Misbehavior in School:The Influence of Peer Pressure on Adolescent

A Research Paper Presented to:

Bea Denise Tangaro

Ma. Theresa Poralan

Castor Troy Pico
Mary Angelica Cabarubias
James Bolasa
Peter Jay Duhaylungsod

March 2020
 Chapter One

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Adolescents misbehavior in schools has become a cause of concern in most

schools and indeed many other countries worldwide. Many adolescents have problem

behavior that sometimes becomes serious. Teachers are challenged in dealing with

children, who display certain behaviors that are not tolerated. Literature offers insight

into the conceptualization of the influence of peer pressure on adolescents’

misbehavior within different school set up describes some school children, who

misbehave as: “Children, [who] are very aggressive, disruptive, extremely active, and

talkative, give less attention in the classroom, less co-operative and do not interact

well with others, bully others, fight and in general just display inappropriate

behaviour.”(Owens,2002 et. al)

Adolescents in Sto. Nino College of Science and Technology Inc. who engage

in misbehavior and break laws. A study that was done, found that adolescents

misbehavior rarely occurs in isolation, and that children with severe behavioral

problems usually have a collection of problems. This creates a barrier that is very

important to identify when working with them. For example, research suggests that

teenage substance use such as drinking, taking illicit drugs, and smoking are often

related to delinquent behavior, conduct disorder, depression, adjustment problems,

learning problems, and attention problems. suggest the importance of approaching

these problems in collectively, rather than treating each issue separately. One of the

factors contributing to problems is the socio-economic status of the school.

(Rima,2008 et. al)

 Major settings that influence the way children and adolescents grow up include

families, neighborhoods, and schools. The qualities of these settings, whether they

are supportive and nurturing or dangerous and destructive, have a profound influence

on adolescents’ adult lives. The school’s socio-economic status plays a big role in

shaping learners behavior especially in most deprived schools, due to shortage of

learning and teaching equipment, and unqualified teachers. These deprived schools

face difficulties of being unable to equip learners with effective skills and education.

This then in turn leads learners to start indulging in misbehavior due to a general lack

of school activities and idleness. Those learners that are well behaved are then

exposed to negative peer pressure or to misbehave. Misbehavior leaves parents and

teachers frustrated, angry and anxious. The purpose of this study was to establish the

influence of peer pressure on misbehavior of adolescents at Sto. Nino College of

Science and Technology. Specifically, this study compared this relationship within

advantaged and disadvantaged schools. (Gutek, 1984 et. al)

Statement of the Problem

Peer pressure is one of the possible reasons for the prevalence of adolescent

misbehavior, the percentage of misbehavior incidents in adolescents from privileged

schools is higher than that of their counterparts from deprived schools. Peer pressure

is the main cause of adolescent misbehavior at school. These studies do not explain

whether the school’s socio economic status plays a role in maintaining negative peer

pressure during adolescence. If peer pressure is detrimental to adolescent

misbehavior at school , what role does the socio-economic status of the school play in

promoting misbehavior in adolescents ? This study proposed to examine the extent to

which peer pressure influences adolescent misbehavior at school. Additionally, this

study compared if this relationship is significantly different in diversified school

environments.(Wickert,2002 et. al)

Hypothesis of the Study

The hypotheses for this research study were formulated basing on the aims and

objectives of the study and were formulated as follows:

1. Adolescent misbehaviour will be significantly different in advantaged and

disadvantaged schools.

2. There will be a significantly positive relationship between adolescent behaviour and

peer pressure in advantaged and disadvantaged schools.

Conceptual Framework

Peer effects, neighborhood effects, and other non-market social influences are

generally termed as ‘social interactions the impact on one individual of the attributes

or actions of other group members (Peer effects in education usually include the

impact of social interactions between individual student and other students in the same

school or classroom, rather than the interactions between the student and families or

teachers. (Moffit, 2001)

Learning occurs through imitation or modeling. Adolescents learn good or bad

behavior from media, parents, fellow peers and family members through imitation or

modeling.The model in this study examines the relationship between variables and its

outcomes.(Santrok, 2008)

