marijuana use depicted in movies and television does not show teenagers that marijuana is illegal and that being caught under the influence or in possession of such an item can ruin their future. Additionally, smoking marijuana may lead to more serious drugs such as heroin, crack or methamphetamines.