Lesson 2 “Peer Pressure” Have you ever been pressured to do something you didn’t want to do??? Question: Is this always a bad thing???? Peer pressure: “the influence of others your same age” ….it can be either….. Negative- smoking; drugs; gangs or Positive- encouragement; support

So how does one deal with Peer pressure??? 7 Resistance Skills: techniques used to avoid negative peer pressure Be assertive Give a reason/excuse Use non-verbal behavior to match verbal behavior Avoid the situation Avoid those people Resist pressure to be in illegal situations Influence others to be responsible If you use these techniques you should have a feeling of “Empowerment”….. “Empowered”- feeling inspired/ confident because you have control over your behaviors and actions

3 styles of decision making…. 1) Inactive Decision Making: no choice is made; procrastinate or put off; not accountable ex. Parents force you to wake up Stuck in a group or team in class Reactive Decision Making: others make decisions for you; you’re influenced by others; no self-confidence ex. Neg. peer pressure mimic famous people(actors/idols) 3) Proactive decision making: a positive way to decide a) examine the choices b) identify & evaluate actions c) select the action d) take responsibility for your actions ex. Grounded but you have a big date!!!!

Peer Pressure Scenarios Each group will be given a scenario. Read the scenario and answer the following questions as a group. 1) Is this a positive or negative peer pressure?    2) What choice or decision would you make? 3) What are the consequences of your decision? 4) What are the benefits to your decision? 5) What other options could you take? 6) Is your decision proactive or reactive?

Scenario 1   Joe is 12 years old and in the 7th grade. The school year has just started. Joe is mild mannered, is well behaved and earns straight A’s and B’s in class. He isn’t the most popular kid nor is he disliked. Joe doesn’t have too many friends. He has plans of becoming a doctor after college. Joe has an older brother, David, who’s in 8th grade. David is starting quarterback for the local football team yet lacks motivation. He earns C’s in most of his classes and struggles with school authority. David is well liked by many, especially his brother, and has a girlfriend. Joe has a test in science class and David has a report due in Health. Joe and David wait for the same bus. David and a few football buddies decided to cut school and run off to get some pizza and hang out at the mall. While at the stop, David, trying to introduce his younger brother to middle school, asks Joe to cut and tag along.  

Scenario 2  Kim is 17 years old and a senior in the high school. She won prom queen at the dance and has a scholarship to Georgetown University. Her boyfriend, Jake, is a freshman in college. She met him last summer at a party. They’ve been seeing each other for a month. Kim enjoys his company a lot but hates when he goes to his college parties. Often he drinks to much alcohol and gets loud and obnoxious with his buddies. Although she has attended some of the parties she really doesn’t care for drinking. When he’s not drinking he is very sweet to Kim and takes care of her and treats her with respect. Last Friday night after a party, a car pulled up with several of Jake’s friends in it. They called her over and informed her that Jake needed her. Apparently he was very intoxicated and got into a fight over at the college. He was bleeding but refusing to go to the hospital. Jake insisted that his friends find Kim and pick her up. Kim could clearly smell alcohol on them and saw empty beer cans in the car.  

Scenario 3   Megan is 15 years old and very athletic. She has 4 brothers, all of which are older. Throughout life she competed in athletics, basketball being her favorite. She was at the top of her game. Her brothers were all very accomplished basketball players during their high school careers and taught her all she knows. Megan is physical and strong yet off the court she is very gentle. In fact she can be very timid and quiet. She doesn’t like the spotlight, nor does she like to be the center of attention in the classroom. She’s an A student but not assertive. Megan’s school didn’t have enough players go out for the basketball team. Because of it the program was cancelled. Megan was heart-broken. Her parents who have always been strong supporters suggested that she try out for the boys team. Megan knew she could beat half of the boys one on one in basketball but didn’t know what people would think. Megan’s older brothers got into the act and each called her on the phone to try and persuade her to play. The boys coach is very strict almost mean spirited. He’s also very conventional. Her parents looked into it and found that by law she should have a chance to at least try out for the boys team. Megan loved basketball, but was hesitant. Her parents and brothers one day went out to dinner and all asked her to give it a try.

Scenario 4 Steve and Mike are college roommates, both in their junior year. They’ve been friends forever. They grew up in the same town, went to the same high school, and played on the baseball team together. Steve even dated Mike’s sister for a bit. The college work load hasn’t been an easy one for either of them and keeping up their GPA is very important to Steve because he’s on an academic scholarship. If he doesn’t earn a 3.75 GPA(B+,A-) he’ll lose it and have to pay for school himself. Steve has a final exam tomorrow in physics. He has lagged behind somewhat in class but manages to earn average grades. One of Steve’s fraternity brothers who took the class last semester had a copy of the test. He decided to “help out his brother” and give him the test. That night Mike asked Steve if he was going to study. Steve responded no because he had the test. Mike felt very uneasy about it and tried to talk to him about. Mike felt that if Steve pulled an all-nighter studying he would easily ace the exam. Mike was convinced Steve could do it and tried desperately for him not to cheat and use the time he had wisely to study.