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PEER GROUP INFLUENCE: EFFECTS ON THE ACADEMIC

PERFORMANCE OF BEED 1st YEAR STUDENTS

A Thesis Proposal
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
BACHELOR OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
Northern Samar Colleges
Catarman Northern Samar

2023
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Chapter 1
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Peer group is a group of people of same age or social

status. The peer group is the first social group outside the

home in which the child attempts to gain acceptance and

recognition. Peer group is an important influence throughout

one’s life but they are more critical during the developmental

years of childhood and teenage life.

Socialization in our society is being a life

time process it cannot be limited to the family members alone.

As a teenager grows older and more matured$ it become more

necessary for the child to be involved in higher life. The

family is not expected to provide all the education required

by the growing child. The school which is an established

academic institution in which the behavior of an individual is

sharpened to get him/her equipped for socialization. In the

school system the child gets into the social group of

interest.

As a result of the various attitudes skills knowledge

is acquired through role play. Peer group as an agent of

socialization is the most important socializing is the most

important socializing agent for the developing child. Peer

group is important in social change. The child’s life

is transformed from the helpless child into a mature adult.

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Important thing is that each child takes his/her membership of

the peer very serious and attempts to do anything to ensure

he/ she is accepted and recognized. act of acceptance by the

peer disturbs the child especially at the teenage age. some

children have been known to do badly in school not because

they lack the academic ability to do it well but because they

are disturbed by the fact they are being influenced by their

peer group.

 What makes learning comparative is the fact that the

child has equal status with the other children. There is an

atmosphere of freedom in which each child learns the way of

the world from others. The peer group thus becomes more and

more important to the child as he advances in age. Other ways

in which the peer group can help the child include, teaching

the culture of the society at large, making possible social

mobility, providing opportunity for the child to play many

social roles such as that of a leader, a follower, teacher or

student. The peer group also helps to win his/her independence

easily from domination and set before him a goal which is more

easily attainable than the expectation of adults. This in

itself provides motivation for learning and is mainly

responsible for the fact that all children at one stage or the

other regard their membership of peer group as very important.

        When the family is not supportive for instance, if the

parents work extra jobs and are largely unavailable, their

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children may turn to their peer for emotional support. This

also occur when the conflict between parents and children

during adolescence or at any stage during a child’s

development becomes so great that the child feels pushed away

and seeks company elsewhere. Most children and adolescents in

this position do not discriminate about the kind of group they

join.

Peer group has in one way or the other influenced the

life of children both academically, socially, morally,

psychologically and otherwise. Socialization such as family,

religion, mass media, and school among others help in

modifying the behavior of the child. In conclusion, therefore

the influence of peer group on the academic performance of

secondary school students cannot be over emphasized. The peer

group forms the main basis through which the child learns lot

of empirical facts about his physical and social environment,

acquisition of skills and value as well as attitude for a

better future.  

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

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This study aims to determine the Peer Group influence its

effect in the academic performance of BEED 1st year students.

Specifically, this study aims to answer the following

questions.

1. What could be the effect of Peer group influence to the

academic performance of the respondents?

2. To what extent do peers affect the respondents in terms of

a. Academic related activities

b. Non- academic activities

3. What could be the possible solution to solve the problem?

4. Is there any significant relationship between the profile

of the respondents and Peer group influence its effect on the

academic performance of the respondents?

5. Is there any significant relationship between the Peer

group influence and its effect on the academic performance of

the students?

Objectives of the Study

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The researchers ought to determine the Peer Group

influence and its effect in the academic performance of BEED

1st year students.

To attain this goal, the following objectives were considered:

1. Know the profile of the respondents in terms of:

a. Gender,

b. Age, and

c. Number of friends

d. Academic average

2. Determine the effect of Peer influence to the academic

performance of the respondents

3. Determine the peer group influence affect the respondents

in terms of

a. Academic related activities

b. Non- academic activities

4. Determine the significant relationship between the profile

of the respondents and Peer group influence its effect on the

academic performance of the respondents.

5. Determine the significant relationship between the Peer

group influence and its effect on the academic performance of

the students.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 

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Parents: this study would benefit the parents to assess their

children about knowing peer influence.

