EFFECTS OF PEER PRESSURE ON THE ACADEMIC PERFPRMANCE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN ILISHAN-REMO, OGUN STATE

CHAPTER TWO

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

This chapter presents the review of related literature to the study under the following sub-headings: Conceptual Framework, Theoretical Framework, Review of Empirical Studies

Concept of Peer

According to Salvador (2009) a peer is a person who is equal to another in ability, qualification, age, background and social status. Peer is a person who belongs to the same age group or social group.

Concept of Gender

Gender according to Pollard and Morgan (2002) refers to the socially constructed expectation for male and female behaviour which prescribes a division of labour and responsibilities between males and females granting of different rights and obligation to them. Gender also describes social and historical constructs for masculine and feminine roles, behaviours, attributes and ideologies, which connote some notion of biological sex (Azikiwe, 2001).

Concept of Peer Pressure

Peer pressure is influence that a peer group, observers or individuals exert to encourage others to change their attitudes, values or behaviours and conform to the group norms. Peer pressure is the influence of a social group on an individual. Bobbies and Elhaney, (2005) indicate that peer pressure refers to the way the people of the same social group act or believe in order to influence one another, often in negative ways.

Peer pressure is something everybody has to deal with at sometime in ones life. How successful one handles peer pressure depends to a great on the individual’s self concept and position in the world (Hardcastle, 2002). Peer pressure is defined as when people of one’s age encourages or urges him to do something or to keep off from doing something else, irrespective of the person’s desire to or not to (Ryan, 2000 in Uche, 2010). Peer pressure comprises a set of group dynamics where by a group in which one feels comfortable may override personal habits, individual moral inhibitions or idiosyncratic desires to impose a group norm of attitudes or behaviour.

Peer pressure is emotional or mental force from people belonging to the same social group (such as same age grade or status) to act or behave in a manner similar to themselves. Peer pressure has a great influence on adolescent behavior and reflects young people’s desire to fit in and be accepted by others (Bern, 2010). Peer pressure is also known as peer influence, and it involves changing one’s behavior to meet the perceived expectation of others (Burns and Darling, 2002) In general, most teens confirm to peer pressure like music, clothing or hair styles. When it comes to important issues like moral values, parents still remain more influential than the peer group (Black, 2002).

Peer pressure may have a positive influence and help to or motivate us to do our best. Peer pressure may also result in people doing things that may not fit with their sense of what is right and wrong (Black, 2002). Peer pressure may be influence in a number of ways: fashion choice, alcohol and smoking and other drugs use, decision to have a boy friend/girl friend, choice of who our friends, organizing and extending parties. Peer pressure may be pressure in the work place, at school or within the general community. It can affect people of all ages and backgrounds.

Research such as peer cluster theory (Danish, 1993) has shown that peer pressure has a much greater impact on adolescent behavior than any other factor. A teenager spends more of his/her time with peers than with family members. The interaction of peer is direct, and more powerful than the influence of teachers and other authority figures. Peer pressure tends to have more of an effect on children with low self esteem. If a child feels compelled to fit in, the teen may do things that go against his /her beliefs simply to be part of the group (Kirk, 2000).

Peer pressure can lead to experimentation with drugs and alcohol, sex, skipping school and various high-risk behaviour. If there is a sudden change in a child’s appearance, clothing and attitude, especially if accompanied by secretive behavior, he or she may be succumbing to the influences of peers (Kirk, 2000) Parents should be especially alert to sudden changes in the friends that make up their core peer group. An unexplained change in the type of friends your child associates with, would indicate that the child is vulnerable to new influence that may not be positive. As a result parents need to stay alert to all kinds of peer pressure.

Concept of Time Management

Time management encompasses a wide scope of activities which include planning allocation, setting goals, delegation, analysis of time spent, monitoring, organizing, scheduling and prioritizing. It is a necessity in any project. According to MacDiarmid, (2000) Time Management is the act or process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity. Anyakoha and Eluwa (1991) defined time managements as the process of planning, organizing, implementing and evaluating the use of time in order to accomplish or perform certain tasks or duties. According to these researchers everyone has the same amount of time per day and how this time is used affects each person’s attainment and the use of development of other resources.

The basic understanding of time according to Nweze (1995) is that time is a unique resource and inelastic. While everybody share equal amount of time resource, the difference lies in the way each person manages it. Procrastination is a negative behavior that affects time management. Nweze (1995) further noted that the concept of time management is an act of good management of the demands being made by virtue of people’s roles and responsibilities. As such, time management means grouping the demands being made into key result areas so that they make sense. This also requires concentrating on priorities in order to cope effectively by focusing attention on fewer demands.

