INFLUENCE OF PEER GROUP FACTORS ON SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN GOVERNMENT
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Peer groups are one of the most influential social factors influencing adolescent behavior, from everyday decisions about clothing, hairstyles, music, and entertainment to more important decisions about short and long-term educational goals. Factors such as students’ ethnicity, socioeconomic background, family ties, and group interests all have an impact on peer influence. Throughout the adolescent years, peers are valued even more than parents, guardians, and teachers, and peer-influenced actions can have long-term consequences. Parents value peer groups, as evidenced by their choices of neighborhoods, schools, and activities.
The importance of peer influences in education is widely acknowledged. Regardless of this assumption, no one can agree on how peers influence one another. Various hypotheses have been proposed to explain this, with some implying that peers’ average
Some argue that ability has a negative impact on academic performance while others argue that it increases success (Marsh, 2005). Peers may have an indirect impact on students as well. This is primarily due to how teachers react to different groups of students. If students are placed in courses based on their ability, teachers may be able to better adapt instructions to the needs of their students because the group will be more homogeneous, which will benefit all students. The main goal of this work, however, is to empirically prove the presence and direction of peer effects, rather than to distinguish the channels through which they act.
Recognizing the significance of peer influence, both families and policymakers have prioritized peer quality in their efforts. Making educational decisions. For example, parents are more likely to seek out better companions for their children through residential options and other school selection options. Many contentious educational programs, such as vouchers, school desegregation, and ability monitoring, seek to improve student performance by reshaping peer groups. Identifying peer influences, however, is a difficult task. The most serious issue is that families and children frequently choose schools and peer groups with similar characteristics. As a result, peer characteristics may simply be a proxy for other unobservable individual factors influencing outcomes, such as student motivation to work and parental ambition and resources. As a result of this endogenous decision, a selection bias problem arises. This leads to the well-known simultaneity bias problem.
as in the Manski reflection issue (1993).
Although much research supports positive peer influence in the learning community, few studies have been conducted to show a negative peer effect on academic achievement (krik. A. Johnson, 2000). Communities are seen to absorb individuals’ sense of responsibility, which is thought to contribute to successful learning (J. Scott Armstrong, 2012). According to social psychology, such a distribution of responsibility among community members leads to social loafing, which occurs when individuals put in less effort to achieve a common goal than they would if they were working alone (Karau. Steven J & Williams Kipling D, 1993, and Gilovich, T; Keltner, D & Nisbett R. E, 2006). Such disconnection and irresponsibility has a significant impact on
students’ performance and ongoing evaluation. Negative peer pressure has been linked to lower levels of academic attainment in the United States nearly as much as a Hispanic or African-American minority group (krik. A Johnson, 2000). Being around unpleasant people on a regular basis (for example, a bad roommate) can also have a negative impact on academic performance. According to a study on peer influences and alcohol use among college students, males who were assigned a roommate who drank alcohol prior to college had a lower GPA on average.
This ambiguity in attribution about whether peers have a positive or negative influence has been resolved in the Karau and Williams Collective Effort Model (1993, 2001). According to the paradigm, highly motivated people provide social facilitation (i.e., increasing one’s effort in social situations).
socializing with others), but less motivated people are more likely to engage in social loafing (Forsyth, D. R, 2010). Furthermore, Karau and Williams discovered that motivation is related to the difficulty and value of the activity (Forsyth, D. R, 2010); the more difficult and valuable a work is, the more motivated people are. Peer group variables such as students’ ethnicity, socioeconomic background, family relationships, and group interests are widely believed to have a significant impact on students’ academic performance, and this was the focus of this study, which was conducted on secondary school students in the Onicha Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, Nigeria.
1.2 THE PROBLEM’S STATEMENT
For many years, some academics have been curious about the relationship between peer
In school, social interactions and academic achievement are linked. Several studies have found that a child’s peer group influences his or her social and academic development, and that these influences begin before formal schooling. Children’s behavior, including study habits and personal academic growth, is influenced and motivated not only by their peers, but also by their parents, teachers, and anyone with whom they have close contact. Because of the amount of time a child spends with his or her friends each day, peer influence on a teenager can be quite significant.
Peer influences also become more prominent over time, peaking around puberty. As a result, in order to grow, children must foster healthy peer groups from an early age.
into well-adjusted teenagers and, possibly, adults. Having classmates allows a child to develop a wide range of skills, such as group interaction, conflict resolution, and trust building, to name a few. Major social disorders develop when there are no good peer group connections. Peer rejection in childhood and adolescence, for example, is a strong predictor of later social and academic difficulties. As a result, the goal of this research was to investigate the effects of peer group factors on academic achievement in Government among secondary school students in Ebonyi State, Nigeria.
1.3 QUESTIONS FOR RESEARCH
The following are some of the questions that this research will attempt to answer:
I How common are peer group factors and academic achievement in government?
Students in the Onicha Local Government Area’s secondary schools?
ii) What are the effects of peer group characteristics on secondary school students’ academic performance in government subjects in the Onicha Local Government Area?
iii) How are parents of secondary school children in the Onicha Local Government Area working to improve academic achievement in government?
1.4 THE STUDY’S OBJECTIVES
The primary goal of this study was to investigate the effects of peer group factors on academic achievement in Government among secondary school students in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. The specific goals were as follows:
I want to know how common peer group factors and academic achievement in government are among secondary school students in the Onicha Local Government Area.
ii) to observe how
Academic achievement in the Government subject is influenced by peer group variables among secondary school students in the Onicha Local Government Area.
iii) investigate the steps taken by parents of secondary school students in the Onicha Local Government Area to ensure higher academic achievement in government.
1.5 THE STUDY’S IMPORTANCE
This research could help the government of Ebonyi State, Nigeria, develop and implement policies that improve student performance in relation to peer influence. The study’s findings could also help schools eliminate negative peer pressure on Government achievement. It would also benefit researchers because it would help to develop new literature in the areas of peer group factors and academic performance in Government among secondary school students in the United States.
Local Government Area of Onicha.
1.6 STUDY OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this study was to look into the relationship between peer group variables and academic performance in government among secondary school students in the Onicha Local Government Area. The study will be limited to students from the Onicha Local Government Area.
1.7 THE STUDY’S LIMITATIONS
Despite having insufficient time, the researcher closely followed the time frame. Respondents were also hesitant to provide information because they assumed it would be used for commercial purposes, but they were assured of confidentiality. Finally, getting some respondents to respond to the questions was difficult, but the researcher was patient and made several trips to collect the questionnaire.
1.8 TERM DEFINITION
The terms listed below were used during the course of
this research:
Academic Performance: Grades obtained in one end-of-year exam.
Government is a social science subject that studies human buying and selling behavior.
A peer group is a group of students who are in the same class as you.
1.9 Research Organizations
The first chapter of the study contains the study background, the statement of the research problem, the study objective, and the scope of the study.
The second chapter is a critical review of other literatures relevant to the study and its objectives, as well as the study’s theoretical framework. The third chapter discusses the methods of data collection, sampling, and data analysis used in the study. The fourth chapter focuses on the research findings, including an examination of how it relates to previous findings. The fifth chapter includes a summary of findings, a conclusion, and recommendations based on the research objectives.
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