Professional Documents
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Chapter I - Introduction
Chapter I - Introduction
Chapter I – Introduction
Introduction
human need to obtain a connection to a group in society. This is the reason individuals
particularly teenagers have their own peer group. Peer groups are a type of social group
that is made up of people who share similar interests, social status, and are usually in
the same age group. Peers, specifically peer groups are essential for social
development such as learning how to coexist with others and learning how to receive
help and support. They are also considered important for cognitive, affective, and
behavioral development, and have been described as crucial for identity development
is normally the phase where individuals make significant decisions about their
commitment to important aspects in their lives such as family, religion and most
importantly academics. The members of one’s peer group are likely to influence a
person’s beliefs and behavior. They can be a source of motivation or a lack thereof
(Ryan, 2002). Hence, the researchers decided to study the influences of peer groups on
the academic performance of the grade 10 students in Saint Theresa’s College of Cebu.
This is important since various studies express that a peer group can impact a student’s
academic performance significantly. The results derived from the study can benefit not
only the respondents but also other students about the link between their peers and their
Economics in Higher Education, stronger students do have an impact on their peers and
actually help improve the overall academic performance of the peer group. A large study
done by CREDE (Center for Research in Education, Diversity, and Excellence) in Hawaii
recommended that peer groups can "exert extraordinary influence" during early
graders by the National Bureau of Economic Research in the USA demonstrated that
they were "highly responsive" to what their peers were doing and this affected their
decision making.
Peers can bring both positive and negative impacts on each other’s performance
in school. It varies in how much and how the students receive the climate of the peers
coming from the group ( Mosha, 2017). Positive influences of peer groups include having
higher graders (Stock, 2019) , higher school attendance, being more involved in school
activities, having specific skills honed, enhancing study skills, and the like (Guido,2017).
However, some of the negative influences of peers to a student include dropping grades
(O’Connor, 1997), lower school attendance (Sangle, 2015), habitual procrastination, low
aspiration to go to college and many more. Apparently, experts do agree that peer
groups can have an influence on academic performance but they don't agree on the
extent of that influence. This is because there are several variables that can potentially
affect academic success such as parental involvement, positive role models and the
researchers would like to focus on the information on the students’ peer groups,
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academic activities observed by their peer groups and the positive and negative
influences of peers on their academic performance. Thus, this study focuses on the peer
3.) In what way does the peer group positively influence the student's academic
performance?
4.) In what way does the peer group negatively influence the student's academic
performance?
. The researchers intend to conduct the study in Saint Theresa’s College of Cebu
for the focus of the study was mainly on the 134 grade 10 students. The study aimed to
determine the influences a peer group can give to a student’s academic performance,
but not concerned about its influence on an individuals’ attitude or perception on other
matters. Since the research focused primarily on grade 10 students, the results cannot
be used as a reference on any other grade level of that school year. The researchers
have also encountered two other limits concerning their study. The first would be those
who do not belong to a peer group. The second one would be the absence of
The purpose of this study is to determine the influence of peer groups on the
The respondents of the study are the 134 grade 10 students of the aforementioned
school. Since the study aimed to cover every member of the population, everyone was
included in the research and no sampling method was applied. The researchers,
The research was conducted through making and handing out multiple-choice
questionnaires with the respondents being asked to shade the box of their answers for
each question. Written instructions within each questionnaire assured the respondents of
peer groups of the students, academic practices being done with their peer groups and
the positive and negative influences of their peer groups to their academic achievement
The research was done from August to October. Starting from the third week of
August, the researchers brainstormed about the topic and made the research draft. The
giving of questionnaires to the respondents was done in September. The making of the
final output followed and it ended in the first week of October. There were no special
procedures followed such as instructions that will be read to the participants when
answering the survey. It was simply given to them. However, the basic procedures in
conducting research were observed by the researchers which were identifying a topic,
reviewing related studies about the topic, making a research question, preparing the
time frame or research design, gathering and collecting of data, analyzing and
Graph 1
Outside the
10% 1% 3% 1% 3% 1%
campus(neighbors)
10%
Classmates
Batch mates
School mates
School organizations
71%
Sports teams
None
Others
Graph 1 shows the kinds of peer groups that the Grade 10 students belong to.
