{"id":8201,"date":"2025-11-03T14:22:34","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T19:22:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montoursville.k12.pa.us\/thearrowhead\/?p=8201"},"modified":"2025-11-11T14:07:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T19:07:30","slug":"real-talk-with-raigan-peer-pressure-opens-up-risks-in-students-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montoursville.k12.pa.us\/thearrowhead\/2025\/11\/03\/real-talk-with-raigan-peer-pressure-opens-up-risks-in-students-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"Real Talk with Raigan: Peer pressure opens up risks in student&#8217;s lives"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;\">Have you ever heard the \u201cSay no to Drug\u201d talks or heard about \u201cRed Ribbon Week?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;\">Both this organization, and this week of awareness help promote drug use\/substance abuse disorders.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;\">As annoying and repetitive as these events can be, one major factor that continues to reel people into substance abuse is the worsening issue of peer pressure.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;\">They\u2019re three major ways that peer pressure can unfold in a student\u2019s life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Social:<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Students could be afraid of consequences or impacts if they would say \u201cno\u201d to their friends using substances. For example, a student could be afraid of being judged, losing friends, or being beat up if they turned down drinking at a party.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Modeling:<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Every person has this internal need to fit in, be seen, or have friends. If they see their friends having a drink or taking pills they are more likely to also participate in the activity, especially if they don\u2019t know right from wrong.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cognitive:<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Certain thoughts can be associated with certain actions. If they\u2019re positive they can lead to increased participation, if they\u2019re negative they lead to decreased participation. For example, if a student thinks, \u201cDrinking makes me more fun and enjoyable,\u201d then a student is likely to continue to drink.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;\">The group you hang out with is very important. Many studies and surveys have found that the close group students hang around with have the most impact or control over their behaviors.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;\">They\u2019re ways to prevent peer pressure, but it is very hard.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;\">Holding your ground, and making eye contact saying \u201cno.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;\">Suggest different activities in lieu of substance abuse.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;\">Make up excuses for why you can\u2019t participate.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;\">Walk away.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These friend groups who continuously push you to participate in these activities are not worth your time. They\u2019re draining, and can be dangerous, and these people don\u2019t care about you, they care about controlling you.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;\">If students were able to say \u201cno\u201d to people who try to hook them on drugs, there would be a large decrease in substance abuse numbers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;\">Take this information and think about how you can make an impact in preventing these numbers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;\">If you know people who are using drugs or alcohol, no matter if they\u2019re your friends or not, tell an adult. It may get them in trouble, but it will ultimately get them the help they need and hopefully they can wash out their addiction with time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;\">If you are someone who is in an unhealthy friend group or relationship please recognize that those people just want to have a higher power and control over you.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;\">Please realize even though it\u2019s so hard you are worth so much more than those narcissistic people, and seek out of the situation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;\">If someone comes to you for help admitting they\u2019re in a peer pressure situation, don\u2019t turn them away, instead help them out to the best of your ability.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;\">Change can be made, but we have to be willing to help, and willing to speak up.<\/span><\/p>\n<table style=\"border-collapse: collapse; width: 88.7148%; height: 45px;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 100%;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.addictioncenter.com\/addiction\/peer-pressure-substance-use\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Click here to learn more about peer pressure and substance abuse.<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><em><strong>Featured image (at top): Senior Raigan Fredericks is the Print Editor-in-Chief of The Arrowhead. Her column, &#8220;Real Talk with Raigan&#8221; addresses issues that affect teens.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Have you ever heard the \u201cSay no to Drug\u201d talks or heard about \u201cRed Ribbon Week?\u201d Both this organization, and this week of awareness help&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":766,"featured_media":7813,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":"","_expiration-date-status":"saved","_expiration-date":1788760860,"_expiration-date-type":"draft","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":{"expireType":"draft","category":false,"categoryTaxonomy":"","enabled":true,"id":8201}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montoursville.k12.pa.us\/thearrowhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8201"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montoursville.k12.pa.us\/thearrowhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montoursville.k12.pa.us\/thearrowhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montoursville.k12.pa.us\/thearrowhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/766"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montoursville.k12.pa.us\/thearrowhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8201"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.montoursville.k12.pa.us\/thearrowhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8258,"href":"https:\/\/www.montoursville.k12.pa.us\/thearrowhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8201\/revisions\/8258"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montoursville.k12.pa.us\/thearrowhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montoursville.k12.pa.us\/thearrowhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montoursville.k12.pa.us\/thearrowhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montoursville.k12.pa.us\/thearrowhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}