Teachers: this study would benefit the teachers by being able

to provide a wider knowledge of peer influence and knowledge

of the students.

Students: this study would benefit the students as well

because they are the main target of our study to measure how

peer influence affect there academic performance.

School: this research study would benefit the school to know

how many students has the population of peer groups.

Future researchers: this study would benefit the future

researchers to guide them in continuing their study and also

to gain information about this study,

Scope and Limitation of the study

This study is focus on the Peer influence it effect on the

academic performance of BEED 1st and 2nd year students.

The respondents of this study are the Bachelor of Elementary

Education (BEED) 1st and 2nd year students in Northern Samar

Colleges Year 2022-2023.

Theoretical Framework
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This study is anchored on the Theory of Adolescent Risk

Taking behaviors  by "Mascardo, Mauricio (2013)" which states

that The Effects of Peer Pressure to the  teenagers give in to

peer pressure because they want to be liked, to fit in, or

because they worry that other teens may make fun of them if

they do not go along with the group others may go along

because they are curious to try something new that others are

doing. In this way, teens are influenced in either good or bad

effects.

This study is anchored on the Theory of  Psychosocial

Development by Erik Erikson’s this identifies a series of

eight stages of life, from infancy to late adulthood. Each

stage a person will experiences psychosocial crisis wherein

these experiences results to negative or positive outcome for

a person’s personality development. The study will focus on

the 5th  stage of the theory which is the Identity Vs. Role

Confusion, this is where a person sense of self and personal

identity. A person at this stage is at Adolescence period

wherein the person is having its own personal sense of

beliefs, values, and goals. During this point of life, a

person finds his identity thru his environment; a person

develops with the contribution of the people that surrounds

him family, friends, relatives, interest groups, reference

gro1ups etc.

1
Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1078777.pdf on
November 2017
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This study is anchored on the Theory of Social Learning

by Alegre (2017) stated in her research "The Impact of peer

pressure  in Academic Performance". According to him, peer

groups influence social and academic developments, and that

these influences begin at the very start of formal education

influences and motivations for all kinds of adolescents

behavior, including study habits and personal academic

development, come mostly from their peers to whom they come

into close contact.

The above mentioned theories led the researchers to

investigate the relationship between of Peer influence and

effects on the academic performance to determine how the

former affects the latter through an investigation by the use

of survey questionnaires.

Conceptual Framework

The conceptualization of this study has a connection to the

profile of the respondents in terms of gender, age, number of

MarangeleysFerrer, Retrieved from https://books.google.com.ph/books

on November, 4 2017
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friends, academic average, peer influence and effects on

the academic performance of the BEED 1st year students.

This concept is clearly shown in the schematic diagram

Paradigm
Independent Variable Dependent Variable

Peer Group
Profile of the
respondents in Influence
terms of:
a. Gender

b. Age

c. Number of

friends
Effects on
d. Academic
Academic
average
Performance

Figure1. Illustration of the relationship between the profile

of the respondents, Peer group influence, and its effects on

academic performance.

Hypothesis

This study assumes that Peer Group Influence has its

effects on the academic performance of the students and that

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there is significant relationship between the two. Peer Group

Influence and its effects on the academic performance tend to

be committed by students for several possible reasons which

will be determined at the end of this study.

Definition of Terms

Peer Group:  a group of individuals or companies that share

similar characteristics with one another.

Peer Group Influence: when you choose to do something you

wouldn't otherwise do, because you want to feel accepted and
valued by your friend
Adolescent: a period when a young person develops from a child

into an adult

Socialization: the process of interaction in the society

and involvement that acquire the values has its and attitudes

of a society.

Social Influence: is the effect of others on a individual or a

group attitudes and behavior.

Chapter 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURES

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Peer Group

Academic activities are directed towards ensuring that

students gain mastery of educational objectives. In schools,

the extent to which these objectives have been met is

determined greatly by the interaction of peer groups

which could possibly reflect in student’s academic

performance. Peer group play a large role in the social,

emotional and academic development of students.

