Chapter II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
In order to gather relevant information in the present work, the researchers conducted an in-depth survey of related literature from other readings and other different sources intended to provide the various principles that have guided and motivated the researchers in constructing the study. 1. Foreign literature 2. Foreign studies 3. Local literature 4. Local studies
FOREIGN LITERATURE According to Laurence Steinberg, author of the book “You and your Adolescent”, peer pressure is not a monolithic force that presses adolescents into the same mold. Adolescents generally choose friend whose values, attitudes, tastes, and families are similar to their own. In short, good kids rarely go bad because of their friends. So the point here all boils down to another quote: “Birds of the same feather flock together.” But this does not apply in all instances. Author Mary Kay Blakely shares that most literature on the culture of adolescence focuses on peer pressure as a negative force. Warnings about the “wrong crowd” read like tornado alerts in parent manuals. . . . It is a relative term that means different things in different places. In Fort Wayne, for example, the wrong crowd meant hanging out with liberal Democrats. In Connecticut, it meant kids who weren’t planning to get a Ph.D. from Yale. It means, peer pressure is perceived differently by individuals depending on where they live and what they are accustomed to. Sometimes, you give in and sometimes you don’t. Peer pressure differs in each individual’s personal perception. Example, in public schools in america, teens are forced by peers to engage in pre-marital sex because according to them, it is a shame to enter college being a virgin, especially boys. In the Philippines, however, when one has lost his/her virginity before entering college would be an embarassment to the person and perhaps the reason for the people’s lost of respect. Anyhow, the conditions stated above are still subject to change. “How you handle peer pressure -- the pressure your children feel as well as the pressure you feel -- in the early years will play a significant role in how your children handle peer pressure when they become adolescents,” claims Adolescence Isn't Terminal author, Kevin Leman. It does indeed pay off. It is like the answer to the biblical verse, “Train up a child in a way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6).” Antoine DeSaint Exupery also expressed support in these facts in his bestselling book, The Little Prince. It goes like this, “You become responsible, forever, for what you have been tamed.” These are all true. The upbringing of a child helps him become a responsible adoldescent with the ability to disuade himself from the surrounding and powerful urge of peer pressure. Eugene Arnold says that the stress of resisting unhealthy peer pressure can be buffered by good family relationships and a high self-esteem, and it is often those adolescents with neither who succomb to unhealthy pressure from their peers. A balance between peer and family relationship is essential to maintain a healthy young lifestyle,because either of the two has a strong effect on the individual himself. However, Bill Treasurer cited one positive outlook regarding peer pressure. In his book, Right Risk, he stated, “Peer pressure has many redeeming qualities. It is the pressure of our peers, after all, that gives us the support to try things we otherwise wouldn't have.” We should also think about that. Experiences do teach us to grow into a mature person because we learn from our mistakes.
FOREIGN STUDIES Studies of peer influence have found it to be an important factor in a variety of adolescent outcomes, including educational performance and aspirations (Coleman, 1961; Duncan, Hailer, & Portes, 1968; Hallinan & Williams, 1990); sexual attitudes and behavior (Mirande, 1968; Shah & Zelnick, 1981); delinquency (Aseltine, 1995; Warr & Stafford, 1991); and tobacco, drug, and alcohol use (Kandel & Andrews, 1987; Stacy, Sussman, Dent, Burton, & Flay, 1992). Many researchers have noted that what is less well known is the mechanism behind peer conformity (e.g., Brown, 1989; Hallinan & Williams, 1990; Kandel & Andrews, 1987; Warr & Stafford, 1991). To date, peer influence has been examined largely through the lens of reference group theory and its corresponding socialization component. According to this theory, the individual orients himself or herself, normatively and/or comparatively, to various reference groups. A normative group provides the individual with behavioral norms, attitudes, and values, whereas a comparative group provides benchmarks against which the individual compares himself or herself, affecting self-concept and/or behavior. In either case, the individual experiences some degree of socialization (i.e., conformity to the group), although explanations of peer influence seem to rely primarily on normative dynamics.