Out of 134 students, 70.9% of the population or 95 students belong to a peer group
composed of students within their batch, 10% or 14 students belong to a peer group
which consists of school mates, 9.7% or 13 students belong to a peer group which
belong to other peer groups not included in the choices such as peers who are outside
the city, church mates , varied and part of a youth organization , 1.4% or 2 students
belong to a peer group outside the campus specifically their neighbors, while 1% or 1
This means that the majority of the 134 students belong to a peer group composed of
Graph 2
Graph 2 shows the academic practices or activities that the Grade 10 students
engage in with their peers. It shows that out of the 134 Grade 10 students, 41% of the
population or 55 students assist each other in their homework and other assignments,
20% or 26 students compare and share notes with their peers, 16% or 21 students
engage in study groups, 12% or 16 students review for any exams, 5% or 7 students
don’t engage in any academic practices with their peers while 4% or 6 students engage
in other academic practices such as doing all of the mentioned activities with their peer
group, and 2% or 3 students show and critique each other’s performances for
presentations. Thus, most of the grade 10 students help their peers in making
homework.
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Graph 3
6% 1% 3% Eliminates procrastination
24% 30%
15% 12%
9% Develops specific skills(critical
thinking,communication,leadership,etc)
None
Others
Graph 3 shows the positive influences that the Grade 10 students have reported
to experience after engaging in various academic activities with their peers. Out of the
total population, 30% or 40 students said that they have gotten higher grades, 24% or 32
have higher school attendance, and 1% or 1 student gained other positive influences
that were not offered to them in the questionnaire which was being motivated in making
homework. Therefore, most of the respondents got higher grades after engaging in
Graph 4
Dropping of grades
7%
1%
Habitual procrastination
1%
59%
Low aspiration to go to
college
30%
Being inactive in school
activities
Others
Graph 4 shows the negative influences the Grade 10 students have reported to
experience after engaging with their peers. Out of the total respondents, 59% or 79
aspirations to go to college, also another 1% noticed a drop in his/her grades, and the
last 1% reported of having a much lower attendance in school .There were no other
negative influences not part of the choices that the respondents mentioned having
experienced after engaging with their peers. Thus, most of them have experienced no
In conclusion, the majority of the 134 grade 10 students belong to a peer group
composed of students within their batch. It was also demonstrated that most of their peer
groups help each other in doing homework. The positive influence that students have
reported to experience after engaging in various academic activities with their peers is
getting higher grades. On the other hand, most of them have reported experiencing no
negative influence after engaging with their peers. However, the negative influence that
most of them have experienced because of their peers is habitual procrastination. Based
on these results, we can generate that peer groups have positive and negative
Discussions
The results gathered indicate that most of the grade 10 students belong to a peer
group composed of students within their batch. It is then followed by peer groups which
consist of school mates and classmates. This holds to the definition of a peer group
wherein it is a group of people of approximately the same age, status, and interests.
Students usually build up friendships with their peers from school throughout the years
which results in the group hanging out in and out of school. With this data, the
researchers can be able to tell how peer groups affect the academic performances of the
grade 10 students. According to a large study done by CREDE (the Center for Research
in Education, Diversity, and Excellence), it was suggested that peer groups can "exert
making homework. This result fits the theory that peers, specifically peer groups are
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essential for social development like in coping with demands, especially in school. In this
case, most peer groups assist each other in doing homework since it is assigned by the
teachers most of the time than examinations or presentations. These kinds of academic
practices have a huge impact on the academic performance of the students. There was
a study on grade 11 students by the National Bureau of Economic Research in the USA
and it showed that the students were "highly responsive" to what their peers in their
class were doing, which affected their decision-making. This shows that other peer
groups may have done these kinds of practices that influence other peer groups to do
the same.