Due to the academic work load and domestic work load at home by in school adolescent, it is important that one makes effective use of time that he/she has at his disposal. It involves identifying and minimizing interruptions, frivolities and time wasters. Proper management of time is important to people likemanagers, house wives, workers, leaders as well as students who have to combine academic work with involvements in co-curricular activities. What this means is that in addition to lectures, assignments, library work, all times and laundry, a student’s time is also take up with organizational obligations. How well a student manages his or her time determines to large extent the individual’s chances of success in academics. To the student, scheduling and managing time wisely are important for optimal perforsmance and development. If proper time planning and tasks scheduling are neglected problems often arise as to meeting deadlines.

Concept of Academic Performance

Academic performance of a child could be defined as the learning outcomes of the child. This includes the knowledge, skills and ideas, acquired and obtained through their course of study within and outside the classroom situation (Epunam, 1999). It is the outcome of determination, hard work, of student in academic pursuit. Pandney, (2008) defined academic achievement as the performance of the pupils in the subjects they study in the school. This determines the pupils’ status in the class. This gives children an opportunity to develop their talents, improve their grades and prepare for future academic challenges.

Academic performance refers to a person’s performance in a given academic area (e.g. reading or language arts, mathematics, science and other areas of human learning. Academic performance relates to academic subjects a child studies in school and the skills the child is expected to master in each (Kathryn, 2010). Academic performance refers to excellence in all academic discipline, in a class as well as extra curricular activities. It includes excellence in sporting behaviour, it includes excellence in sporting behaviour, confidence, communication skills, and others. Steinberger (2005) posit that academic performance encompasses students’ ability and performance; it is multidimensional; it is intricately related to human growth and cognitive, emotional and social physical development; it reflects the whole child; it is not related to a single instance, but occurs across time and levels, through a student’s life in public school and into post secondary years and working life. Academic performance refers to how well a student is accomplishing his tasks and studies.

Academic performance in school is evaluated in a number of ways. For regular grading student students demonstrate their knowledge by taking written and oral tests, performing presentations, submission of homework and participating in class activities and discussion. Teachers evaluate in the form of assignment, test and examination to describe how well a student has done. Poor academic achievement is a performance that is adjudged by the examine and some significant others as falling below an expected standard (Adesemowo, 2005).

Izundu, (2005) pointed out that some environmental variables in a home influence the learning capabilities of a child either positively or negatively and thus affect their academic performances. Some of the variables include parental socio- economic status, level of parental supervision of children, location home, library facility among others.

According to Uche (2010) parental socio-economic status of the children of literate and high income parents perform better in school than those from poor and uneducated parents. Children from, high socio economic homes eat balanced diet, enjoy good health and facilities that stimulates their intellectual activity and make them perform better academically then their counterparts who indulge in smoking cigarette, India hemp which have scattered their brain which may result to poor performance. He asserts that adolescent who come from homes regarded as having good or high socio-economic status may tend to do better than those who have poor homes. The study revealed that insufficient parental income; family type and lack of funding by government are factor influencing student’s academic performance. Lack of quality supervision by parents has been identified as one of the home environmental variables known to influence children’s life to a great extent, Farrell and Barnes 2000.

Most fundamental issues of life are taught to children by their parents more especially mothers who spend longer hours with the children. The extents to which parents motivate their children in their academic works affect the level of performance of the children. Parental educational background has also been identified to have a great impact on the education and academic performance of a child. (Uche, 2010) observed that parents with high educational background tend to gear their children towards studying courses that they are talented in, observing them to make sure that they do their assignment, stick to their time table by reading always which will help their children to perform better academically. When parents are interested in their children’s education, the children tend to perform better.

On the other hand, children from parents that are businessmen and women in a bid for materialism, tend to leave the house as early as and come back late in the night. They left the training and supervision of their children in the hands of house help. The children comes back from school, spend most of their time playing, doing all sort of irrelevant thing at the expense of their studies. At the end of the day it will affect their academic performance. Lack of parental supervision gives the growing child freedom that could be dangerous. The adolescent engage in activities including delinquent acts without knowing the consequences. This is especially so as they are outside the family most of the time without parental supervision.

Location of a home is another variable that affect the academic performance of a child. Children from homes located in urban areas may tend to perform better academically than children from homes in rural areas. Epunam (1999) in Uche (2010) pointed out that location is an important variable that influence academic performance of a child. Schools in urban area tend to be well equipped with material resources needed to enhance learning. The type of accommodation provided to a child also affects his ability to learn and his subsequent academic performance. Pleasant and conducive surroundings when provided give rise to pure thought, better concentration and understanding and enhance performance. Noisy overcrowded and busy home environment tend to affect the rate of concentration of adolescents and lower their academic performance.

