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Social Media Use, Peer Pressure and Women’s Attitude towards Hairstyles

Cynthia Alimolar

17/U/2589/EVE

A Dissertation Submitted to the School of Psychology in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

the Award of Bachelor’s Degree of Arts in Social Sciences of Makerere University

January, 2021
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Declaration
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Approval
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Dedication

I dedicate this dissertation to my family for their endless support, my academic friends and

my supervisor Dr. Richard Balikoowa for his continued guidance.

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Acknowledgement

I would like to take this opportunity to thank God who has enabled me compile this dissertation, my

mother and awesome siblings who have provided financial, and moral support and my academic

friends who have walked with me through this journey of achieving my bachelor’s degree.
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Table of Contents

Declaration ........................................................................................................................................... i

Approval .............................................................................................................................................. ii

Dedication .......................................................................................................................................... iii

Acknowledgement .............................................................................................................................. iv

Table of Contents ................................................................................................................................ v

Abstract ............................................................................................................................................ viii

Chapter One: Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1

Background ............................................................................................................................. 1

Problem Statement .................................................................................................................. 4

Purpose of the Study................................................................................................................ 5

Objective of the Study ............................................................................................................. 5

Scope of the Study ................................................................................................................... 5

Significance of the Study ........................................................................................................ 5

Conceptual Framework ........................................................................................................... 7

Chapter Two: Literature Review ......................................................................................................... 8

Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 8

Social Media Use and Peer Pressure ....................................................................................... 8

Peer Pressure and women’s Attitude towards Hairstyles ...................................................... 10

Social Media Use and Women’s Attitude towards Hairstyles .............................................. 13

Hypothesis ............................................................................................................................. 14

Chapter Three: Methodology ............................................................................................................ 16

Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 16
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Research Design .................................................................................................................... 16

Population .............................................................................................................................. 16

Sample ................................................................................................................................... 16

Instrument and Measurements............................................................................................... 17

Quality Control ...................................................................................................................... 17

Procedure ............................................................................................................................... 17

Data Management.................................................................................................................. 18

Data Analysis ........................................................................................................................ 18

Ethical Considerations ........................................................................................................... 19

Limitations............................................................................................................................. 19

Chapter Four: Presentation, Analysis and Interpretation of Results ................................................. 20

Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 20

Descriptive Statistics ............................................................................................................. 20

Age, sex and status of the Respondents ................................................................................ 20

Chapter Five: Discussion, Conclusion and Recommendations. ........................................................ 23

Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 23

Discussion ............................................................................................................................. 23

The Relationship between Social Media Use and Peer Pressure .......................................... 23

The Relationship between Peer Pressure and Women’s Attitude Towards Hairstyles. ........ 24

The Relationship between Social Media Use and Women’s Attitude Towards Hairstyles. . 25

Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 26

Recommendations ................................................................................................................. 27

References ......................................................................................................................................... 28
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Appendices ........................................................................................................................................ 31

Appendix I: Questionnaire .................................................................................................... 31

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Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to identity the relationship between Social Media Use,
Peer Pressure and Women’s Attitude Towards Hairstyles. The study was intended to achieve the
following objectives; to investigate the relationship between social media use and peer pressure,
to find out the relationship between peer pressure and women’s attitude towards hairstyles and to
examine the relationship between social media use and women’s attitude towards hairstyles.
The study adopted a correlational survey design. The study used a sample of 100
respondents (50 respondents between 18-24 years and 50 respondents between 25-30 years) who
were selected using simple random sampling technique. Data for analysis was obtained by use of
a standard questionnaire designed by the researcher to find out the relationship between social
media use and women’s attitude towards hairstyles and the relationship between peer pressure and
women’s attitude towards hairstyles.
The results of the study were; there is a negative significant relationship between Social
Media Use and Peer Pressure (r=-0.686, p=0.029<0.05), the hypothesis was rejected and
concluded that there is a negative relationship between social media use and peer pressure. There
is a positive significant relationship between Peer Pressure and Women’s Attitude Towards
Hairstyles (p=0.533>0.05), the hypothesis was retained and concluded that there is a positive
relationship between peer pressure and women’s attitude towards hairstyles. And there is a
negative significant relationship between Social Media Use and Women’s Attitude Towards
Hairstyles (p=0.007<0.05). The hypothesis was rejected and concluded that there is a negative
significant relationship between social media use and women’s attitude towards hairstyles.
The following recommendations were made; more emphasis should be put on inquiring
from women about their tastes and preferences of hairstyles to understand what they think can
personally work for them so as to boost their self-esteem, identity, confidence in themselves and
knowing what they want in order to reduce insecurities they face due to fear of what others will
think or say about them.
In addition to the above, women should invest more time in discovering their identity so
that they don’t have to rely on role models or celebrities or wait for society to dictate and define
who they have to be interms of what’s appropriate or not since women can make their own choices
that make them unique in their own different ways.
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Chapter One: Introduction

Background

From the 1900(BC) women knew nothing that surrounded them but that didn't stop them from

decorating their hair (Alex,2019). Hairstyle varied not only by sex but by social difference and

majority of women had hair that today we would call barbaric. In Fact, from the Egyptians and

Etruscans we will find that the first ideal hairstyles, each of them motivated by its own reason by a

belief and hair was also a sign of freedom as in the Greece world, the woman was submissive to her

husband and for this reason she could not show her hair. In the middle ages Christian morality

required women to wear braids decorated with ribbons/having hair enclosed in a silk net as a sign of

respect and modesty.