From the third graph, we can conclude that most of the students have peer
groups with positive influences since most of them got higher grades after engaging in
academic practices with them. The results support the claim of Stock (2019) that if you
surround yourselves with positive influences, you can see a change in your academic
performance especially the improvement of your grades. After getting higher grades,
most of them had developed specific skills. This may support the theory of the benefits
of engaging in study groups. Other than having an increase in grades and the enhancing
of specific skills, Stock also cited that peer groups with positive influence can encourage
have experienced negative influences brought about by their peers, the majority of the
population stated to not gain any negative influence. This finding supports the theory of
experts agreeing that peer groups can influence academic performance but disapproving
of the extent of that influence. Technically, this is because several factors can potentially
affect academic achievements such as parental involvement, positive role models and
that peer influence among teenagers does not directly affect them in a negative way but
it varies in how much and how the students receive the climate of the peers coming from
the group (Mosha, 2017). Therefore, the researchers again can conclude that most of
Overall, the analyses confirm that peer groups can impact a student’s academic
peers since they are in control of the people that they choose to engage with.
Fortunately, most of the grade 10 students have chosen a positive circle of influence for
Recommendations
Based on the findings from the study and analysis of data that was gathered from
the questionnaires, the researchers would like to make the following recommendations:
2. Guidance counselors should play a prominent role in the matter of peer group
influence by organizing lectures, seminars, career talk and symposiums that can
ones.
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3. Teachers and government agencies should have active participation and should
programs that could educate about peer groups’ influences so it could help them
4. Students must also be careful when choosing peer groups to be part of most
performance.
Associated with the limitations of the study, the researchers would like to suggest the
1. The study should be further extended beyond one batch of students. If this could
be done, it would make more reports on peer group relationships and its
2. The study should compare the academic performances between students who
are within a peer group and those who are not to see the differences of those
who belong to a peer group and those who do not belong to one.
3. The study should identify as many positive and negative influences as possible
that peer groups can incorporate into one’s academic performance in school.
This way, it can help identify or keep track of students’ performance in school.
References
1. Abdullahi, I. (n.d.). The factors and effect of peer group influence on academic
performance of adolescent students in Niger state. Retrieved from
https://www.academia.edu/11666401/THE_FACTORS_AND_EFFECT_OF_PEER_
GROUP_INFLUENCE_ON_ACADEMIC_PERFORMANCE_OF_ADOLESCENT_ST
UDENTS_IN_NIGER_STATE
2. Briggs, S. (2013, June 7). How peer teaching improves student learning and 10 ways
to encourage it. Retrieved from
https://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/peer-teaching/
4. Bursztyn, L., & Bursztyn, R. (2014, November). How does peer pressure affect
educational investments? Retrieved from https://www.nber.org/papers/w20714
5. Cascio, C. (2019). What are some advantages and disadvantages of peer tutoring?
Retrieved from https://education.seattlepi.com/advantages-disadvantages-peer-
tutoring-3515.html
7. Guido, M. (2017, April 18). 15 easy peer teaching strategies to help students.
Retrieved from https://www.prodigygame.com/blog/advantages-disadvantages-peer-
teaching-strategies/
8. Justin, A. (2018, May 2). Peer group: definition and concept. Retrieved from
https://study.com/academy/lesson/peer-group-definition-lesson-quiz.html
12. Uzezi, J. G., & Deya, G. D. (2017). Relationship between peer group influence and
students’ academic achievement in chemistry at secondary school level. Retrieved
from http://pubs.sciepub.com/education/5/4/2/index.html
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Appendix
Copy of the questionnaire:
The Peer Group Influences on Academic Performance among the Grade 10 Students
Greetings! We, the research group 6 of 10-D would like you to answer a series of
questions to examine peer groups and their influence on your academic performance. The
questionnaire will ask on questions such as information on your peer group, academic activities
concerning your peer group, and the positive and negative influences of your peers to your
academic performance. We assure you that your data will be kept with the utmost confidentiality.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Instruction: Please shade the box of your answer. You can only shade one item per number.
None
Others (pls. specify)________________________