Existence of Library is another influencing factor of academic performance. Library is the pivot of education enterprise. It is the platform for sharing of knowledge aimed at rejuvenating Nigerian schools through the provision of current books and journals, (FRN, 2004). It is the storehouse of resources and as such provides many more opportunities to the learner to acquire the knowledge, develop to achieve greater academic performance. It has been observed that there is a strong relationship between school library and academic performance. Keith (2000) reports that schools with well equipped library perform higher than those schools with poorly developed libraries. Good school services in library would help to promote knowledge acquisition by the students.

Concept of Adolescence

Adolescence is conceptualized as a period from dependent childhood to self sustaining adulthood. Based on this perspective, adolescence is therefore a process and not just a particular period of social changes. Psychologically, adolescence is regarded as the period when new adjustments must be made if the individual would live a normal, happy life in the society. It is the period when the individual learns to adjust to the complex series of social roles expected of him during adulthood. This learning could be done in the family, school, church, peer groups and media among others. Chronologically, the adolescent period spans from 12 years to early twenties. However, this varies from one individual to another and from culture to culture.

Obidoa, and Ifelunni (2010) stated that adolescence is the period when the individual no longer depends on parents to take decisions. At this stage the individual can think about his personal ideas and handle such ideas. The individual is able to perform the following mental functions – logical reasoning, abstract thinking, increased understanding, ability to generalize facts and increased independent decision among others. Iwuama (1997) opined that teachers and counselors who understand those adolescents and their problems can do much to helping them make successful transition to adult status.

From the foregoing definitions and opinions, it is obvious that adolescence refers to that period of the life span of an individual when the physiological and even sociological processes are in transition between puberty and maturity. It is the bridge between the life as a child and the life as an adult which gives the individual the opportunity to start dropping childhood behaviours and start learning the adult life style. During adolescence, new language variations, new values, standards of dress, taste in popular culture (Music, sports and films), and new interpersonal allegiances develop. Children who learned at home to be polite often find other standards applied to their behavior by their adolescent peers.

Adolescents usually find it easier to bring their problem up in groups than with the therapist alone. This is because adolescents are usually more open with their peers than with adults and often discuss things among themselves that they are reluctant to talk about with an adult in a dyadic relationship (Nzewi 1996).

Theoretical Framework

The Social Learning Theory

This theory was propounded by Albert Bandura in 1977.He was born on 4th Decemeber, 1925 in the small town of Mundare in Northern Alberta Canada. The theory is based on the major premise that behavior is learned and can be unlearn. Behaviour is in general ,a function of one’s personality and the environment. Man is born with some innate potentials which the environment conditions. Similarly, one can influence his or her environment using the personality qualities.Consequently.as one interacts in the environment, the adolescents consciously or unconsciously observes and imitates and displays behavior of models. Hence, Bandura posits that there is interrelationship between man’s personality, the behaviour and environmental factors.

According to Bandura indeed, the entire three elements: the person, the behaviour and the environmental situation are highly interrelated variables each being capable of influencing the other, this can be illustrated using the diagram. The social learning theory emphasizes the importance of observing and imitating the behavior, attitudes and emotional reaction of others. Thus it focuses on learning by observation and imitation.

Imitation and modelling of influential persons or models also depend on reinforcement. This reinforcement can either be direct or vicarious in direct reinforcement, the person imitating the model receives reinforcement directly. When a child, for instance is praised for exhibiting a behaviour, he was received direct reinforcement. In vicarious reinforcement, the person imitating the model does not get reinforced directly. It is rather the model that is reinforced. When one watch a model being reinforced, he is also reinforced indirectly. This is vicarious reinforcement. The motivation to identify with a particular model stems from the fact that this model possess a quality which the individual would like to possess. Identification with a model involves the individual taking on observed behaviours, values, beliefs and attitudes of the person with whom he is identifying. Relating it to the present study, adolescents can model their behaviour after their peers who have positive attitudes and behaviour towards education; in order to enhance their academic performance.

This theory applied to the adolescent, could be an explanation for the seeming relationship that may exist among peer pressure, time management and academic performance. The implication is that for any adolescent who is influenced by positive peer pressure, who utilizes his/her time judiciously there is a tendency for the person to do better in his/her academics than the adolescent who do otherwise. This theory is therefore relevant to this study in the sense that, it will help students, to acquire the capacity of solving his own problem. It will also help student to learn the characteristics behaviour that make up their personality through observation and imitation.

