Pressured to Please by Aubrey

Pressured to Please by Aubrey - October 2026 Scholarship Essay

“When you get older it’ll be easier.” my mom said, her words making my eyes roll.
I knew it would, I just didn't know why.
It was my first year at a small school, and I was desperately trying to fit in. Nothing seemed to be working.
“I guess. I just wish I didn't care so much about what people thought about me.” I looked out the passenger window, watching the pine trees pass by.
The silence pressed in.
My mothers quiet whisper filled the car. “It’s peer pressure, Aubrey. You’re so worried about what others think about you and how they perceive your actions that you end up doing whatever they want.”
And so the rabbit hole began.
From that moment in the car, I have been fascinated by adolescent peer pressure. Why do teenagers feel the need to please their peers? What areas of the brain are being affected?
What even is peer pressure?
Those questions plagued me for months. I thought of my experiences, my friends, and others online who were being affected by the consequences of peer pressure. I aspired to research this phenomenon, and I got the opportunity in eleventh grade.
Every year, my school hosts a curiosity and innovation fair. Students work for thirty-six weeks on a detailed, comprehensive, and modelable research project to present to the school administration. I knew my topic before I began typing.
Adolescent Peer Pressure: The Neuroscience of Peer Pressure and its Role in Cyberbullying.
I explained the origins of peer pressure, the major areas of the brain that it affects, and how it can translate into cyberbullying. I worked for months and months. I knew that my research wasn't just for my own curiosity, but for the betterment of myself and my peers. While exploring, I learned how to cope with my feelings of self-consciousness and how to help others cope as well.
At the end of the year, I presented. I won the Gold Medal Award, a prestigious honor at my school. Every now and then I read it, and am reminded of the girl who felt lost among her chaotic world. I have grown up now, but I hope my research can help others who have gone through the same thing.