ABSTRACT
The study examines the influence of peer group pressure on
adolescent smoking habits in some selected secondary schools in Ifako Ijaiye,
Local Government area of Lagos State. Influence of peer group pressure on
adolescent smoking habits has more than ever before being posing serious threat
to adolescent health. As such, government, parents and the society have seen
the need to find a lasting solution to curbing the menace of smoking among
adolescents.
The study has the
following major objectives; to examine the effects of peer group pressure on
adolescent smoking habits; to analyze the negative effects of smoking on
adolescent’s health; and to examine the counter-measures and their potency to
smoking among adolescents.
The study utilizes data from both
primary and secondary sources. For the primary data, a questionnaire field
survey was employed. The source of the secondary data includes textbooks,
periodicals and internet materials.
The study brings out some salient findings. One, smoking is a
behavior that is not only fostered by environments in which peers and family
members smoke but also by large scale media campaigns advertising tobacco
products. Two, peer pressure is not always negative. In fact, there is more of
positive peer influence than negative. Three, adolescent that smoke do so for
fear of been rejected by his peer group. The study revealed that parents,
society and the government amongst others are doing all possible to stop
adolescents from smoking. By so doing, it is felt that they will be more useful
to themselves and the society.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title page i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgment iv
Abstract v
Table of contents vi
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 Introduction 1
1.1 Background
to the study 2
1.2 Statement
of problem 7
1.3 Significance
of the Study 8
1.4
Purpose of study 9
1.5 Objective
of the Study 10
1.6
Research questions 10
1.7 Research
hypotheses 11
1.8
Definitions of terms 12
1.9
Limitations 13
CHAPTER TWO
2.1 Concept
of peer and peer pressure 14
2.2 Concept
of adolescent and smoking habits 15
2.3 Causes
of peer pressure 17
2.4 Types
of peer pressure 19
2.5 Why
do adolescents smoke 23
2.6 Health
effects of adolescent smoking habit 27
2.7 Preventing
adolescent smoking habit 28
CHAPTER THREE
3.0 Methodology 34
3.1 Design
of the study 34
3.2 Area
of the study 35
3.3 Population 35
3.4 Sample
and sampling techniques 35
3.5 Instrumentation 35
3.6 Administration 36
3.7 Procedure
for data analysis 36
CHAPTER FOUR
4.0 Data
Analyses and Interpretation 37
4.1 Table
analysis of personal data 37
4.2 Table
of sex distribution 37
4.3 Data
analysis of table 3 38
4.4 Data
analysis of table 4 39
4.5 Data
analysis of table 5 40
4.6 Data
analysis of table 6 41
4.7 Data
analysis of table 7 42
4.8 Data
analysis of table 8 43
4.9
Data analysis of table 9 44
4.10 Data analyses of table 10 45
CHAPTER FIVE
5.0 Discussion
of findings Summary, Conclusion and 46
Recommendations
5.1 Discussion
of Findings 46
5.2
Summary 47
5.3
Conclusion 49
5.4
Recommendations 49
References
Questionnaire
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 Introduction
This research work aims at critically examine
influence of peer pressure on adolescents smoking habits in some selected
schools in Lagos state, Nigeria.
In
young people, youth peer pressure is one of the most frequently referred to
forms of peer pressure. It is particularly common because most youth spend
large amounts of time in fixed groups (schools and subgroups within them)
regardless of their opinion of those groups. In addition to this, they may lack
the maturity to handle pressure from ‘friends’.
Also,
young people are more willing to behave negatively towards those who are not
members of their own groups. However, youth peer pressure can also have
positive effects.
For example, if one is involved with a group
of people that are ambitious and working to succeed, one might feel pressured
to follow suit to avoid feeling excluded from the group.
Teenagers feel like they need to be in the
same group to be ‘cool’ or “in”. Therefore, the youth would be pressured into
improving themselves, thus, having a better future. This is most commonly seen
in youths that are active in sports or other extracurricular activities where
conformity with one’s peer group is strongest.