Social Control Theory of Hirchi

Social control theory was propounded by Hirchi (1960).Social control theory refers to the societal and political mechanism or process regulates individuals and group behaviours, leading to conformity and compliance to the rules of a given society, state or social group Hirchi,2002. According to the theorist he believesthat exploiting the processes of socialization and social learning builds self control and reduces the inclination to indulge in any bad behaviour. The theory stipulated that ties or bonds which leads adolescents in conformity to family, school and other aspects of societal beliefs serve to diminish adolescents propensity for deviant behaviour. The theorist believes that anti-social behaviour occurs only when such bonds are weakened or are not established. Thus, if moral codes are internalized and individuals are tied to and have a stake in their wider community they will voluntarily limit their propensity to commit deviant acts.

In socialization, this formation of bond between individual and the society comprises of four elements which are attachment, commitment, involvement and beliefs. Attachment refers to the effective ties which the adolescents form with significant others like parents, teachers among others who tend to present among others optimal conformity to socially accepted behaviour. Commitment refers to the aspiration or goals which an individual set for self. Adolescents with well defined goals tend to minimize propensity for delinquent behaviour because they consider that they have much to lose as opposed to their counterparts who engage in drinking, smoking, dating and involving in criminal act. Beliefs are the extent to which an individual accepts the moral values of the society. And the extent to which an individual accepts this moral values determine the individual’s propensity for delinquent behaviours. One of the key elements for social control is developing the individual’s bond to conventional society though involvement in conventional activities (that is homework and family activities).The theory says that trends in increased crime rates are related to a greater dispersion of daily activities with peers, away from parental supervision and providing the opportunity for delinquency. Study findings were largely consistent with these theoretical perspectives. Fair time was found to protect adolescents from problem behaviours whereas peer time places adolescents at risk for these same behaviours. In addition, there was less delinquency when the adolescent spent more time on homework.

In line with this study, adolescents that conform to the rules established by the significant others like, parents, teachers, peers and the likes which makes them to be acceptable in the society will reduce his propensity to deviant behaviour which eventually enhance his or her academic performance. However, an adolescent could experience rejection from his or her peers and also compelled by them to conform against his or her wish. This type of treatment could make him or her to loose his or her identity as a unique person. This may also affect the adolescent time management and performance in school. This theory relates to the present study in terms that adolescent family time is a protective factor against problem behaviours whereas time spent with peers is a risk factor for problem behaviours.

Review of Empirical Studies:

Studies on Peer Pressure

Omotere (2011) conducted a research on the influence of peer group on adolescents, selected schools in Ogun State. The study investigated the influence of peer group on adolescent performance. Descriptive research methodology was used. Random sampling techniques were also adopted in selecting 150 in-school adolescents from four secondary schools in two local Government Areas of Ogun State. Questionnaire was developed to collect data. The data collected was analyzed using t-test and Pearson. The findings of the study revealed that peer group could positively influence the academic performance of in-school adolescents. In line with present study parents and teachers should provide adequate guidance to adolescents to help them understand how the friends they keep can either positively or negatively influence their academic performance in school. Also, in-adolescent should relate with students that will influence them academically.

Akpobia and Nidah (2009), carried out a study on incidence and factors associated with the drop out among primary school pupils in Ogoja Local Government of Cross River State. A descriptive survey design was used for the study. The population of the study was 240 drop outs identify in the school record for the study areas. There was no sample because all the population was used. The instrument used for the study where questionnaire and oral interview the study were questionnaire and oral interview on the cause and magnitude to school dropout in vache clan. Based on the analysed data, the following are the main findings. Majority of pupils/students dropped from school in 1995/96 is 11.2% followed by 1996/97 8.8%, whereas few dropped out in 1997/98 7.0%. This situation is however no encouraging, since more youths are expected to be literate because of the need for educational advancement in since and technology. The above research study related to the present study because, it reveal that factors associated with drop out among primary school pupils is negative peer pressure influence which make them not to concentrate on their academic pursuit which result to poor performance. Hence, they cannot cope with educational advancement they now decided to drop out of the school.

A study on drug use among adolescents was done by Farrell and White (1998). The sample consisted of student at six high schools in northern, California and in Wisconsin participant completed self-report questionnaires during thee consecutive years; 1987-88, 1988-89. A sample of adolescents that were predominately black was used. In this study, the subject showed a strong positive relationship between peer pressure and the frequency of drug use, in which the relationship was found to be stronger among girls than boys. Also the level of mother-adolescent distress has a strong moderating influence on the relationship between peer pressure and drug use.