African hairstyles have always been known throughout the world and African women more

than all the other women in the world loved to gather their hair in splendid and elaborate hairstyles

and their change of hairstyles over history is reflected back in the period of colonization and slavery

where women shaved their hair as a symbol of lack of identity, to show their "not being anyone" in

society although when they rebelled against all this through a campaign called "eliminate the problem

not the hair," it began struggles that led to women emancipation in the 1900 and finally they began

to express their identities for example weaving colorful scarves that they used to wrap around their

heads. The discrimination that women began led to most of them taking inspiration from western

culture where they started to use the first chemical products to eliminate frizz from their hair to make

their hair lighter and more voluminous.

Nowadays widespread treatment is perm and the first hair dresser to invent the machine for

the perm was a German who built a system of cylinders around which girls could wrap small strands

of hair (1906). Above all these cylinders, there was a machine which through the electric current,
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allowed the cylinders to heat up to make the curls and in short terms, it was nothing than the hair

straightener for curling we use nowadays, just a little bit bigger and through these tools we succeed

in obtaining the hairstyle that we want in an extremely short time, compared to the approximately six

hours of waiting.

Social media is one of the most common means of communication that has influenced every

decision people make today for example Women’s attitude towards hairstyles has been influenced by

different platforms like twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest because they show what's

trending. YouTube has had a tremendous influence on hair trends, many people use this video

platform to find advice about styling their hair, learning how to disguise issues such as thin hair or

bald spots and even get inspirations regarding what color to choose next time they visit a salon. While

women would have had to visit a salon or purchase hair related magazines in the past to obtain advise

like this, it is now freely available because in most cases everyone who has access to social media

has the ability to influence anyone around them by showing off their latest hairstyle in online photos

and this same technique is being used by modern hair salon businesses like Hair by Zziwa located in

Kampala and salon Invi located in North of Boston, they have their social media websites that they

use to schedule appointments, post new hairstyles they have plaited on their customers so as to attract

more clients and sometimes they provide information on how to deal with hair-related problems that

their followers might have. Although celebrities and trends have always had a significant impact on

hairstyles, social media has simply enabled these trends to be made known to more people quicker

than ever before (Naramore 2020).

Women worldwide say their choice of hairstyles is influenced by celebrities and that they

often times style their hair depending on what is trending of which most trendy things originate from

celebrities of the season. In Uganda trend is the same, what the celebrities do become the talk of town
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and later translates into action (Kisakye, 2015). Most women's decisions are easily twisted from one

thing to another due to insecurities of maybe they feel their hair is so thick or it makes everyone feel

uncomfortable therefore people's opinion matter to them and their validation gives a go ahead to do

a specific hairstyle due to persuasion and motivation of how that hairstyle would look good on them.

The confidence a woman gains after a friend's suggestion and validation of how they will look can

influence their choice of hairstyle because they feel encouraged to get it done.

In Uganda, studies have shown that almost all women 95% worry about what hairstyle to plait

due to the fact that they have a thousand events to attend for example weddings, graduation, all forms

of parties, business meetings, leisure activities like camping and finally profession, social status. All

these factors and many others dictate specific category of hairstyles that seem appropriate for each

occasion and the fact that every hairstyle says something about a woman in terms of identity, self-

esteem or culture. Hairstyles communicate a message of health, sexuality, religion and power on first

glance therefore how a woman appears says a lot about her and that is why women take a lot of time

to decide on what they want others to perceive of them (Stenn, 2016)). Most times your hair speaks

for you even when you don't say a thing, have a long, curly, blonde mane? The world's going to see

you differently than someone with a straight, ombre coif (Chris Serico, 2016).

Statistics show over 1000 hairstyles worldwide that keep evolving on a daily including

companies that produce hair products used on a daily by women to enhance and maintain their look.

New hairstyles keep popping up on their notifications daily via social media platforms like twitter,

Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube and many others not forgetting the influence of friends who

keep telling their peers of what is currently trending or what would look good on them. All these

endless factors contribute to what hairstyle a woman would like due to the fact that a high percentage

of most of them are obsessed with following the current trend through role models and celebrities
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who drive their social status. Hairstyles like dreadlocks, crochet braids, extensions, corn-rows, to

mention but a few and growing naturals which remains the trendiest option for most women since

hair freedom and hair loss following a chemical reaction to relaxers remain the biggest influencers

for this choice. On the other hand, Uganda is richly blessed with so many fruits, oils and vegetable

recommended for natural hair care.

According to "Good Hair" survey, 52% of black women currently wear their hair in a natural

style and 48% wear a smooth style. The most common hairstyles are relaxed (29%), braids (14%),

wash-and-go (10%) and afro (10%). 31% of white women currently wear their hair in a natural style

while 69% wear a smooth style. The most common hairstyles are relaxed (45%), wash-and-go (25%),

loose curls (10%), and smooth waves (9%). There has been a 34% decline in market value of relaxer

products that chemically straighten textured hair since 2009 (Alex, 2016).