The family is a primary socialization agent.That is, it is within family relationships

that the child learns first his first lesson in social living, social roles, and social behavior

and in the general way of life of his society. Using the family as his reference group he
learns some patterns of behaviour, perceives some realities and acquires habits.In his

peer group, the child learns adult values such as cooperation, responsibility, following

rules, honesty, fair play, and good habits. The peer group helps the child to learn his

sex roles and acts as a source of information for its members. Media is a socialization

agent among adolescents as well as adults. It can influence an adolescent to form

identity.Adolescents use media to learn sexual and romantic scripts.This can lead to

early pregnancy hence school dropout.(Brown et al., 2000)

The mechanisms through which peer groups affect individual’s academic achievement

are complex. Peers not only influence individuals directly through student teaching,

role modeling, or classroom disruption; they also impact individual students indirectly

through the perceptions of teachers and administrators on the peer groups.For

example, if a teacher thinks one particular socioeconomic group is academically

weak,he may lower her expectation and slow down her curriculum in a classroom with

a high proportion of students from that group, which therefore may negatively affect

an individual student’s performance, regardless of that student’s own SES status.

In an influential article on the topic of social interaction effects, proposes that

the relationship between one individual’s behavior and other group member’s behavior

comes from three distinct effects. Here, let’s apply the concepts to peer effects in

education: (Manski,1993)

a. Endogenous effects (or simultaneous effects)—a person’s behavior varies with the

mean behavior of the peer group. For example, the propensity of a student graduating

from high school will be impacted by the proportion of students graduating from high

school in the same school.

b. Exogenous effects (or contextual effects)—a person’s action varies with the

exogenous characteristics (pre-determined characteristics) of the peer group. For

example, the propensity of a student graduating from high school will be affected by

the average level of mother’s education of other students in the school.

c. Correlated effects—persons in same group tend to behave similarly because they

are subject to a common institutional environment or they share the similar

characteristics. Literature often terms the shared institutional settings as common

shocks’---for example, that all students in the same classroom do well academically

may reflect nothing but the high quality of the teacher. The other part of the correlated

effects, ‘the shared characteristics’, draws a lot of interest from empirical studies. It is

called ‘selection problems’, which arises when individuals tend to self select into a

group with members sharing similar attributes.

Theoretical Framework

The theory of The Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) will be used as the

theoretical underpinning of the study. The SCT was proposed by Miller and Dollard in

1941. It was broadened by Bandura and Walters with the principles of observational

learning and understandable reinforcement in. Evaluating behavioural change

depends on three factors; the environment, people and behaviour. There are social

and physical environments according to Glanz et al. (2002). Environments provide the

framework for understanding behaviour and situations refer to the cognitive or mental

representations of the environment that may affect a person’s behaviour. The

environment provides models for behaviour (Parraga, 1990). This theory explains how

people acquire and maintain certain behavioural patterns. The Social Cognitive Theory

(SCT) deals with cognitive, emotional and behavioural aspects for understanding
behavioural change. Social Cognitive Theory has been researched and practised by

a network of researchers around the world and has been described as a theory

explaining how people acquire and maintain certain behavioural patterns, while also

providing the basis for intervention strategies (Bandura, 2001). Parraga (1990) uses

the concept of SCT in relation to innate and universal, different environments in

understanding adolescents’ behaviour. In this study, SCT is used to highlight the

mechanisms through which adolescent misbehaviour can be influenced by their

environments. In this study, environments include peer pressure and the socio-

economic status of the schools manifesting as advantaged or disadvantaged

schools.(Glanz, 2002 et. al)

Persuasion Theory Persuasion is defined as “human communication that is

designed to influence others by modifying their beliefs, values or attitudes” .It involves

a goal and the intent to achieve that goal on the part of the message sender. This is

done through communication and the message recipient must have a free will.

Persuasion is not accidental nor is it coercive. This theory also deals with shifts in

attitudes. An attitude is a “relatively enduring predisposition to respond favorably or

unfavorably” towards something. Attitudes are learned evaluations and people are not

born with and so attitudes are changeable. Attitudes are also presumed to change

behaviors for instance to demonstrate your attitude towards a product will influence

whether you buy it or not this can also happen in a peer group where individuals are

expected to make choices in reference to the group norms and behaviors for them to

fit in.(Simons,1976 et. al)

Persuasion theory views peer pressure as a result of interactions within the peer

groups individuals are influenced to change their attitudes and in turn result to change

of behavior positively or negatively. The process of change is the major theme where
the social and cultural structures of a community begin to change.The changes that

occur in the society makes individuals want to adhere to them and this force them to

change too. To make the change effective the learning process begins and this can

only be hastened by being a member of a social group. This is characterized by conflict

of interest whereby individuals are likely to be a victim of more than one social group.

