Personal experience with peer pressure and risk-taking in adolescence

Transition From Childhood to Adolescence

Personal Experience: The Transition from Childhood to Adolescence

When I went from childhood to adolescence it was a very difficult time, but not in the way that most people would expect. I did not have much self-esteem and I struggled with trying to understand why people did not seem to like me even though I was nice to them. I really did not have many friends, and I got teased and picked on by the other kids quite a lot. A lot of kids in my situation got into drugs and alcohol, but I never did. Instead, I became a recluse and a bookworm and a teacher's pet, which did not earn me any respect or friendship from the other children as well. As I moved into adolescence it was very difficult because there was peer pressure to do all kinds of things that I had been taught not to do, like drink. The few friends that I had managed to make wanted me to smoke and drink with them, and when I would not do it some of them stopped being friends with me because they felt that I was not 'cool' if I would not do these things.

Risk taking behavior usually comes from feeling like one does not belong with others. At that point, a person does things that they would not otherwise do in an effort to fit in with other people. A lot of them do drugs or drink or smoke cigarettes, and some of them turn to promiscuous behavior in order to try to be accepted. I never did these things at that age because I was too afraid of the things that could happen to me. I did not want to get caught or be labeled a 'bad person' or get in trouble with my parents. They were very controlling, and that was part of the reason that I never did anything like that.