This document discusses strategies for helping adolescents deal with peer pressure. It begins by outlining the challenges of peer pressure during adolescence and defines positive versus negative peer pressure. It then provides tips for educators, such as making students aware of common pressures and teaching strategies and skills to resist negative pressure. Specific strategies are described, like asking questions, identifying consequences, suggesting alternatives, and removing oneself from problematic situations. The document also covers identifying at-risk students, signs of bullying, steps to address bullying, and resources for further information.

1. Helping Adolescents Deal
with Peer Pressure
*Developed by the Center for School Mental Health
(http://csmh.umaryland.edu) in collaboration with
the Maryland School Mental Health Alliance.

2. Contents
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Peer Pressure
Tips for Educators and Related Staff
Positive vs. Negative Peer Pressure
How to identify a troubled child
 Warning signs
 Strategies to Help Children
 Skill building activities
 Communication
 How to Say No
 *Actual programs to implement in schools?
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3. Pressures
 Transition into middle school and becoming a
teenager can be very challenging for children.
Some changes include added pressures from
friends and peers.
 Pressures are a normal part of life and children
need guidance from their teachers, parents and
other adults so that they are able to handle these
pressures in a positive way.
 Some of these pressures may be drugs, truancy,
sex, shop-lifting, bullying, cheating, and any other
action that a child may not want to do.
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4. What you can do?
 Make students aware of some of the pressures
they may encounter
 Demonstrate the difference between positive
and negative peer pressure
 Provide suggestions and strategies to help
children deal with peer pressure
CSMH-MSMHA 2006

5. Positive vs. Negative Peer Pressure
Negative Peer
Pressure-
Positive Peer
Pressure-
Is often dangerous and
against
school rules, home rules and
personal values.
Is often overlooked but does
exist
and may be described as an
influence to do what is right.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Skipping school
Vandalizing
Smoking
Sneaking out of the house
Bullying
Disrespecting authority
Sex
•
•
•
•
•
Studying
Volunteering
Befriending someone
Community Service
Joining a sports team
CSMH-MSMHA 2006

6. Identifying Students
Traits putting students at a higher risk of falling to peer
pressure
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Low self esteem
Lack of confidence
Uncertainty about ones place within a given peer group
No personal interests exclusive of one's peer group
Feeling isolated from peers and/or family
Lack of direction in life
Depression
Eating disorders
Poor academic abilities or performance
Retrieved on January 3rd, 2007 from
http://teenadvice.about.com/cs/peerpressure/a/blpeerpressure.htm
CSMH-MSMHA 2006

7. Helping Children Deal with
Peer Pressure
Steps children can follow when confronted with peer pressure:

Ask Questions
“Why would we do that ?”, “Whose idea was this ?”, “Is this a smart
thing to do ?”

Identify the negative behavior or action

“Calling her names is just going to start trouble”, “ don’t think
smoking is a good idea”, “It is against school policy to leave the
grounds”.

Evaluate the consequences

“We will get in trouble”, “Smoking is not healthy”, “My parents will
take away my allowance”
http://www.new-life.net/parent06.htm
CSMH-MSMHA 2006

8. Steps continued:
 Suggest an alternative
 “Why don’t we go to the store after school is over”
 Leave the situation
 If all else fails, remove yourself from the situation. Walk away
and do something else
http://www.new-life.net/parent06.htm
CSMH-MSMHA 2006

9. Positive and Healthy Ways to
Deal with Pressures
 Strategies for students to use:
• Make a joke and change the subject
• Say “no” and keep saying “no”
• Leave the area
• Get help from someone you trust
• Suggest a different activity
• Hang out with others who share your beliefs
Help students develop decision making skills
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10. Strategies to help children deal
1.
Relinquish the stereotype of peers as a uniformly
negative influence on youth.
2.
Nurture teenagers' abilities and self-esteem so they can
forge positive peer relationships
3.
Empower parents and educators to help teenagers
pursue and maintain positive peer relationships
4.
Encourage cross-ethnic and "cross-class" peer
interactions and guide teenagers in dealing positively
with cultural diversity and individual differences.
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11. Strategies to help children deal
5.
Place sensible restraints on part-time teen employment
6.
Support parent education programs for families with
teenagers
7.
Establish intervention programs for preadolescents with
low social skills or aggressive tendencies.
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/356.darnell/strategies_for_coping_with_peer_pressure
CSMH-MSMHA 2006