As the strength of the relationship between mother and adolescents decreased, the adolescents’’ became more vulnerable to peers. Adolescents who rated their relationships more positively reported lower levels of drug use. Researchers fell this is true because when adolescent did not have a strong relationship with their mother, they would have to resort to peers as the main source of support. Otherwise, a strong metal relationship may lead the adolescent to support the values of their families more than those of their peers (Farrell & White, 1998). This study gives support to the notion that family structures and parents’ adolescents’ relations variables may buffer adolescents from peer drug influences. Relating the above study to the present study, mothers should relate very well with their adolescent so that they will not cleave to negative peer pressure.

Ikwuji (2005) carried out a study on influence of age, gender, and value orientation on adolescent students’ moral judgments in conflict situations. A comparative study design was adopted for the study. Sample for the study was (3650) adolescents. Students between the age of 12 and 19 were selected for the study from 18 schools. The instruments used for the study were Moral Dilemma Questionnaire (MDQ) and value. Method of data analysis, mean scores and standard deviations (SD were used to analyzed the research questions, while t-test was employed to test the hypothesis. The researcher found out that majority of the adolescents based their moral judgment in conflict situations on peer-approved values shows that the peer-group has enormous influence on how the adolescents think and act. The researcher also found that there was no gender difference between adolescent male and female in their moral judgments in conflict situations. This shows that in organizing a moral instruction class the teacher should make it a point of duty to see that both sexes mix freely so that they could share moral experiences in discussing conflicting moral problems.. Hence, parents, teachers and other significant adults should avoid behavior that can easily be imitated by adolescent students such as drunkenness, telling lies and smoking relate. Relating the study to the present study, in-school adolescent should be imitators of good behaviour.

Adolescence and Academic Performance

Okoye (1992) carried out study on the relationship between the socio- economic status of parent and academic performance of students in selected secondary school in Orlu Division of Imo state. Destructive source was used in carrying out the study. The data were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and t-test. Research questions three and five were answer using Pearson product moment correlation co-efficient. The level of statistical significance considered for accepting the hypothesis as tenable was 0.05. Structured questionnaire and oral interview was used in the study. A sample of twenty families was used. He came to the conclusion through his finding that two variables, socio-economic status of parents and students achievement were not related. He found out that there is no significant difference between the performance of students of high socio-economic status and other student from low socio-economic status. Adolescent from low class families, work hard with little facilities in the school and at home still perform well in school. The above research study is related to the present study, pointing out that academic performance depends on hard work and determination to make it.

Aryana (2010) carried out a research on the relationship between self-esteem and academic achievement in the pre-university students. It aimed at identifying whether there are differences in academic achievement of boys and girls. The objectives of this study were achieved by using the coppersmith questionnaire and the students’ grade in their current and previous semesters. The random sampling was used for collecting the data and as a consequence 50 male and 50 female were chosen randomly. The questionnaires were distributed amongst 100 students in Qaemshaho schools. The data were analyses using mean and standard deviation. There sult demonstrated that there was significant (p < 0.01) positive relationship between self esteem and academic achievement. Moreover, there was significant difference in academic achievement of boys and girls. However, no significant difference was found in self-esteem of males and females. The results suggest that high self-esteem is an important factor and it strengthens the prediction of academic achievement in students.

The study reviewed above investigated the relationship between self-esteem and academic achievement in the pre-university students, whereas the present study investigated the relationship among peer pressure, time management of academic performance of in-school adolescents.

Keith (2000) carried out a study on relationship between school libraries and academic performance. The study was carried out in Okigwe senatorial zone. Eight library schools were used and one hundred and twenty students were used as sample. Questionnaire was administered he found out that schools with well equipped library, perform higher than schools where libraries are not wellequipped he further said that libraries provide instructional materials to enrich the curriculum and give unlimited opportunities for students learning. The quality of school library services makes difference in academic achievement, (library research service, 2000). It promotes the growth of knowledge. Relating this study to the present study one can observe that any adolescent who utilized the library very well will do well in his/her academics.

Akabogu, (2001) investigated on the effect of location of school on secondary school student achievement in reading comprehension. The study specifically is to find out whether urban or rural school, effect performance of studies in secondary schools. (260) senior secondary school (SS1) students in Enugu education zone of Enugu state was used for the study. The data were analyzed using mean and standard deviation while analysis of co-variance (ANOVA) was used to test the null hypothesis at 0.05 Alpha level of significance. Akabogu found out that location of school has significance impact on achievement in reading comprehension. Relating the study to the present study, adolescents whose house is located in urban area because of good road will come early to school and settle down for effective learning to take place than the adolescents that come from rural area.