The public service has over the years undergone the process of modernization in

terms of the organizational structure and the institution at large. As a result most of the

professionals have had to embrace the changes occurring by either going back to

class or changing their professions in order to fit.(Simons,1976 et. al)

Human beings are endowed with the capacity for thought which helps them to

distinguish right from wrong. Symbolic Interactionism theory views peer pressure

as a result of interaction among individuals which brings with it action for different

networks of relationships. However, in most cases the capacity of thought is shaped

by the process of interaction. In social interaction, people learn the meanings and the

symbols of their actions that allow people to carry on distinctively human action and

interaction. This affects the process of decision making as there are symbols and

meanings that are internalized. The personality system involves learning, developing

and maintaining enough levels of motivation throughout life in order to participate

effectively in social life. This clearly indicates that when exposed to a different

environmental setting in terms of interaction there are traits that are adopted and this

is reflected by the universality of symbols. People are able to modify alter the meanings

and symbols that they use in action and interaction on the basis of their interpretation

of the situation. The case is not different in the public service in Kenya given the

different job groups that are assigned different responsibilities that characterize the
institution. They serve as a challenge to those in the groups and with time they try to

find new means through which they can come out of the group. (Blumer,1990 et. al)

Some of the new ways adopted are going back to college to further their

education. The change to social groups that are able to rhyme to their demands and

this is in relationship to the duration an individual has worked and the experience he

has gained.
 The History of Magnets Timeline

Magnetism refers to the force generated in matter because electrons movement within its atoms. Although the
history of magnetism emerged from as early as 600 B.C., scientists have only become interested in the twentieth
century. As such, scientists have dedicated their effort to understand the mineral and develop it further to
advance the human life in different applications. Magnetism was initially analyzed in a form of the mineral
magnetite called lodestone. Lodestone consists of iron oxide, which is a chemical compound of iron and oxygen.
The ancient Greeks were the first people to use the mineral. In fact, they called it magnet due to its ability to
attract other magnets and iron.

DATE SCIENTIST BEHIND THE CONTRIBUTION TO THE HISTORY OF MAGNETS

DISCOVERY

600 BC Greek philosophers The ancient Greeks in an area identified as Magnesia

described the magnetic property of natural ferric ferrite
(Fe3O4) tones (lodestones). During the time, a shepherd
identified by some people as Magnes noticed the nails of
his shoes stuck on the metal tip of a black rock he was
standing on.

1600 The Englishman The Englishman Dr. William Gilbert investigated the
phenomenon of magnetism systematically using
Dr. William Gilbert scientific method. William also argued that the earth was
also a weak magnet (Davidson, 2009). The earth in his
arguments possesses a magnetic pole near the
geographic pole. The contribution by Gilbert helped
dismiss beliefs about the magnetic iron oxide, lodestone,
including the idea that it could heal physical ailments. His
studies contributed the arguments on the laws of
attraction and repulsion. Further, he developed the idea
of magnetic dip. In his arguments, William believed that it
was possible to strengthen lodestone by combi9ning it
with soft iron. His postulations also furthered that steel
and iron could be magnetized. Significantly, the scientist
observed that red-hot iron lost magnetism and could only
regain it by cooling. Lastly, the scientist in his time
helped differentiate between magnetic and electric
attraction.

Dr. William is acknowledged for publishing the first

systematic experiment on magnetism in De Magnete.

1730 Servington Savery The production of the first compound magnet by binding
together a number of artificial magnets with a common
pole piece at each end.