Allenin Steinberg (2005) maintains that peer group

influence begins at an early age and increases through the

teenage years. Thus, understanding the prospects and

challenges of peer group is crucial for the productivity of

educational processes and the organizational design of

school systems in order to improve student’s academic

performance.(African Educational Research Journal Vol.7(2),

pp. 81-87, June 2019.

)H a m m et al. in Lavy and Schlosser (2007),

argued that, “for many students, friendships are

critical interpersonal vehicle that move them towards

psychological growth and maturity, allowing social

compassion which influences the development of self-

evaluation”. The above statement suggests strongly, the

unprecedented effect of peer group in almost all facet

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retrieved from www.univ.setifz.dz on February 27,2016
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of adolescent’s growth. Such effect could be seen in social

and emotional lives of young people, which does not end at

the above mentioned, but could also manifest in

their attitude towards educational activities

and careful consideration of these elements has

shown that they reflect in the academic

performance of students.

However, Castro giovanni (2002) defined peer group as

a small group of similarage, fairly close friends, sharing

the same activities. In its most acceptable form, peer

group is a healthy coming-of age intermediary, by which

youth grasp negotiating skills and learn to deal with

challenges and to solve problems in a social context. Peer

group can also act as positive role model, for

example, if one is involved with a group of people

that are ambitious and working hard to attain high

academic goals, one might feel pressured to follow suit to

avoid feeling excluded from the group.

According to Olalekan (2016), it is generally observed

that peer group has a lot of influence on students. This is

seen from the role played by the peer group in the life and

learning of a child, evidence abound that students feel

more comfortable and relaxed among fellow students. A child

who is brilliant and surrounded by dull friends would lose

interest in learning. On the other hand, a peer group which is

prone to study would have positive effect on a dull

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member 3 er towards learning and stimulate his/her

interest on learning. Katz in Olalekan (2016) wrote that

the nature of a peer group determines the impact on the

motivation of and achievements of its member. He further

suggests that o n e g r o u p m a y h a v e a n e g a t i v e i m p a c t o n

i t s m e m b e r s w h i l e t h e o t h e r m a y h a v e positive impact on

its members as well.

Academic Performance

Academic performance refers to excellence in all

academic discipline. Most literature often refers the

shared institutional settings as ‘common shocks’. For

instance, all students in the same classroom doing well

academically may reflect nothing but the high quality of the

teacher. A shared characteristic is the other part of

correlated effects which arises when individuals tend to self-

select into a group with members sharing similar behavior. For

example, families that are very supportive of children’s

education are more likely to sort themselves across schools in

order to seek for better peers. Accordingly, research work on

peer influence usually models the behavior (outcomes) of an

individual (Manski, 2000). Another study was conducted by Lavy

and Schlosser (2007) who examined classroom level peer

influence, and find that a greater percentage of female

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https://oarep.usim.edu.my/jspui/bitstream/123456789/17960/4/3201262%
20Chapter%202.pdf
https://www.coursehero.com/file/89948444/Chapter-2docx/
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classmates improve both boys and girls academic performance.

The study predetermined peer characteristics, such as peer

race and gender. Peer influence may be present in the Filade

et al. 83 workplace, at school or within the society; it can

affect people of all ages. It may affect people in different

ways but here, the focus is on the activities of peer group as

it influences academic performance of undergraduate students.

Peer group may have a positive influence and help to challenge

or motivate one to do best. Peer group influence may also

result in one doing things that may not fit with ones sense of

what is right or wrong. In other words, when peer group makes

one do things that people frown at, it is a negative peer

influence. Operationally peer group influence is a force exert

by people that is pressured by ideas, values and behavior

either positively or negatively and always associated with

adolescents. Studies have shown that students who do not

manage their activities with peer group make lower grades than

less socially accepted adolescent (Hartney, in Manski, 1993).

The researcher deem it necessary to look at an area that

scholars do no often consider in their study of peer group

influence, and that is parents influence on pupils peer group

relationship.

Chapter III

METHODOLOGY
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Locale of the Study

This study will be conducted in the Northern Samar

Colleges. It is a private, non- sectarian school in the

municipality of Catarman and formerly known as Northern Samar

Academy. It was established in 1949 to meet the educational

demands of the town.