1.1 Background
to the study:
Peer groups are a
normal, necessary and healthy part of adolescent development. As teenagers are
struggling to develop a personal identity and become less dependent on parents,
peer groups provide the security of a ‘’safety net’’. Peer groups provide an
opportunity for teenagers to interact with equals.
Their friends give teen’s companionship,
emotional support, and a sense of belonging. Peer information, and practice
social skills. Teens learn that they aren’t alone in feeling scared and
insecure, and that others have problems too.
Peer
relationships can be a powerful positive influence on the lives of adolescents.
Natural observations of adolescents indicate that most adolescents discuss
options with their friends before reaching a consensus about what to do.
Rarely is one
adolescent pressured to conform to the rest of the group. Moreover, secondary
school students in several large samples reported that their friends
discouraged drug and alcohol use, delinquent activities, and other types of
antisocial behaviour more than they encourage them; they also claimed their
friends encouraged studying for school subjects more than they discouraged it.
Some adolescents even display anticonformity,
rejecting their peer’s judgements, and making different decisions altogether.
Friendships inherently limit the use and effectiveness of coercive pressure
because they are relationships based on equality and mutual respect;
consequentially, decisions are made by negotiation, not domination.
Adolescents
choose friends who have characteristics or talents that they admire, which
motivate them to achieve and act as their friends acts. Friends encourage
adolescents to study hard at school and can also help them think more creatively.
High-achieving
peers have positive effects on adolescents’ satisfaction with school,
educational expectations, report card grades, and standardised achievement test
scores.
Students with friends who like school, get
good grades, and are interested in school. Also they are more likely to finish
secondary school. Hence, having friends who believe that academic achievement
is important is beneficial for adolescents.
Peer influences
can also be very negative. Unhealthy, destructive peer groups can cause much
pain and suffering for both parents and teenagers. Teens whose friends are
involved in risky behaviours, illegal activities or experimenting with drugs,
may easily be persuaded to join in.
Parents may dislike their teenagers’ friends,
and possibly for good reasons, but it is impossible to force teens to choose
healthy friends. Most often, when teens are forced to choose between their
parents or their peer group, they choose their friends.
The successful
formation and navigation of interpersonal relationships with peers is a process central to
adolescent development in all cultures.
In European – American cultural context and
ever including amount of each day is spent under of peer pressure, from 10
percent as early as two years of age to forty percent between the ages of seven
and eleven.
By secondary
school, teens are spending more than half of their time in the company of their
peers (Updegraff, Mchale, Crouter and Kupanof, 2001).
Because
adolescents spend a large amount of their time with peers, it is not surprising
that they play a highly influential role in adolescents’ lives. The
credibility, authority, power, and influence of peers are greater during
adolescence than at any other time in life (Cooper, 1994).
Although the
process of socialization and individuation occurs in all cultures, the
developmental time frame, goals, and practices are often unique.
In the United States, the adolescents’
developmental path is characterized by a transfer in closeness from parents to
peers. In comparison with the emphasis placed by European – American cultures
on individualism, other cultures, Asian and African cultures in particular,
accentuate the socialization of ‘’interdependence, self-control, social
inhibition, and compliance’’. For example, the peer like mutuality with which
adolescents negotiate with their parents during their high school years is a
uniquely European – American construct (Chen, Greenberger, Lester, Dong, and
Guo, 1998).
Adolescence is a
time when peers play an increasingly important role in the lives of youth.
Teens begin to develop friendships that are more intimate, exclusive, and more
constant than in earlier years. In many ways, these friendships are an
essential component of development.
They provide safe
venues where youths can explore their identities where they can feel accepted
and where they can develop a sense of belongingness. Friendship also allow
youth to practice and foster social skills necessary for future success.
Nonetheless,
parents and other adults can become concerned when they see their teens
becoming preoccupied with their friends.
Many parents worry that their teens will fall
under peer influence or reject their families’ values and beliefs as well as
are pressured to engage in high-risks and other negative behaviours.
In reality, peer
influence is very complex. First, peer influence can be both positive and
negative. While we tend to think that peer influence leads teens to engage in
unhealthy and unsafe behaviours, it can actually motivate youth to study harder
in school, volunteer for community and social services, and participate in
sports and other productive endeavours.