1740 Gowen Knight Built the first artificial magnet for sale to scientific
investigators and terrestrial navigators.

1750 John Mitchell He published the first book on making of steel magnets.

1785 The Frenchman Frenchman Charles Coulomb initiated the quantitative

studies of the magnetic phenomena. Coloumb
Charles Coulomb discovered the inverse square law of force. The law
states that the attractive force between two magnetized
objects is directly proportional to the product of their
 individual fields and inversely proportional to the square
of the distance between them.

1819-1820 A Danish physicist A Danish physicist Hans Christian Oersted suggested a

Hans Christian Oersted
link between electricity and magnetism through a lecture.
In one of the experiments, the scientist discovered that a
wire became magnetized when conducting electricity
(MAGLAB, 2015). During the lecture, when a thin wire
was connected to both ends of the battery a nearby
compos reacted confirming some magnetism in the wire.

1825 Sturgeon Discovered electromagnet

1831 The German The German Carl Friedrich Gauss studied theoretically
the nature of the earth’s magnetism (National Imports
Carl Friedrich Gauss LLC., 2014). He collaborated with Wilhelm Weber, a
physicist in conducting the extensive research of
electricity and magnetism. The two discovered the
Magnometer and the Electrodynamometer as
instruments that measured electric current and voltage.
In fact, as an honor, the term gauss came to describe a
unit of magnetic flux density or magnetic induction.

1890s Pierre Curio Pierre Curio studied the effect of temperature on

magnetism. In the same year, the Currie law was
proposed.

1905 Langevin Explained the theory of diamagnetism and

paramagnetism (GITAM, n.d.).

1906 Weiss Developed the ferromagnetic theory.

1917 K. Honda and T. Takai The adding of cobalt to tungsten steel to increase the
coercive force of permanent magnets dramatically. That
is, the cobalt steel magnets.

1919 The first commercial steel magnets were made available.

The steel were quench-hardened steel magnets.

1930 I. Mishima Produced the first Alnico magnet that contained an alloy
of iron, aluminium and nickel. Further, Hermann Kemper
studied the use of magnetic fields in conjunction with
trains and airplanes (Zakkas, 2013).

1952 J.J. Went, G.W. Rathenan, Discovered the first ceramic magnets based on barium,
E.W. Gorter and G.W. Van lead-iron oxides and strontium while at the Philips
Oesterhout Company.

1966 Dr. Karl J. Stmat Discovered the high-energy product (18 MGOe) of the
Samarium-Cobalt (SmCo5) compound while at the
(Rare-Earth Magnets) United States Air Force Materials Laboratory at Wright-
Patterson Air Force Base.

1972 Dr. Karl J. Stmat and Dr. Alden Ensured the development of a high-energy product (30
Ray MGOe) Samarium-Cobalt (Sm2Co17) compound.
 (Advanced Rare-Earth
Magnets)

1901-1976 Earest Ising and Werner Earest Ising and Werner Heisenberg developed the
Heisenberg present day understanding of magnetism based on the
theory of the motion and interactions of electrons in
atoms and quantum electrodynamics.

1983 Neodymium-Iron-Boron General Motors, Sumitomo Special Metals and the

Magnets Chinese Academy of Science developed a high-energy
product (35 MGOe) Neodymium-Iron-Boron (Nd2Fe14B)
compound.

1990 Dr. Coey and Dr. Sun Signaled the Sm2Fe17N3 magnets. The compound is
characterized by a high anisotropy and decomposes at
T>500oC. Similarly, the magnets can be used in powder
or bonded magnets form.
 Timeline of Magnetism

DATE SCIENTIST BEHIND THE CONTRIBUTION TO THE HISTORY OF MAGNETS

DISCOVERY

600 BC Greek philosophers The ancient Greeks in an area identified as Magnesia

described the magnetic property of natural ferric ferrite
(Fe3O4) tones (lodestones). During the time, a shepherd
identified by some people as Magnes noticed the nails of
his shoes stuck on the metal tip of a black rock he was
standing on.