The School offers courses such as Bachelor in Elementary

Education (BEED), Bachelor of Secondary Education (BSED),

Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (BSIT), Bachelor

of Science in Hospitality Management (BSHM) and Bachelor of

Science in Office Administration (BSOA)

Research Design

This research investigation was a quantitative study design.
It aims to investigate if peer group influence affects the
academic performance of the BEED 1st and 2nd year students.

This research study is a correlational research on this

research design we are going to measure two variables
understand and asses the statistical relationship between them
with no influence from any variable.

The principle of applying this method is

todetermine if there is a strong relationship of peer influenc
e to the academic performance of the BEED 1st and 2nd year
students.

Research Variables and Measurement

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The independent variables of this study are the profile

of the respondents in terms of gender, age, number of friends,

and academic average. On the other hand, the dependent

variables of this study were the Peer Group influence and its

effect on academic performance.

Population and Sampling

Complete enumeration of the respondents will use in this

study which means that all 156 BEED 1 st year and 2nd year

students, total number of population of Northern Samar

Colleges are involve in this study and no sampling was

employed.

The Respondents

The respondents of this study were the 156 BEED 1 st and 2nd

year students are officially enrolled in Northern Samar

Colleges School year 2022-2023.

Research Instrument

The &questionnaires is composed of Three (3) parts the first

part includes the students information summary which is the

profile of each respondents. The second part contains the

Likert scale checklist with 5 point scale where the

respondents will put their check marks based on their response

on their academic and non academic activities.

The self assessment questionnaire for Peer Group

Influence and its effect on the academic performance

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which determined the level of peer influence on their

academic and non academic related activities has the following

scale for the respondents.

Data Gathering Procedure

The needed data in this study will be gathered as

follows: The researchers will send a letter to the thesis

instructor and to the chairman of the College of Education in

Northern Samar Colleges to ask permission for the conduct of

the study to all of the 156 first year and second year

Bachelor of Elementary Education (BEED) students who are

enrolled in the academic year 2022-2023. Upon the approval,

the researchers will check the subject schedule of the

respondents to see vacant hours where the actual distribution

of questionnaires will be done. This will be personally done

by the researchers to ensure the reliability of data. The

researchers will explain how the questionnaires will be

answered and will give assurance that responses will be

treated with utmost confidentiality to ensure that respondents

will answer as honest as they can which is crucial in arriving

to an accurate result. After the questionnaires have been

answered by the them, it will be retrieved by the researchers

and will be tallied, analyzed, outliers will be identified and

removed as this can distort the study, and appropriate

statistical tools will be used to interpret the responses. The

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summary, conclusions, and implications can be drawn based on

the results and findings of the based.

Scoring and Interpretation

In terms of Peer group influence gathering the highest

and lowest frequency will be the used as basis for

interpretations and conclusions.

The following interpretations will be used to interpret

the data the Peer group influence its effects on the academic

performance of the respondents.

Table 1
Scoring and interpretations on the Peer group Influence

Scale Adjectival Rating Interpretation

4.20-5.00 Strongly Agree Very High

3.40-4.19 Agree High

2.60-3.39 Neutral Average

1.80-2.59 Disagree Poor

1.00-1.79 Strongly Disagree Very Poor

Statistical Treatment
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The following statistical tools will be employed in this

study:

Frequency counts and Percentages.This will be used to

interpret the data on the profile of the respondents in terms

of Gender, Age, Number of friends and Academic average

Response Rate. This will be used to determine the number of

responses relative to the total population. This will ensure

that the data that will be used for analysis is statistically

sufficient. Its formula is as follows:

number of completed survey responses

Response Rate = x 100
Total number of survey respondents

To determine the level of Peer influence on the Academic and

fon Academic Performance of the BEED 1st and 2nd year students

Average weighted mean will be used with the following formula.

Weighted Mean. This will be used to interpret the data on

the Peer group Influence its effect on academic performance.

This will determine which specific factor affects each

variable. The formula is as follows:

∑ FX
x=
N

Where:
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x – weighted mean

F – Frequency

X – Weight of each item

N – Number of cases