“Influence of Peer Pressure on Students’ Aggressive Behaviour “

A Quantitative Research
Presented to
Mr. Ryan C. Garcia

In Partial Fulfillment for the Subject

Submitted by:

Lovely Mika Azores

Althea Masbang

Christhian Earl Mocorro

Jairelle E. Navalta

Mary Relativo

2022

1
I. Background of the Study

Aggression can be classified as impulsive, (Onukwufor, 2012) or instrumental (Berk

1999), emotional and relational (Brehm, Kassin & Fein, 2005). Impulsive aggression is the

type intended to harm a person psychologically or physically. Instrumental aggression is a

proactive, carefully planned, purposeful harm against others. Emotional aggression is carried

out at the heat of the moment while relational aggression appears to be an indirect aggression

targeted at a person’s relationship and social status in order to stop friendship. The focus of

the present study is on physical and verbal aggression (harassing, molesting, stabbing,

shooting, fighting, bulling, pushing, threatening, calling names, intimidating words and

engaging in malicious teasing). The development of the above aggressive behaviours is most

pronounced during adolescence as a result of peer influence (Thornberry, & Krohn 1997).

Peer influence is easier to define than to operationalize. A representative definition is

as follows:“Influence occurs when an individual acts or thinks in ways that he or she might

not otherwise act or think, an effect that can be attributed to experiences with friends and

affiliates” (Laursen, 2018, p.447). Thus, peer influence is defined as instances where one

person affects, or is affected by, one other or multiple others who are similar in age.

Change is a common theme in definitions of influence: Individuals change in response

to friends and affiliates. The alterations wrought by peer influence can be for good or for ill.

Peer influence is a neutral term, agnostic to the type of change. In this sense, peer influence

stands apart from peer pressure and socialization, which describe (respectively) maladaptive

and adaptive change (Laursen, 2018).

According to the study of Gifford-Smith (2005) the rapid onset of a diverse array of

maladaptive behaviors during the early years of adolescence occurs at the same time as

important shifts in the social world, the most obvious being the increasing salience of peers.

The sudden adoption of troublesome and troubling behaviors is conventionally attributed to

2
peer influence. Some peers appear to often feel frustrated. Such frustration might account for

why they change their behaviour to match that of their friends. Behaviour like smoking,

fighting, sexual and drug abuse, stealing, hitting and biting, if not properly handled, have

negative influences on the tone of the school and can cause a breakdown of relationship with

other peers and the school society (Berger, 2012). When a student develops high level of

aggressive behaviour chances exist that the student might affiliate with aggressive peers.

Public concern over aggressive students’ behaviors has recently intensified in

Cabucgayan National School of Arts and Trades, especially in regard to safety inside schools.

Included among the National Education Goals is a strong commitment to providing children

with learning environments that are free of violence. Yet there are very limited data about the

causes of either aggression or school-related crime. However, this study focuses on peer

pressure as one of the likely causes of aggressive behaviour among students in Cabucgayan

National School of Arts and Trades.

The researchers are intrigued to see whether peer pressure affects one's aggressive

behavior, especially on the secondary school students.

II. Statement of the Problem

The purpose of this study is aimed to determine aggression among students and its

association with peer pressure. The under listed research questions were raised ;

1. What is the level of Aggressive Behavior of the Respondents in terms of the

following:

1.1 Physical Aggression

1.2 Verbal Aggression

1.3 Anger

3
1.4 Hostility

2. Is there a significant relationship between Peer Pressure and Aggression among

Students?

III. Hypothesis

There is no significant relationship between Peer Pressure and Students’ Aggressive

Behaviour.

IV. Significance of the Study

The findings from this study will be of immense benefits to the counselors, teacher,

the society, school and researchers.

To the counselor, it will help to create discipline. When this is done there will be

sanity, peace and order, which will enhance the moral tone of the school as well as the

society. It will also help the counselor to know the right technique to adopt in modifying

negative peer pressure.

To the teacher, the teacher will equally benefits from the finding of the study

because the finding will help them know what is expected of them as they are role model.

To the school, the findings of the study will directly lead to the raising of our

standard of education because experience has shown that disciplined students learn faster and

perform better academically than undisciplined students. Therefore, the findings of this study

will help the school produce students who can contribute meaningfully towards the

development of the nation in future.

To the society, the findings of the study will be made known to public by organizing

conferences, workshops and seminars to inform them of the positive and negative effect of

4
peer pressure and proper utilization of time. This will help sensitize in-school adolescent by

making them to be aware of the merits of good peer pressure and time management.

To the researchers, the results of the work will be of great help to future researchers.
This will be a source of research materials or empirical data for them.

V. Scope and Delimitation

The design adopted for the study was co-relational research design. This study

focuses on the Influence of Peer Pressure on the Aggressive Behaviour of the chosen students

(10) from Junior High and (10) from Senior High of Cabucgayan National School of Arts and

Trades school year 2022-2023 who were mostly involved in physical fights at school.

5
Theoretical Framework

This study is anchored on a classical experiment by Solomon Asch explains how a

group of individuals can influence somebody in making a decision. Suhttle Worth (2011)

noted that the Asch experient was designed to test how peer pressure would influence the

judgment and individuality of test subject to conform to the majority. It was found out that

people frequently followed the majority judgement, even when the majority was wrong. It

was further noted that people often accept to be influenced just for the desire to achieve a

sense of security within a group that is of similar age culture , religion or educational status.

Any unwillingness to be influenced carries with it the risk of social rejection and this is what

young people fear most (Suhttle Worth, 2011). Steinberg and Chung (2006) in their study

found out that there was a link between peer group and aggressive behaviours.

Social learning theory postulates that behavioral patterns can be learned by

witnessing the behavior of others ( Bandura, 1971). In line with the social learning theory of

aggression, individuals who are exposed to environments that are high in aggression tend to

imitate aggressive behavior more than those who are not (Bandura, 1978). Additionally,

youth who are pressured to react aggressively by their peers may comply with peer pressure

if acting in that way is consistent with their peer group.

6
Conceptual Framework

Research Title: Influence of Peer Pressure on Students’ Aggressive Behaviour

Peer Pressure Students’ Aggression

 Peer Teasing
 Physical Aggression
 Exclusion
 Verbal Aggression
 School and class norms
 Anger
 Modeling by friends
 Hostility