Capturing the Energy of Peer Pressure: Insights from a Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Cigarette Smoking

The effects of peer pressure on smoking behavior were described by subjects in a longitudinal study in the ninth grade, the 11th grade and 10 years later. Peer pressure was reported in terms of meeting certain desirable image characteristics and not in terms of direct pressure to smoke. Smoking was just one of many ways to create this image. It is suggested that education can incorporate peer pressure in a positive way by considering ways to change the "images" that energize certain behaviors, by introducing the learner to alternative ways to achieve the image and by alerting (immunizing) young people to the manipulative functions of image and peer pressure.