It should therefore be noted that hair is a very important to women and their self-esteem,

which means that the positive or negative view of one’s hair can greatly influence a woman's choice

especially if she's of color. Hair, its length, texture and color affect how a person looks or is perceived

since women of color have a different skin color with unique hair that's not easily accepted. Therefore,

women's attitude towards hairstyles is driven by a desire to express who they are in terms of what is

appropriate, attractive and professional as well as being mindful about what others think.

Problem Statement

Most women are so indecisive about what hairstyle to plait because they are mindful of what

people say or think about them simply because they are insecure to the extent that validation from

friends or trend from celebrities define their next appearance, identity, self-esteem and confidence.

The hairstyle on trend can easily catch the attention of women and in a few hours its already been

copied yet if a woman knows her worth and identity, she wouldn't need anybody's validation to decide
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how she has to look like therefore women need to embrace and have confidence in themselves so that

they are not taken up by the flow of social acceptance and fitting in.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between social media use, peer

pressure and women’s attitude towards hairstyles.

Objective of the Study

Below were the objectives of this study;

1. To investigate the relationship between social media use and peer pressure.

2. To find out the relationship between peer pressure and women’s attitude towards hairstyles.

3. To examine the relationship between social media use and women’s attitude towards

hairstyles.

Scope of the Study

The study was carried out in Uganda, in Kampala district because according to survey i had

discovered that Kampala city arcades are flooded at all times in all seasons with women buying hair

extensions, human hair wigs and weaves in different shape and colors and making weekly hair

appointments, frequently changing their look irrespective of the economic status. This clearly showed

how women pay keen interest to their hair to the extent that some are willing to spend fortunes to

have their dream hairstyle whether they have seen it on social media or they have been influenced by

a friend or their hairdresser.

Significance of the Study

1. The study could be used by hair dressers to improve their knowledge on how to handle

indecisive clients.
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2. The study could be used to help women focus on building their self-esteem instead of paying

so much attention to the external forces around and going with the trend.

3. The study would increase self-confidence and acceptance among women who struggle with

identity.

4. The study would enlighten women on what true beauty is all about and for society to embrace

and understand that differences exist because all women are unique in their own way

irrespective of what hairstyle they decide to wear.

5. The study would educate women to know that style depends on an individual not on role

models or social media and the fact that they can create and have their own style.
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Conceptual Framework

Peer Pressure
Social Media Use

 Instagram  Celebrities
 Facebook  Role models
 Twitter  Friends
 Pinterest  Trend
 YouTube  Society perspectives
 Blogs  Reality shows
 TV personalities

Women’s attitude towards

hair styles
 Identity
 Insecurities
 Social status
 Self esteem

Figure 1: Shows a conceptual framework explaining the relationship among social media use, peer

pressure and women’s attitude towards hairstyles.

According to the above figure, women who struggle with self-esteem, identity, insecurities and

mind about maintaining their high social status are more likely to have a positive attitude towards a

specific hairstyle after seeking for validation from peers and options from social media to finally

choose a specific hairstyle and go with what's trending in the world market.

 Social media use directly influences peer pressure.

 Peer pressure influences women’s attitude towards hairstyles.

 Social media use and women’s attitude towards hairstyles are significantly related.
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Chapter Two: Literature Review

Introduction

This chapter discussed other scholars'/researchers' work on the topic of social media use, peer

pressure and women’s attitude towards hairstyles choice as well as the research question/hypothesis.

Social Media Use and Peer Pressure

World Health Organization defines ‘Adolescents’ as individuals in the 10-19 years age group

and ‘Youth’ as the 15-24 year age group. While ‘young people' covers the age range 10-24 years.

There are about 350 million adolescents and they are not a homogeneous population, they exist in a

variety of circumstances and have diverse needs. The transition from childhood to adulthood involves

dramatic physical, sexual, psychological and social development changes, all taking place at the same

time and in addition to the opportunities for development, this transitions poses risks to their health

and we’ll being.

In the child development process, adolescent age and the process of becoming an adult comes

with many challenges that the youth face today, one of them being identity and it’s within this time

of their lives that they start to cultivate their own identity therefore factors around them can either

contribute positively or negatively in the process as they are developing aspects of life such as

hobbies, music, fashion and many others yet sadly, some of them are lost in trying to find themselves

since there is a desire to fit in and please everyone around that have set aside in their own

truth(Richard, 2017). Nowadays social media has paved a broader way to influence the youth with a

higher percentage on females compared to males on a ratio of 4:1. These social media platforms can

follow them from school, workplaces, social peers to our door step since those platforms like

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube and Blogs have set a new standard for the most
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vital aspects of life of not only the youth but almost the whole community, which has influenced the

power of molding our attitude and individuality to what society feel is appropriate.

More than peer pressure, social media has set a standard of how our teens, youths, adults and

mostly women should look, from physical appearance to fashion. If a teenager has even just a single

peer who is influenced by social media, chances are high the teenager will be joining that media due

to the fact that a friend will tell a friend who will also tell another friend and chain continues so the

next thing you will realize they all have the app and have subscribed to it. This is because naturally

we find it easy to confide to their peers about things we have newly discovered or find interesting and

most times we want our friends to like something the same way we do, to the point that we persuade

them to like when we see how a particular person looks dashing on her new hairstyle, figure or

surgery. Nowadays, most especially teens can just grab their phones or turn on their computers and

ask their peers if they have already seen the new trendy hairstyle on Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube,

Twitter or Facebook so that they attain validation on their desire for wanting to look the same way.

