“Peer Group Influence in Relation to the Academic Performance"

Quantitative research is done to find the accurate facts by evaluating the problems like opinion, behaviour by using numerical data. This research is based on theories, hypothesis, collecting, analysing the data to make the research accurate.

Peer pressure is the influence a peer group has on its members to fit into a particular way of thinking and behaving. When children are very young the major influences in their lives are their family and caregivers. Behaviour, attitudes and expectations in young children are learned from the modelling of others. This is the way we all learn, first from caregivers and then we include our peers when we start school and attend any activity away from family. Our Peers have a considerable influence on our behaviour and outlook on life as we all learn together. Youth spend large amounts of time with Peers, who are learning about themselves as they grow up.

It also provides a social context to learning values as I learn and as I teach my children to socialize through childhood to adulthood. To teach them good values as to be considerate of others, try hard to succeed and to be a good student. Peer Groups, are the second main socialized agent in my life because without my friends I couldn’t have made through all the bearing times of my life. They have always been very influential in shaping my values and behaviors through he course of my life. Without family and friends I would be not the strong influential and successful person I am today with my social status for well being.

As I went through the research process for this paper I conducted many interviews with former classmates who are now either attending a four-year university or a local community college. The original intent was to find out their reasons for attending the institution they chose to attend. As I accumulated information I began to see a glaring trend in the relationship between the social group the individual was a member of and the college they ended up attending. This then drove me to further examine the influencing factors in these students’ social lives, in a hope of identifying the degree to which they are influenced by each other. Thus, the first part of the paper explores

Becoming a nurse requires extensive schooling and training that for most students causes considerable amounts of stress to be placed on their success for the future. Nursing school places students in an environment that is rigorous and competitive which in turn results in high-stress levels experienced by these students. The stress inflicted on these students causes them to experience health problems along with deterring them from completing their studies. Additionally, the pressure and struggles these students are facing are being ignored by those placing them under these conditions, ignoring the fact that the educators of these students are responsible for ensuring the well-being of these students. Proven that nursing students experience more stress than the average college undergraduate, the stress inflicted on nursing students by their educational process results in students that are less likely to succeed and that are overall less healthy both physically and mentally.

Quantitative research methods are objective as it uses measurements and analysis of statistical data to answer the study question. The researchers’ opinions do not affect the outcome of the study, ensuring that the study is unbiased. Another advantage is quantitative research uses numbers and statistics which is understood universally (Houser,2008).

To better understand the role of peer groups on adolescent behavior, we must first examine its origin in contemporary society. Industrialization in the

A quantitative study has objective stances, logic, and numbers focusing on unchanging data and details (Babbie, E.R., 2010). The aim of quantitative research is to classify features, count the features, and construct statistical models to explain what was observed (McNabb, D.E., 2008). It has eight characteristics:

This paper will address and evaluate the research problem itself, the design of the study, the sample, how the data is collected, its limitations, and its findings. Furthermore, how does this study impact the overall nursing process?

Peer Group (pg. 75) - a group of individuals often of roughly the same age, who are linked by common interests and orientations

William Damon is an educator/researcher on psychology and education. In William Damon’s work, he has proposed that children’s friendships are developed in three specific stages. In Level 1, children are about 4-7 years old. During this level children see each other as momentary playmates. During this stage children are all about having fun, with limited perspectives. Children want things their way and do not wish to hear different opinions other than their own. As the child gets older, at the age of 8-10 years old a more profound friendship is formed, this is called Level 2. During this time a child start to build trust and start to think of other rather than just themselves. Children learn the value of sharing and learn how to compromise. Lastly, Level 3 is during the approximate age of 11- 15 years old. During this time, friends are valued the most to a child. This is a more mature stage where children build trustful relationships and a high level of emotional closeness is built. Regardless of age cliques and crowds always develop among children and adults. A clique is a group of member that share common interests, often are of the same gender. The members of the group are often labeled or stereotyped. Crowds are very similar to cliques, both shape the minds of children on how they should act or how they should be. Both add pressure to adolescents under peer pressure such as drinking, smoking, skipping school, or sex in order to fit it. Cliques and crowds develop as a way

Growing up children will experience some form of peer pressure at some point in their live.Peer pressure is defined as the control and influence teenagers have over each other. Peer pressure can occur in many kinds of relationships. Becoming a member of a peer group is one of the immediate effects becoming a teenager.. Peer groups influence teenage society and identity by allowing young people to explore individual interests while retaining a sense of belonging and status within a group of friends.

Quantitative Research- a research based on experimental data, a survey that proves the actuality of the theory.

In study after study, peer pressure is associated in adolescents of all ethnic and racial backgrounds with at-risk behaviors such as cigarette smoking, truancy, drug use, sexual activity, fighting, shoplifting, and daredevil stunts. Again, peer group values and attitudes influence more strongly than do family values the level of teenage alcohol use. The more accepting peers are of risky behavior, and the more they participate in that behavior, the more likely a person is to do the same thing.

To conduct quantitative research, the first step is defining the problem, identifying the objectives and goals, and establishing research questions or hypothesis. It is followed by data collection and analysis with the application of various numerical and statistical approaches. Quantitative research is more factual in terms that we get concrete data with evidence to prove the results of our research.