Peer Pressure and Academic Performance :: Peer Pressure Essays

Quantitative Research Question 1. What effect does peer support have on academic performance? 2. Does peer pressure affect the academic performances of adolescents in School? Hypothesis 1. â€Å"Peer pressure significantly influences academic performance†. 2. â€Å"Students who experience peer support have better academic performances, than those who do not have peer support†. 3. â€Å"Peer support influences academic performances†. 4. â€Å"Academic performance is associated to peer pressure and peer support†. Qualitative Research Question 1. How does peer pressure and peer support associate to academic performances? 2. How does peer support affect academic performances? Cho, Y., & Chung, O. (2012). The researchers investigated the relationship between conformative peer bullying and discovered that peer pressure and its resistance is linked to antisocial conformity. Conformative peer bullying is defined as â€Å"behaviours that supports and reinforces bullying and does not include initiating proactive actions†, (Cho, 2012. p. 521). Peer Pressure â€Å"influences a person to change his/her attitudes, values, behaviours, and relationship in order to conform to the norms of the peer group†, (Cho, 2012. p.521). Peer Conformity is â€Å"the inclination to adopt behavioral patterns that are considered as acceptable to the peer group†, (Cho, 2012. p.521). The researchers used the â€Å"four-point Likert scale† which rated from â€Å"1 = never; 4 = a lot† and the Participant Role Scale (PRS) to measure the variable â€Å"conformity’ and â€Å"peer pressure†, (Cho, 2012. p. 523 - 524 ). The participants consisted of 391 second year students from 21 different classrooms in Seoul, South Korea, out of which 285 were boys and 106 were girls, aged between 13-14yrs old. Between 14 to 18th July, 2008, the researchers obtained informed consent from the teachers and students. After peer assessment was acquired, the researchers distributed the â€Å"four-point Likert scale† survey questionnaires to 673 students in 21 classrooms of three middle schools. Students were given about 20 to 25 minutes to respond to the questionnaires. At the end of the analysis it was discovered that there was a positive correlation between peer pressure, peer conformity and confirmative peer bullying. The effect of bullying is greatly influenced by the bully’s personal characteristics. It also indicated that without a groups influence an individual might not resort to bullying or simply peer pressure drives people to act differently to please others to show their support or capabilities to be in the group. In conclusion, antisocial peer conformity is one of the causes that influences peer conformity bullying. It also showed that those who cannot resist are influenced more than those who can resist bullying.