Peer pressure and social media play a key role in building mindsets, influencing behavior that

determine our perception and most of these countless ads and videos shared by our peers promote

love or hate, which affect how we feel, react to a particular act, preference, religion or race. In the

present days, our beliefs, hopes and aspirations have been dictated by the media platforms we pay

attention to that later affect our decision making since we seek for approval from others and live a

life based on physical appearance and possessions (Richard, 2017).

Peer pressure goes hand in hand with social media through our behavioral and neural

responses to likes, quantifiable form of social endorsement and potential source of peer influence.

People are more likely to like photos depicted with many likes than those with few likes; this finding

showed the influence of virtual peer endorsement and held for both neutral photos and those of risky
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behavior like drinking and smoking. Viewing photos with many (compared with few) likes was

associated with greater activity in neural regions implicated in reward processing, social cognition,

imitation and attention (Sherman, 2016). Social media are immensely popular among adolescents and

nearly 90% of American teens report being active users of which they have continually outpaced

other age groups in adopting new media (Lenhart, 2915) which has shaped the lifestyle, decisions

and behavior in society. (Smith, Chein, Steinberg, 2014) replicated these behavioral effects when

peers were virtually connected, demonstrating that peer influence also occurs online (Cohen and

Prinstein, 2006).

Digital and in-person communication differ significantly in their affordance for quantifiable

interactions. Where as in-person communication is necessarily qualifiable and involve subjective

interpretation, many online environments allow for feedback that is purely quantifiable for example

a feature of most social media tools is the ability to like an image, text or other piece is information,

allowing for a simple straight forward measure to peers' endorsement. For adolescents who are

particularly attuned to peer opinion, this quantifiable social endorsement may serve as a powerful

motivator to back up their decisions. Furthermore, quantifiable social endorsement provides a unique

research opportunity and although it is a form of interaction that occurs in the real world, it is simple

enough to be experimentally manipulated (Sherman, Payton et al, 2016).

Peer Pressure and women’s Attitude towards Hairstyles

According to sims, "Historically, black women's attitude towards hairstyles has been informed

by societal pressures to adopt Eurocentric standards of straight hair(Lester, 2000) yet studies show

that a lot of the treatment can be extremely harmful, unhealthy and damaging, which shows a true

testament of the lengths women of color go through in-order to be defined as beautiful and fit to mold

(Sims, 2016). Women have got their hair relaxed, going through terrible strain and pain including
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severe burns from the deeply harsh chemicals used to make their hair smooth and straight, "hair

relaxers can cause burns and lesions in the scalp, facilitating entry of hair relaxer constituents into the

body" (Wise, Palmer, Reich, Cozier and Rosenberg, 2012). Societal standards of beauty affects

women in that no matter how intelligent they are, looks play an important part in their professional

life, this is because black women are expected to look a certain way in a professional setting and that

is typical European styled beauty standards, this includes straight hair that is long and one solid color

therefore black women who choose to wear Eurocentric hairstyles may be conforming to this standard

of professionalism in an effort to be accepted in the workplace thereby fulfilling the need to belong

(Sims, Barclay, Kurt, 2016).

Most teenagers are influenced to change their looks because a friend has also changed since

they try to fit in and not feel left out because no one wants to look bad when others are looking good

as it can make them be identified with a specific social class or status. Most times when we walk past

a group of youths on the streets, the way in which they all look the same, from the same trainers,

jeans, coats and more especially same hair dos originate from the fact that a friend will always

persuade the other to pimp their look. The most prevalent exceptional thing among youths is peer

pressure, it has always been and will always be as it shows outstanding strength of character when a

teenager rebels against "the norm" as the repercussions of such an act of bravery is that they are

usually branded as a "weirdo"' and teenager's hairstyle are arguably one of the biggest indicators of

this intense level of peer pressure and willingness to counteract the fashion of a particular group of

friends or sometimes the whole school, to risk falling out of popularity(Hair Finder, 2020). While

teenagers use their hair like their clothes, and make up as a form of expression, it can be rarely called

"self-expression" and should be perhaps re-named "group expression." A good example of this type

of expression, which is unique to teenagers in the 1960s when many teenagers, particularly in the
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united states, put flowers in their hair to represent love and peace and was meant to be seen as some

kind of anti-war statement. In the 1980s, many European youths dyed their hair with bold wonderful

colors and donned equally as bold haircuts to adopt to the punk movement that was sweeping its way

across Europe at the time. Expressing views and visions through teenage hair is not confined to the

west, as today in Korea many youths are choosing to color their hair to deliberately standout and

collectively look different

Today we live in "celebrity culture," where there is an obsession with pop stars, Television

personalities and reality shows which enables untalented people to be lifted to the territories

previously only actors and rock stars could reach, overnight. This obsession is so intense that people,

particularly amongst impressionable teenagers, who regularly scrutinize their favorite celebrity and

copy any slight fluctuation in their choice of hairstyle. There's also a group of peer pressure operating

today which involves which celebrity is considered "cool" and worthy of copying for example when

Jade Goody appeared in the UK's Big Brother series and assailed her way into becoming a household

names, teenagers across the nation, while excitingly talking about the last episode together at school

on a Monday morning, would turn up following day with their hair cut and colored as Jade Goody.