1600 The Englishman The Englishman Dr. William Gilbert investigated the
phenomenon of magnetism systematically using
Dr. William Gilbert scientific method. William also argued that the earth was
also a weak magnet (Davidson, 2009). The earth in his
arguments possesses a magnetic pole near the
geographic pole. The contribution by Gilbert helped
dismiss beliefs about the magnetic iron oxide, lodestone,
including the idea that it could heal physical ailments. His
studies contributed the arguments on the laws of
attraction and repulsion. Further, he developed the idea
of magnetic dip. In his arguments, William believed that it
was possible to strengthen lodestone by combi9ning it
with soft iron. His postulations also furthered that steel
and iron could be magnetized. Significantly, the scientist
observed that red-hot iron lost magnetism and could only
regain it by cooling. Lastly, the scientist in his time
helped differentiate between magnetic and electric
attraction.

Dr. William is acknowledged for publishing the first

systematic experiment on magnetism in De Magnete.

1730 Servington Savery The production of the first compound magnet by binding
together a number of artificial magnets with a common
pole piece at each end.

1740 Gowen Knight Built the first artificial magnet for sale to scientific
investigators and terrestrial navigators.

1750 John Mitchell He published the first book on making of steel magnets.

1785 The Frenchman Frenchman Charles Coulomb initiated the quantitative

Charles Coulomb
studies of the magnetic phenomena. Coloumb
discovered the inverse square law of force. The law
states that the attractive force between two magnetized
objects is directly proportional to the product of their
individual fields and inversely proportional to the square
of the distance between them.

1819-1820 A Danish physicist A Danish physicist Hans Christian Oersted suggested a

link between electricity and magnetism through a lecture.
Hans Christian Oersted In one of the experiments, the scientist discovered that a
wire became magnetized when conducting electricity
(MAGLAB, 2015). During the lecture, when a thin wire
 was connected to both ends of the battery a nearby
compos reacted confirming some magnetism in the wire.

1825 Sturgeon Discovered electromagnet

1831 The German The German Carl Friedrich Gauss studied theoretically
the nature of the earth’s magnetism (National Imports
Carl Friedrich Gauss LLC., 2014). He collaborated with Wilhelm Weber, a
physicist in conducting the extensive research of
electricity and magnetism. The two discovered the
Magnometer and the Electrodynamometer as
instruments that measured electric current and voltage.
In fact, as an honor, the term gauss came to describe a
unit of magnetic flux density or magnetic induction.

1890s Pierre Curio Pierre Curio studied the effect of temperature on

magnetism. In the same year, the Currie law was
proposed.

1905 Langevin Explained the theory of diamagnetism and

paramagnetism (GITAM, n.d.).

1906 Weiss Developed the ferromagnetic theory.

1917 K. Honda and T. Takai The adding of cobalt to tungsten steel to increase the
coercive force of permanent magnets dramatically. That
is, the cobalt steel magnets.

1919 The first commercial steel magnets were made available.

The steel were quench-hardened steel magnets.

1930 I. Mishima Produced the first Alnico magnet that contained an alloy
of iron, aluminium and nickel. Further, Hermann Kemper
studied the use of magnetic fields in conjunction with
trains and airplanes (Zakkas, 2013).

1952 J.J. Went, G.W. Rathenan, Discovered the first ceramic magnets based on barium,
E.W. Gorter and G.W. Van lead-iron oxides and strontium while at the Philips
Oesterhout Company.

1966 Dr. Karl J. Stmat Discovered the high-energy product (18 MGOe) of the
Samarium-Cobalt (SmCo5) compound while at the
(Rare-Earth Magnets) United States Air Force Materials Laboratory at Wright-
Patterson Air Force Base.

1972 Dr. Karl J. Stmat and Dr. Alden Ensured the development of a high-energy product (30
Ray MGOe) Samarium-Cobalt (Sm2Co17) compound.

(Advanced Rare-Earth
Magnets)

1901-1976 Earest Ising and Werner Earest Ising and Werner Heisenberg developed the
Heisenberg present day understanding of magnetism based on the
theory of the motion and interactions of electrons in
atoms and quantum electrodynamics.
1983 Neodymium-Iron-Boron General Motors, Sumitomo Special Metals and the
Magnets Chinese Academy of Science developed a high-energy
product (35 MGOe) Neodymium-Iron-Boron (Nd2Fe14B)
compound.

1990 Dr. Coey and Dr. Sun Signaled the Sm2Fe17N3 magnets. The compound is
characterized by a high anisotropy and decomposes at
T>500oC. Similarly, the magnets can be used in powder
or bonded magnets form.