A Comparative Study on the Impact of Positive Peer Pressure on Adolescents with Special Reference to Kamrup Districts of Assam

When adolescents move to higher educational institutions, they exhibit distinctive behavioral changes. These changes are more due to accumulated feelings rather than an outburst of a single incidence. Peer pressure, change in class environment, campus environment, extracurricular activities, parental guidance and school administration each one or all of these play a significant role in moulding the behavior of a student in high school or college. Peer pressure is influence on a peer group, observes or individual exerts that encourages others to change their attitudes, values or behaviors to conform to groups. When an adolescent moves to a higher educational institute there is a distinct change in environment in way of peers and how they interact with the adolescent. There are a large number of studies on the negative impact of peer groups on the behavior of an adolescent. At the same time, there are few selected studies on the positive impact of peer group on the behavioural development of adolescents. Peer conformity in young people is mostly pronounced with respect to style, taste, appearance, ideology and values. Peer pressure is commonly associated with episodes of adolescent risk taking behaviors because these activities commonly occur in the company of peers. Peer pressure also has few positive effects when youth are pressured by their peers towards positive behavior v.i.z. volunteering for charity or excelling in academics.