Most of these popular celebrities put teenagers under pressure to look and have their hair like

currently are (Lindsey Lohan, Hillary Duff and Brenda Song) and the fact that these celebrities change

their hair frequently, ladies are influenced to get regular visits to the hair salon and hairdressing

industry that is currently trending. (Lueke, 2006).

Society has the power to define something as old fashioned, weird, inappropriate, interesting

which influences attitudes and decision making as women try to choose which hairstyle to plait so as

to conform to the norms and culture for example in the middle ages, someone with long hair was

thought of as wealthy because they could afford to grow and groom their hair yet in the 20th century,
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it became as a sign of poverty as someone who was disheveled and could not afford to groom

themselves properly. While in the ancient and pre-historic times, a woman's fertility and ability to

bear children could be judged by length of her hair, as she grew older and more mature therefore all

these factors put so much pressure on women to conform to what is seen as appropriate so that they

don't send the wrong message for society to make them a topic of discussion (Xavier, 2013).

Social Media Use and Women’s Attitude towards Hairstyles

Social media can either encourage or discourage a women from plaiting a specific hairstyle

because of the kind of blogs, posts and comments people throw on social media in response to other

people's appearances for example a woman's intricate pink, plaited locks has been mocked online for

looking remarkably like a man's genitals after it was posted to twitter by blogger Stephanie Yeboah

from London, who suggested the elaborate design bore a striking resemblance to a man's genitals and

social media users were quick to comment on the amusing photograph and agreed with the writer's

suggestion (Dailey, 2019). Such kind of social media attention can give a negative attitude and

discourage a woman from ever plaiting that hairstyle because she has seen how it has been perceived

by others therefore, she wouldn't want to labelled as the woman with a hairstyle that looks like a

man's genitals. Most social media platforms point out different hairstyle for different occasions like

weddings and professional hairstyles due to the fact that study has determined that black woman with

natural hairstyles are less likely to land job interviews than white women or black women with

straightened hair (Doyle, 2020). Researchers with Duke University's Fuqua School of Business,

discovered study participants viewed black hairstyles like afros, twists or braids as less professional

and this was most evident in fields with more conservative dress expectations.

A decade ago, hair trends and styles would remain relatively constant for as long as few years

at a time. However, the significant rise in social media use has resulted in most hairstyles and trends
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lasting for a maximum of a season or a few months and most of those online platforms include twitter,

Instagram, Facebook and among others which are so influential when it comes to deciding what

hairstyle to wear. Although celebrities would have had to rely on events such as red-carpet

appearances and magazine photo shoots to have some of influence on fashion trends by showing their

photos and posts on various social media platforms and fashion blogs that have become so popular

today. These photos and posts attract media attention but they have the ability to influence designers

and fans in a way that no other form of communication was even able to. As a result, when a celeb

posts a photo of her new hairstyle online, it can be duplicated by fans within a matter of hours

(Naramore 2020).

According to Viviscal hair expert, social media has become very influential in the world of

fashion, make up, hairstyling and trend setting. Boutiques, hairstylists and clothing designers check

Facebook and twitter before introducing new styles for their clients to pick from and most stylists get

ideas through YouTube videos, social media posts, links to photographs and fashion blogs so as to

keep up with the current changing trend. Most celebrities showcase their fashion ideas, impress other

people and launch new hair and fashion trends on a daily (Face of Malawi, 2020).

Actually, upon searching "Natural Hair Loves," "Amazing Natural Hair," and "Natural Hair

spot" are just a few of the first names that will pop up on Instagram when you type in the word

"Natural" in the search bar.

Hypothesis

1. Social media use and peer pressure are significantly related.

2. Peer pressure and women’s attitude towards hairstyles significantly related.

3. Social media use and women’s attitude towards hairstyles are significantly related.
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Chapter Three: Methodology

Introduction

This chapter presented the methodology that was applied in the study. It covered the research

design, the sample size and selection, instrument that was used, the procedure, data management, data

analysis, ethics, and limitations.

Research Design

A quantitative approach was used, which comprised of both descriptive and correlation study

designs. A correlation study design was used to enable the researcher to test relationships between

variables while a cross sectional study, involving a cross sectional survey was used to enable the

study of the part of the population within a given point in time for a short time to evaluate the

relationships among Social Media Use, Peer Pressure and Women’s Attitude Towards Hairstyles

Population

The study consisted of females aged 18 to 30 years ranging from teenagers, youths,

campusers(students), to working class based in Kampala district with a total population of 100.

Sample

Using Krejcie and Morgan table for determining sample size (Krejcie & Morgan, 1970),

women based in Kampala district were targeted to make a total sample of 100 for this study. This

inclusion of female’s participants of that age group, was ensured using stratified sampling method.

The strata will be 50 respondents between 18-24(teenagers and youths) and 50 respondents between

25-30(young adults and adults). Simple random sampling technique was used to select respondents

within the strata’s since it accords every member of the sample equal chance of participation.
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Instrument and Measurements

Already designed standardized close-ended questionnaires was used which comprised of four

sections.

Section A consisted of: The Bio Data of the respondents.

Section B: Peer Pressure and Women’s Attitude Towards Hairstyles.

Section C: Social Media Use and Women’s Attitude Hairstyles.

An online data collection tool was used to measure the relationship between Social Media
Use and Peer Pressure

Quality Control

Quality control ensures validity and reliability. Validity was ensured by having the supervisor

and other experts in research field verify validity of the questionnaire, where some items were re-

worded in order to suit the environment. Reliability was guaranteed by standardized instruments for

the collection of required information from all the participants..

