Back To School 2018

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form, kids learn fairly quickly what sets them apart
negatively from other kids. But, with implicit pressure,
kids develop a sense of what makes them
uncomfortably different from unspoken cues that
can be harder to deduce and process.
When it comes to the emergence of peer pressure
in a child’s life, “It begins as soon as children start
to pay attention to what other children think about
them,” said Brett Laursen, Ph.D., professor of psychology
at Florida Atlantic University and a fellow
at the American Psychological Association (APA,
apa.org).
“We see it over behavior problems where one set
of peers will influence another to act badly. We also
see it over academic achievement where friends do
better when they’re paired with other kids who are
doing better in school. We see this as early as first
grade,” Laursen told APA writer Audrey Hamilton.
A recent survey by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) labels peer-pressure as
directly responsible for an increase in risky behavior,
such as drinking, smoking, and potentially
t ly
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BACK TO SCHOOL 2018 PASADENA WEEKLY
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