Acknowledgement---------------------------------------------------------------------Page 1
Introduction-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Page 2
Statement of Problem-----------------------------------------------------------------Page 2
Reason for choosing topic------------------------------------------------------------Page 4
Method of Investigation--------------------------------------------------------------Page 5
Method of Data Collection-----------------------------------------------------------Page 6
Procedure of Data Collection--------------------------------------------------------Page 7
Presentation of Data-------------------------------------------------------------------Page 8-10
Analysis and Interpretation-----------------------------------------------------------Page 11-12
Findings --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Page 13
Recommendations---------------------------------------------------------------------Page 14
Implementations-----------------------------------------------------------------------Page 15
Bibliography---------------------------------------------------------------------------Page 17

I would like to express appreciation to my father for his assistance in the completion of this
School Based Assessment (S.B.A). I also pleased to express appreciation to my teacher Ms. Barrett for her assistance, patience, cooperation and lending support when necessary. I will also
Like to thank the fifth form students for their support and cooperation in the answering of the
Questionnaires.

Peer Pressure is a serious issue that teenagers encounter everyday either it is positive or negative.
This School Based Assessment was is designed to discover how teenagers react to peer pressure.
Peer pressure is influence that a peer group, observers or individual exerts that encourages others to change their attitudes, values, or behaviors to conform the group norms. The researcher will be speaking about the positive or negative effects to peer pressure among teenagers at school X.
A questionnaire was designed to discover the positive and negative effects of peer pressure.

What are the possible causes and effects of peer pressure among fifth formers at School X?

The reason this topic was selected was because youths are easily pressured into anything that seems amusing to them but results most times are negative. Peer Pressure is when an individual is being convinced by another person to engage in activities that are either negative or positive. There are many causes and effects of peer pressure that an individual can experience, causes may be engaging in a negatively influencing group which can result in that person falling out of school, smoking, stealing or other illegal activities. Another cause may be having a positive influencing family which can result in an individual staying in school and that person can eventually have the necessary qualifications to apply for a job of his or her desire.

The method of investigation used for this project was in the form of a questionnaire. The questionnaire was use because a lot of information can be collected in a short period of time, it also facilitate easy data analysis, through the use of structured questions. Disadvantages are that it can be time consuming and some individual may have difficulties understanding particular questions. A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series of questions and other prompts for

the purpose of gathering information from respondents. The purpose of a questionnaire is

to develop sufficient information so as to assist the researcher in evaluating the developer's

qualifications. The questionnaire is very important since it provides maximum bonding capacity between the researcher and the respondent. Using a questionnaire has many

advantages and disadvantages. Some advantages of using a questionnaire are They can

be carried out by the researcher or by any number of people with limited affect to its validity and reliability. The results of the questionnaires can usually be quickly and easily quantified

by either a researcher or through the use of a software package. They also have some

disadvantages People may read differently into each question and therefore reply based on

their own interpretation of the question example what is 'good' to someone may be 'poor' to

someone else, therefore there is a level of subjectivity that is not acknowledged. There is a

level of researcher imposition, meaning that when developing the questionnaire, the

researcher is making their own decisions and assumptions as to what is and is not

important...therefore they may be missing something that is of importance

Together information for this project the researcher constructed a questionnaire which consists of 15 questions which were distributed to twenty students at School X. The students were selected at random. The bag was shaken and the first twenty five names selected were given a questionnaire to complete. Of these respondents sixty percent were male and forty percent were female. `

Figure one is a pie chart showing the response of persons showing who the respondents spend the most time with. From the four options presented it was seen that 50% of the respondents spend the most time with their classmates and another 50% spend most of their time with friends from school.