Procedure

Approval to conduct this study was obtained from the university through issuance of an

introductory letter from the institute of psychology of Makerere University by the supervisor that the

researcher would further present to respondents to introduce the researcher so as to conduct this study.

Appointments were set with the respondents who were expected to participate in the research by first

being informed of the purpose of the study and its voluntary nature and consent of the respondents

was sought for. Questionnaires were administered during hair appointments while working on the

clients to buy time and multitask. Names of the respondents were not put on the questionnaire for the

purpose of ethical research.

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Using online data collection tool, respondents were presented with trending pictures of

hairstyles from different social media platforms indicating two versions of pictures(version one with

0-50 likes and version two with 100-500 likes, each respondent would view a photograph for 3

seconds and finally be asked to decide whether to like each image or press next to go to the next

picture, this was to see whether the respondent would either like or press next picture to measure the

relationship between social media use and peer pressure. The number of likes were manipulated by

the researcher.

Data Management

Information was coded as follows;

The Information under, ‘Bio data’

Age bracket 18-24, 25-30

Social class, student or working class

The information under Peer Pressure and Women’s Attitude Towards Hairstyles was coded as;

Strongly Agree=4, Agree=3, Disagree=2, Strongly Disagree=1

Information under Social Media Use and Women’s Attitude Towards Hairstyles was coded as; Very

Frequently=6, Frequently=5, Occasionally=4, Rarely=3, Very Rarely=2, Never=1.

Data Analysis

Data from the respondents were compiled, sorted, edited, classified and coded into a coding

sheet and analyzed using a computerized data analysis package known as Statistical Package for

Social Sciences (SPSS). The researcher used Pearson correlation to draw conclusions of the influence
 19

of peer pressure on Social Media Use, nonparametric test Statistics were used to draw conclusions on

the effect of Peer Pressure and Social Media Use on Women’s Attitude Towards Hairstyles.

Ethical Considerations

Informed consent was sought for with a proper informed consent of the participants, because

the research includes invasion of privacy. Informed consent means the procedure in which individuals

choose to participate in a research after being told the facts that would be likely to influence their

decision. The elements of informed consent that was used in this study include; competence,

voluntarism, full information and comprehension.

Confidentiality, this is a promise from the researcher that information provided by the

participant shall be confidentially treated by elimination of identifier such as names, use of crude

report categories like year of birth instead of date, and error inoculation which involves deliberately

introducing errors into individual records while leaving aggregate data unchanged.

Privacy, there was full right to privacy given to the respondents. These guaranteed security to

respondents according to issues such as sensitivity of the information, dissemination of information

and the settings as well as anonymity.

Limitations

The major constraint was interference with the researcher’s class activities and interfering

with work schedules because the researcher was required to spend a lot of time on doing the work to

meet datelines, which affected the balance between other class activities and the dissertation.

The researcher also experienced financial challenges in terms of accessing network

connection to look for literature works that suits her topic, as well as printing work for review by the

supervisor.
 20

Chapter Four: Presentation, Analysis and Interpretation of Results

Introduction

This chapter presents the analysis and interpretation of the study findings of social media use, peer

pressure and women’s attitude towards hairstyles based on information obtained from the study

questionnaire and online data collection tool. It specifically presents descriptive and findings in

relation to the specific objectives.

Descriptive Statistics

This section presents the general background information about the respondents in relation to their

age bracket, sex and social status(student or working class). Frequencies and percentages were used

to show the variations in the respondent’s characteristics.

Age, sex and status of the Respondents

Table 1: Showing age bracket of respondents and their social status

Age bracket Frequency(N) Percentage (%)

18-24 50 50
25-30 50 50
Total 100 100

Student 50 50
Working class 50 50
Total 100 100

Female 100 100

Total 100 100
source: primary data

Table 1 above shows that 50% respondents range between 18-24 while 50% respondents

range between 25-30. It also shows that 50% of the respondents are students while 50% respondents

are working class women and 100% of three respondent

 21

Analysis and Interpretation of Results

In this section, the study was guided by the following hypothesis;

1. Social Media Use and Peer Pressure are significantly related.

2. Peer Pressure has a positive influence on Women’s attitude towards hairstyles.

3. Social Media Use and women’s attitude towards hairstyles are significantly related.

Correlation between Social Media Use and Peer Pressure

Social Media Use Peer Pressure

Social Media Use Pearson correlation 1 -.686*

Sig. (2-tailed) .029

N 10 10

*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

The research hypothesis stated that social media use and peer pressure are significantly related.

From the table above, findings show that there is a significantly strong negative relationship between

Social Media Use and peer pressure (Pearson r=-0.0686, p=0.029). Since the p value is less than the

level of significance, the hypothesis is rejected and concluded that peer pressure doesn’t affect social

media use.
 22

Correlation between Peer Pressure and Women’s Attitude Towards Hairstyles.

Test Statistics

Yielding to Peer Pressure Resistance to Peer Pressure

Man- Whitney U 1165.500 416.500

Asymp. Dig. (2-tailed) .533 .000

Exact Sign. (2-tailed) .535 .000

Asymptomatic significance are displayed. The significance level is .05

The research hypothesis stated that Peer Pressure and women’s attitude towards hairstyles

are significantly related. Results from the table show that there is a positive significant relationship

between peer pressure and women’s attitude towards hairstyles (p=0.533>0.05). Since the p value is

greater than the level of significance, the hypothesis is retained and concluded that peer pressure has

a positive influence on women’s attitude towards hairstyles.

