Peer pressure less of a problem for college students
By Cara Lynn Walls [Alabama School of Fine Arts]
For many, college is a time to grow emotionally, expand horizons, and make new friends. For others it is a time to deal with the inevitable peer pressure.
We all know that put in a situation, different people act in different ways, but what happens when those situations flow from high school halls to college campuses?
College is difficult enough as is with its classes, schedules, and managing time for yourself, but when you throw in the option of doing things you would not normally do to be friends with the people in the “in crowd” and to fit and a box of what other people call perfect, things can get a little out of hand.
When interviewed about their opinions on rather or not pressures such as drinking, doing drugs, or having sex were more present on the campus of the University of Alabama than in their high school, different people had differing opinions.
Sabrina Okey, a female senior psychology major, said that the pressures were not as present as they were in high school.
“If you pace yourself and work on a schedule, then the pressure aren’t as present, because you aren’t stressing,” Okey said.
However, UA graduate student Doriane Blount thought the opposite.
“I think that they are more present because your parents are not around to make sure you are doing the rights things,” Blount said. “They aren’t standing around telling you to do your work, not do drugs, and not to drink. You are on your own.”
On the other hand, when both women were asked who/where their pressure came from they both replied with the same answer, themselves.
Blount even went as far as to say she thought it came more from herself because she wanted herself to do well in school. Not just for her parents but also to make herself proud.
Blount left future college with a few words of advice on their college careers.
“Know yourself, and never let others influence who you are,” she said.