12. Bullying
 Bullying can become a major problem for some
students and often students are pressured to
involve themselves in these situations
 It is important to identify and attempt to rectify
these situations as they interfere with your
students’ learning and development and potentially
affect the overall functioning of your classroom.
 Any child can fall victim to being
bullied and any child has the potential
to be the bully
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13. Steps towards an action plan for
Bullying
1. Teachers must make it safe for students to report bullying
 Students must trust that teachers and administrators will respect the
anonymity of the student who reports information
2. Educators and related staff must be aware of all forms of
bullying. Identifying intentions of bullying are:
 There is a power difference
 There is a negative intention
 The behavior is repeated
3. There must be a clear and effective plan for dealing with the
bully and the victim. Students must know the consequences of
bullying.
Retrieved on February 5th 2007 from: http://www.bullybeware.com/tips.html
CSMH-MSMHA 2006

14. Steps Continued
4. School personnel must know about the different
types of bullies. Some victims are also bullies.
5. An effective tool for dealing with bullying is
utilizing the masses who aren’t involved in
bullying situations. These students can take a
stand and prevent bullying incidents.
Retrieved on February 5th 2007 from: http://www.bullybeware.com/tips.html
CSMH-MSMHA 2006

15. Possible Signs of Bullying:
Watch for changes in the students behavior:
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Unwilling to go to school
Feeling ill in the morning
Withdrawal behavior
Decrement in school performance
Having books or clothing destroyed
Truancy
Stammering
Becoming aggressive or unreasonable
For more information go to:
http://csmh.umaryland.edu/resources.html/resource_packets/download_files/bullying_2002.pdf
CSMH-MSMHA 2006

16. What can you do to help?
• Model pro-social behavioral that asserts self-worth
of each individual student
• Actively observe student behavior in the
classroom
• Speak with parents to see if additional stressors at
home contribute to the bullying dynamic
• Include discussions of conflict-resolution in your
lesson plan
CSMH-MSMHA 2006

17. What can you do?
• Ask school clinicians to present on consequences
of bullying
• Become familiar with the bulling prevention
curriculum in the school
• If there isn’t one, start incorporating bullying curriculum in your
lesson plans including knowledge, attitudes, and skill
development pertaining to bullying
• Role play in the classroom to help students
develop refusal skills
CSMH-MSMHA 2006

18. What can you do?
• Suggest that students stay together and walk in
groups when traveling to and from school and
when outside during recess or lunch
• Meet with school administrators and help
develop a bullying policy to implement school
wide.
More information can be obtained from Dr. Ken Rigby at
http://www.education.unisa.edu.au/bullying/
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19. Tips/Facts to help with Bullying
 Understanding why children bully / victimize others
is of key importance in initiating change of this
behavior
 Make it known that bullying and victimizing is not
acceptable in your school and must be stopped
 Managing bullying requires that the bullying
behavior be firmly admonished and controlled
 Counseling is essential and should be compulsory
Retrieved on February 12th 2007 from http://www.bmef.org/bullying.htm, created by
Jenny MacKay of Educational Consultations: Australia Great Britain 1995
CSMH-MSMHA 2006

20. Tips and Facts Continued
 Children who bully / victimize need to see themselves
differently, with opportunities to behave differently
 The victim also needs to learn to act differently and be
given opportunities to shine and show strength
 Bullying and victimization require that the school, the
teacher, the parent, the peers, but most importantly the
child (bully and victim), take responsibility to learn to act
differently
Retrieved on February 12th 2007 from http://www.bmef.org/bullying.htm, created by
Jenny MacKay of Educational Consultations: Australia Great Britain 1995
CSMH-MSMHA 2006

21. Useful Books and Online
Resources
 Olweus Bullying Prevention Program
http://www.clemson.edu/olweus/
 Take Action Against Bullying
www.bullybeware.org
 Steps to Respect: A Bully Prevention Program
www.cfchildren.org/str.html
 Blueprints for Violence Prevention: Book 9. Bullying Prevention
Program (1999). By D. Olweus, S.Limber, & S.F. Mihalic;
Boulder, CO: Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence
http://www.clemson.edu/olweus/
 Breaking the Cycle of Violence: Intervention for Bullying and
Victimization (1996) By Richard J. Hazler
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22. Resources Continued
• How
to Say No and Keep your Friends: Peer Pressure Reversal for
Teens and Pre-Teens (1997). By Sharon Scott
•CAFS Teacher Talk Volume 1(3) 1996
http://education.indiana.edu/cas/tt/v3i3/peerpress.html
•Preventing Classroom Bullying: What Teachers Can Do (2003).
By Jim Wright
http://jimwrightsonline.com/pdfdocs/bully/bullyBooklet.pdf
•Stop Bullying Now!
http://stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/index.asp
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23. Resources Continued
 Resource for parents:
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/356.darnell/advice_for_parents
CSMH-MSMHA 2006

24. *Developed by the Center for School Mental Health
(http://csmh.umaryland.edu)
in collaboration with
the Maryland School Mental Health Alliance.