Correlation between Social Media Use and Women’s Attitude Towards Hairstyles.
Social Media Use and Women’s Attitude Towards
Hairstyles
Mann- Whitney U 867.500
Asymp. Sig.2-tailed)
.007
Exact Sig. (2-tailed) .007
Asymptomatic significance are displayed. The significance level is .05

The research hypothesis stated that social media use and women’s attitude towards hairstyles

are significantly related. Results from the table indicate that (p= 0.007<0.05). Since the P value is

less than the level of significance, the hypothesis is rejected and concluded that there is a negative

significant relationship between social media use and women’s attitude towards hairstyles.
 23

Chapter Five: Discussion, Conclusion and Recommendations.

Introduction

This chapter is a summary of the distribution of the research findings, conclusion and

recommendations.

Discussion

The Relationship between Social Media Use and Peer Pressure

The study findings indicate there was a significantly strong negative relationship between

Social Media Use and Peer Pressure. In simple terms, it means that’s the number of likes on a picture

of a specific hairstyle doesn’t influence one’s response (whether to like the picture or not) because

women have different reasons they would like a picture of a hairstyle. Most times it’s because they

imagine how it would look on them depending on the head shape they have, durability of a hairstyle,

convenience, maintenance costs, professionalism, time duration for plaiting and neatness of hair. The

fact that women have different tastes and preferences when it comes to hairstyles, it explains the

diversity and response towards pictures with different number of likes simply because as others prefer

packed hairstyles, others would prefer spaced ones, others prefer light to heavy hairstyles, others

consider simplicity compared to exaggerated styles, others prefer dull colors of hairstyles while others

prefer bold colors and the fact that others prefer natural hairstyles compared to artificial ones therefore

women have different tastes and preferences that’s why there decision to like a picture isn’t

influenced by the number of likes on a specific hairstyle.

The study findings are consistent with researchers from Duke University Fuqua School of

Business who discovered a study that participants viewed black hairstyles like afros, twists or braids

as less professional and this was most evident in fields with more conservative dress expectations.

This explains why women have different tastes and preferences as some of them consider
 24

professionalism of hairstyles due to the nature of work organization instead of considering

convenience and maintenance which makes them like hairstyles in line with what works for them

according to their social status.

However, the study findings were inconsistent with the study of (Sherman, 2016) who

discovered that viewing photos with many likes (compared to few likes) are associated with greater

activity in neural regions implicated in reward processing, social cognition, imitation and attention.

In addition, (Smith, Chein, Steinberg, 2014) replicated these behavioral effects when peers

were virtually connected, demonstrating that peer influence also occurs online (Cohen and Prinstein,

2006).

The Relationship between Peer Pressure and Women’s Attitude Towards Hairstyles.

The study findings indicate that there was significant relationship better Peer Pressure and

women’s Attitude Towards Hairstyles. This indicates that majority of women care more about what

their friends think as they always want to belong and fit in therefore they consult their peer concerning

their styles which intern influences their attitude towards hairstyles since they struggle more with

identity crisis, low self-esteem and other insecurities and even if most older women seem to know

what they want due to high self-esteem, confidence in themselves with high standards due to their

social status and have a firm identity, they still care about public opinion or what people will say or

think about them because society defines what is appropriate or not therefore this controls their

lifestyle hence most women conform to peer pressure because they wouldn’t want to go against the

cultural values and norms of their society which ends up influencing their attitude towards hairstyles

because of fear of stigmatization (called names) by society.

The study findings are consistent with (Sims, Lester, 2000) who discovered that black

women’s attitude towards hairstyles has Ben informed by societal pressure to adopt Eurocentric
 25

standards of straight hair because it makes them look more presentable and professional therefore

portraying an image outside and drawing respect from people.

The study findings as well is consistent with findings of (Xavier, 2013) who discovered that

cultural factors and norms put so much pressure on women to conform to what is seen as appropriate

so that they don’t send the wrong message for society to make them a topic of discussion. She

discovered that from ancient and prehistoric times, a woman’s fertility and ability to bear children

could be judged by the length of her hair as she grew older and mature while in our modern world,

native American women with long hair were always thought of as being outside the norm of organized

society.

The Relationship between Social Media Use and Women’s Attitude Towards Hairstyles.

The study findings indicate that there is a negative significant relationship between Social Media

Use and Women’s Attitude Towards Hairstyles. This can be explained in such a way that most women

of different kinds of social status for example campusers students, working class invest their time in

making sure they standout therefore even if they see that a picture looks good on someone on social

media platforms, they wouldn’t just go ahead and copy it straight away but consult with a few friends

first or even consider their head shape or if that hairstyle is one of their taste and preference when it’

comes to hairstyles. This means that a woman can decide on hairstyles depending on other factors

apart from just looking them up on social media no matter how many hours they spend on social

media searching for new ideas to keep up with the current trend in the world market. Therefore

however much they look up those ideas, most of them don’t end up liking the simply because they

are weighing their options and looking out for something specific that they might not even find on

social media. The fact that most women these days are comprised of the working class, they spend

less hours on social media therefore pay less attention to what is currently trending or even the time
 26

to search for those new ideas on social media and the fact that their busy work schedules and

responsibilities normally take enough of their time therefore by the time they get to rest, they wouldn’t

choose to stay up late on media platforms instead of resting. Out of all this, they just step into a salon

and allow the hairdresser decide for them or give them options they prefer or think could look good

on them therefore concluding that social media use doesn’t influences women’s attitude towards

hairstyles depending regardless of the social class.

