Social and community health
What is social and community pressure?
Social and community pressure is when the community's beliefs, values and expectations about young people are felt by young people in the community. It is an image that adult members of the community have – how they want young people to be.
So why is social and community pressure important for young people and their mental health?
The pressures from the community can affect how you feel about yourself. If you feel you can't meet up to the expectations of the community then you may feel degraded or even rejected by your community. It's hard to feel welcome in the community if you don't feel a part of it. It might be hard to feel like you're doing the right thing or that you're being watched and judged on what you do. Some people feel like there is pressure on them to perform – to live up to certain expectations.
It's unfortunate, but some adults live their dreams through their children – there is pressure from parents and other members of the community to do what they did or even better. This makes it really hard for young people to meet expectations like these.
There are some positives from this type of pressure though. It can motivate you to achieve your goals if people in your community are supporting the same goals that you're trying to achieve.
It can also help you succeed in your goals; even if they are opposite to what you feel you are pressured to aspire to.
Imagine you love skating, surfing, painting, whatever … people might think that this will get you nowhere. Imagine excelling at whatever you love doing despite the pressures.
Sometimes these pressures can give you another view of life besides your own or that of friends or parents. You might make different decisions with this information.
Of course, there are negatives too. You might end up feeling very isolated in your community – especially if it is small and far away from the rest of the world. It's hard feeling unwanted or feeling like you are not fitting in. Sometimes this can lead to people becoming depressed and feeling suicidal.
So how do you cope with all this pressure?
- Feeling positive and confident about yourself from the inside is a great start.
- It might help to take a break and get away from it all for a while.
- Why don't you talk to friends who may be able to help you look at things differently.
- Go and do something that you enjoy doing – like listening to music, writing, playing sport, etc.
- Enjoy and be proud of what you're good at, get involved in something that you want to achieve in.
- Stick with someone who gives you positives and warm fuzzy feelings or find some mates who will.
- If there is someone who you look up to, or who you admire or trust – talk to them about how you're feeling.
- If you've got some energy – form a group of young people and face the people that stereotype you, challenge their stereotypes.
Here is a little story, which shows that a positive outcome can happen even with social and community pressure.
Young people wanted a recreation area. They formed a group to approach the local council with plans and funding. Council agreed to parts of the plan but because of their expectations and beliefs, certain members of council totally disagreed with the plans. Council looked at the issues and consulted young people to look for alternatives. Members of Council thought that it would encourage young people to run amuck all over town, not just in selected areas. Anyway, it was resolved and the recreation area was built.
Whilst there have been problems with the recreation area, the young people can feel safe and not have the pressure of the community. They also feel positive about themselves, as it is something they have done for themselves as well as something they can feel that they have succeeded in.
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