SAMPLE
Positive and Negative Peer Pressure
Grades 6–8
Category:Peer
Relationships
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Topic: Peer Pres
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Positive and Negative Peer Pressure
Background
The need to fit in can lead students to be greatly influenced by peer pressure.
Peer pressure can cause students to do things they wouldn’t normally do, such
as skip class, participate in bullying, and become involved in risky behaviors. It’s
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important for students to learn skills to resist negative peer pressure and to stand
firm on personal boundaries. Although peer pressure is mostly associated with
harmful influences, it can have positive influences as well. Positive peer pressure
provides group support to resist negative influences. It can encourage students to
work toward goals like getting better grades, participating in positive extracurricular activities, and standing up for others.
Learner Outcomes
By the end of this session, students will be able to
• list examples of the types of peer pressure they feel
• describe positive and negative aspects of peer pressure
• identify ways to counter negative peer pressure
Materials Needed
• Paper and pencils
• Chalkboard and chalk or dry erase board and markers
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Preparation Needed
• Make sure each student has paper and a pencil.
• Review the sample vocabulary words.
Class Meeting Outline
Opening Activity (10 minutes)
1. We all want to fit in, to feel like we belong at school and elsewhere. And
sometimes we make choices that don’t feel right or match the way we
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usually think or act, just to be part of the crowd.
2. Review what peer pressure is and ask students to give general exampurpose?
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ples (no names). Why do you think peer pressure exists? Does it have a
3. Give each student a blank sheet of paper and pencil. Instruct students to quickly sketch a figure of themselves (stick figures are good
enough). Draw a large stick figure on the board as students are drawing their figures.
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4. Next ask the students to reflect on different types
of peer pressure they have experienced and write or
illustrate them around the figure.
Teacher Tip
Be clear to students that peer pressure, however powerful, never negates
individual responsibility.
5. Look at the examples of peer pressure you have
included on your paper. Find the top five in terms of
how strongly they influence or affect you. Rank them
from 1 to 5, with 1 indicating the most influence.
6. Gather students in a circle to process and debrief the
activity.
Discussion Questions (20 minutes)
1. What different forms of peer pressure have you experienced? Write
students’ responses on the board.
a. Draw a dotted line through the center of the large stick
figure on the board. Invite the class to share different forms
of peer pressures they have experienced. Write them around
the figure, placing boys’ responses by the left half of the
figure and girls’ responses on the right half.
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Positive and Negative Peer Pressure
b. Encourage students to discuss impressions, ideas, and
“aha” moments.
2. Do you think peer pressures are the same for boys and girls? If not, how
are they different?
3. Do you think students in elementary school and students in middle
school experience different kinds of peer pressure? If so, in what ways?
4. Is the peer pressure students your age experience different from pressures your parents experienced when they were your age? If so, how?
5. Have students pair up and ask their partner: If you could get rid of one
type of peer pressure, what would it be and why?
6. What’s one thing you’d change in our class or school to reduce the pressure kids feel to go along with the crowd?
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7. In your opinion, what is more important: fitting in or doing the right
thing? What factors might affect your feelings about this? (Students
might say the specific situation, whom you are with, where you are,
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whether you are popular or not.)
8. Sometimes it’s hard to know what to say when you are feeling pressured by peers to do something you know is wrong or that feels wrong
for you. It’s easy to feel flustered or embarrassed when you are put on
the spot. None of us want to be labeled “uncool” or a “goody-goody.”
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Invite students to brainstorm responses kids their age can make that
wouldn’t make them sound uncool.
9. Why do you think people go along with things they know aren’t right?
What does it feel like physically to go along with something you know
to be wrong? What does it feel like emotionally?
10. Peer pressure isn’t always bad. Can anyone tell about a time when peer
pressure led you to make a better choice or to do something positive?
How are decisions to go along with positive peer pressure different
from decisions to go along with negative peer pressure?
Wrap-Up
1. It is a very human desire to want to fit in, and peer pressure can be a
difficult aspect of life to deal with. Sometimes it’s hard to know when
and if to give in to it, and when and if to stand firm against it.
We all need to make decisions to rise above the crowd and do
what’s right, even when it’s not popular to do so. This week’s challenge is to try to notice the different ways peer pressure affects your
life and your school’s social environment, in both good and bad ways.
2. Encourage additional questions and comments.
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3.
Curriculum Connections
Vocabulary: peer pressure, positive peer pressure, negative peer pressure
English:
• Have students write about a time they felt pulled by peer pressure to do something they didn’t
want to do. Ask them to describe ways they resisted and whether or not they were effective.
• Have students interview parents about peer pressures they felt when they were in middle school.
• Encourage students to write about a time they chose to stand up as an individual against negative
peer pressure.
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Social Studies/History/Civics: Ask students to research and write about social activists or humanitarians who chose to go against popular views in order to work for positive social changes or to right an
injustice.
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Health/Physical Education: Have students list high-risk activities that their peers might feel pressure to
engage in (alcohol or other drug use, smoking, breaking rules at home or school, etc.). Have them roleplay specific words and actions they could use to resist (but not lose face).
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