The study findings are consistent with findings of (Lester, 2000), who discovered that hair is

directly linked to beauty and ambitious standards and a woman’s hair makes up who she is and can

have a positive or negative effect on her image as a whole therefore the multiple aspects of hair

including color, length, texture and pattern determine all types of various looks and styles a woman

can wear which is a way to reinvent herself therefore want something that identifies them interms of

creativity, autonomy and self expression. This implies that no matter how good a hairstyle looks on

social media, women consider the different multiple aspects and consult peers to help them give an

opinion on their choice since historically, black women’s choices about how to water their hair has

been informed by societal pressure to adopt Eurocentric standards of straight hair

However, the study findings are inconsistent with (Like, 2006) who also discovered that since

celebrities change their hairstyles frequently, ladies are influenced to get regular visits to the hair

salon and hairdressing industry that is currently trending so as to keep up with their social status.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there was a negative significant relationship between Social Media Use and Peer

Pressure with a Pearson’s correlation coefficient r= -0.686 at a significant level of p= 0.029. Implying

that the number of likes on pictures of hairstyles has no influence on women’s response whether to

like a picture or not due to differences in tastes and preferences.

 27

In conclusion, there was a significant relationship between Peer Pressure and women’s attitude

towards hairstyles at a level of significance of p= 0.533 meaning that women yield to peer pressure

due to insecurities, low self-esteem, struggle with identity crisis, influence from peers and society

still puts pressure on women to conform to what is seen as appropriate so that they don’t send the

wrong message for society to make them a topic of discussion.

It was also concluded that there was a negative significant relationship between Social Media

Use and Women’s Attitude Towards Hairstyles at a level of significance of p= 0.007 implying that

most working class women don’t have enough free time to look up for what’s trending, follow

celebrities on social media platforms and the fact that they have different tastes and preferences in

hairstyles, they would consider other factors instead of copying what they have seen on social media.

Recommendations

Following the above conclusions, these recommendations can be made;

More emphasis should be put on inquiring from women about their tastes and preferences in order

to understand what they think can personally work for them so as to boost their self-esteem, identity,

confidence in themselves and knowing what they want to reduce the insecurities they face on a daily

due to fear of what others will think or say about them.

Women should as well invest more time in discovering their identity, knowing who they are so

that they don’t have to rely on role models or celebrities and society to dictate or define who they

have to be yet they can make their own choices and be unique in their own way.
 28

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Appendices

Appendix I: Questionnaire

Dear respondent

I am Cynthia Alimolar form Makerere University majoring in psychology, carrying out a research on

social media use, peer pressure and women’s attitude towards hairstyles. You are requested to fill in

this questionnaire. Your name is not required and information collected or received from you will be

treated with high confidentiality and strictly for academic purposes so please feel free to participate

Section A: Bio Data/Social Demographic Data

Age: 18-24 25-30

Social class

a) Student

b) Working class
 32

Section B: Peer Pressure and Women’s Attitude Towards Hairstyles

For each of the following statements below tick the most appropriate answer to an extent to which

each of them applies to you. Do this by choosing one of the these; strongly agree, agree, disagree,

and strongly disagree.

Statements Strongly Agree Disagree Strongly

Agree Disagree

Yielding to peer pressure

I get my hairstyle ideas form my role model and other

celebrities

I get more interest on a specific hair style when my

friends motivate and persuade me to do it.

I care about what people will think or say about hair

styles & choose

I can easily choose to plait a specific hair style if I

have seen that it looks good on my friend.

I always consult my friends on what they think about

my next hair style.

Resistance to peer pressure

I always know what I want when choosing a hairstyle.

I take decisions without being influenced by my

friend’s suggestion

I always know what hairstyle looks good on me

 33

Section C: Social Media Use and Women’s Attitude Towards Hairstyles

For each of the following statements below tick the most appropriate answer to an extent to which

each of them applies to you.

Do this by choosing one of these; very frequently, frequently, occasionally, rarely, very rarely and

never.

Statements Very Frequently Occasionally Rarely Very Never

Frequently Rarely
I get most hair
hairstyle ideas from
social media
platforms
I usually copy
outstanding hairstyle
currently trending on
social media.
I always post pictures
of my new hair styles
on social media
I view comments
made on my posts.
I view comments
made on posts of
different hairstyles on
social media.
Thank you very much for your time and response
 34

Appendix II: Budget

Item Unit cost Details Amount

Pens 10 500 5,000

Staples 1 2000 2,000

Ream of paper 1 20000 20,000

Data collection 300/=@questionnaire 100 30,000

Printing the proposal 100/=@page 64 6,400

Telephone (calls) 1000/=@day 20 20,000

Binding the proposal 5000/=@copy 2 10,000

Internet 1000/=@hour 20 20,000

Transport - 50000 50,000

Printing and binding 15000 3 45,000

dissertation

Total 208,400