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Why does peer pressure make normally good kids do bad things?

The need to feel accepted is strong during the teen years. Self identity is not yet formed, it is just starting to be discovered, and this can lead to a steady state of uncertainty. Teens want to belong and it is hard to belong if you are always going against the grain. This is why teens are more likely than other groups to succomb to group pressures of conformity. Most often this pressure is not very harmful; teens in the same group will dress the same, talk the same, be interested in the same activities, listen to the same music, and spend time with the same people. But in extreme cases the need to be accepted can lead people to do things that they would not normally do on their own. If a group norm includes drug use and a teen who is not accepted by other groups is accepted in the drug using group they may feel a great deal of pressure to start using themselves. Why? Because the teen who has felt marginalized by other groups has finally found a place where he/she is accepted and they do not want to lose the sense of security that acceptance in a group entails. Friends are a big part of the emerging self identity and the thought of losing them during the early stages of identity development is very hard to face. The irony is that peer pressure to do drugs, or drink alcohol or have sex are often more perception than reality. Teens who fall into groups that engage in these behaviors often feel pressured to conform when the group itself is not really exerting any such pressure. The teens need to fit in causes the pressure, not the actions of the peer group. As one recovering teen drug addict once said, "I never cared if my friends got high or not. If they stayed straight it just left more for me!" The idea that a group with anti-social norms leads good kids astray may not be entirely true; the individuals insecurities may be the real culprit. Peer pressure is much more likely to lead a teen to walk, talk and act a certain way than it is to lead them to do bad, harmful or self destructive things.