Figure two is a bar graph is illustrating what is the hardest peer pressure to resist? From the bar graph forty five percent of respondents states that pressure from friends was the hardest pressure to resist .
Thirty percent of respondents stated that peer pressure from family was the hardest peer pressure to resist.
Twenty percent of the respondents showed that peer pressure from bullies is the hardest to resist and five percent stated that pressure from strangers to the hardest to resist. Figure three is a bar graph illustrating how you can help a teenager to be more assertive. Forty percent of the respondents stated that teenagers can be more assertive by holding seminars with them. Thirty five percent of respondents said that Family members should be encouraged to mentor teenagers. Twenty five percent portrayed that teenagers should be sent to camps to be more assertive.

From this it can be said that most of the respondents chosen by using every fifth person within fifth formers were selected. The sixth question on the questionnaire, respondents were asked
Which group of people do you spend the most time with? Fifty percent of the respondents stated that they spend most of their time with classmates, followed by a similar percentage stating that they spend most of their with friends outside of school. From the information researcher’s analysis states that most students at school X spend most of their time with both classmates and friends outside of school. The reason for the equal percentage between classmates and friends outside of school is because teenagers would have had a strong bond with other teenagers from a younger age and would prefer to socialize with them . The reason why students choose classmates was because they would have developed a stronger relationship with other teenagers because they see each other everyday. From the information above it can be well said that equal percentage of the respondents spend most time with classmates and friends outside of school.

The eighth question asked respondents what is the hardest pressure to resist? Forty five percent of respondents answered that pressure from friends was pressure the hardest pressure to resist.
Thirty percent showed that pressure from family is the pressure the hardest pressure to resist.
Twenty percent stated that the hardest pressure to resist is from family members and five percent said that pressure from strangers is the hardest to resist. The reason behind why forty five percent of respondents stated that pressure from friends is the hardest pressure to resist is because teenagers today find it very difficult to stand up in front of their pairs because they may be picked on and could result in them losing that friendship they have. Most teenagers want to follow the crowd to be a part of the activities they will impress there friends.

The final question on the questionnaire, respondents were asked how can you help teenagers be more assertive? Forty percent of respondents stated that teenagers can be more assertive by holding seminars with them. Thirty five percent of respondents said that Family members should be encouraged to mentor teenagers. Twenty five percent portrayed that teenagers should be sent to camps to be more assertive. The reason for forty percent of the respondents chose holding seminars with teenager because teenagers will more go to function under this topic to help them than going to a camp because they wouldn’t want be away from home and they would more take encouragement from peers and individuals who have experienced this what peer pressure can do to an individual over taking lessons from parents.

The Researcher found that:
Main Cause 1. Most teenagers encourage friends to follow the rules. 65% of respondents stated this.
Main Effect 2. A slightly higher percentage of persons have low self esteem is the main effect of peer pressure
Main Solution 3. Respondents believe that seminars is the solution that will help them more assertive

1) Seminars for teenagers should be held every term in schools, based on the topics relating

to Peer Pressure. Topics such as How can I resist negative peer pressure? This will be an

important question to discuss with teenagers as they find it most difficult to resist

negative peer pressure. It should address teenagers who are involved in gangs that

negatively influence teenagers; they may be asked by members to engage in activities

such as smoking or stealing. When teenagers are taught ways to resist this kind of

pressure they will be able to make the right decisions and live a positive lifestyle

2) Schools can make it mandatory to include peer pressure programs to the curriculum for

students to enhance their knowledge on how to resist negative peer pressure from pairs

and other individuals. They can also learn to tell the difference between positive and

negative peer pressure and how both can influence them. It can also be implemented ha if

student still find a challenge to resist peer pressure they can be put in a situation where

they will realize the negative effect of such an influence and told the correct approach to

take in such a situation.

1. To implement this recommendation we could have resource persons who have experience

the effects of negative peer pressure while they were teenagers, to come and speak to

these teenagers on how it had affected them. They can also use video presentations to

show students how peer pressure can affect you either positively or negatively. They can

also have other teenagers who find it difficult to resist negative peer pressure or they are

easily forced into peer pressure, this will work as the teenagers can relate to each other

easily and then they can be influenced to make the right decision.

Thornes N. (2012) Social Studies for CSEC CXC Study Guide