In fact, most
teens report that their peers pressure them not to engage in drug use and
sexual activity.
Second, peer
influence is not a simple process where youth are passive recipients of
influence from others. In fact, peers who become friends tend to already have a
lot of things in common. Peers with similar interests, similar academic
standing, and enjoy doing the same things tend to gravitate towards each other.
So while it seems that teens and their friends
become very similar to each other through peer influence, much of that
similarity was present to begin with.
1.2 Statement
of the problem:
The influence of
peer group pressure on adolescents smoking habit is gaining momentum and
skyrocketing as each day passes by and there is urgent need to curtail this
issue before it gets out of hands and make the future leaders of tomorrow’s
dreams, vision and potentials short lived (Akinsanya, 2010).
There is a lot of
issue about the negative influence of “peer pressure” on teenagers these days.
People also often forget that peer pressure can apply to all age groups, and
that peer influence can also be positive.
The old saying ‘birds of the same feather or
of a feather lock together is true because if you are not like your peers, then
your peers will be like you and also the peers you hang up with eventually will
make you think and act like them or vice versa.
Negative peer
pressure can make teens do many different things. They can be pressured into
shoplifting ,robbery, drinking, smoking and doing drugs ,such as cocaine,
marijuana, e.t.c, illicit sex that can lead to unwanted pregnancy, abortion,
HIV/AIDS e.t.c, that can mar their dreams, vision , talents and potentials.
These adolescents are the future leaders of tomorrow.
This research
work has come to lime light due to the above mentioned problems with aim of
examining the impact of peer pressure on adolescents smoking habits and
proffering necessary solutions to remedy the situation.
1.3 Significance of the study:
There cannot be a better time to work on this
research topic “the critical impact of peer group pressure on adolescents
smoking habits” than now especially when the smoking rate among adolescents and
other undesirable behavioural attitude is skyrocketing among our youths these
days.
This study would be of great importance to
adolescents and youths, students, parents, teachers, Counsellors, Government
and the entire nation at large.
The information contained herein would help
all stake holders, especially parents and counsellors to help monitor and help
their children and wards from being a victim of peer pressure on adolescents
smoking habits.
The study would also be of great benefits to
teachers and individuals that are role models and mentors to adolescents and
youths.
Finally, the study would enlighten the
teachers on how to handle peer group pressure among adolescents and also the
smoking habit among these adolescents and other adolescents’ behaviour caused
by peer group pressure.
1.4 Purpose of the study
Generally, the research intend to carry a
survey on the influence of peer group pressure on adolescent smoking habit in
some selected secondary schools in Ifako Ijaiye Local Government area in Lagos
State. In specific terms, the purpose of this study is to:
1.
Examine whether there will be any influence of peer group pressure on adolescent smoking habit.
2.
Examine whether there will be any societal influence on adolescent
smoking habit.
3.
Examine whether there will be any influence of government on
adolescent smoking habit.
4.
Examine whether there will be any influence of school in adolescent
smoking habit.
1.5 Objectives of the study
The
objectives of the study are:
1.
To examine the effects of peer group pressure on adolescent smoking
habits.
2.
To analyze the negative effects of smoking on adolescent’s health.
3.
To examine the counter-measures and their potency to smoking among adolescents.
1.6 Research questions:
For the purpose
of this research work, emphasis would be laid on the research topic: the influence
of peer group pressure on adolescents smoking habits.
Also, answers with in-depth explanations would
be provided to the following research questions below:
1.
Will there be any influence of peer group pressure on adolescents’
smoking habit?
2.
Will there be any societal influence on adolescents’ smoking habit?
3.
Will there be any influence of government on adolescents’ smoking
habit?
4.
Will there be any influence of school on adolescents’ smoking
habit?
1.7 Research hypotheses:
To ensure a more detailed and result oriented
research, hypotheses are formulated and tested on the research objectives.
The decision criteria is to accept the null
hypothesis (Ho) and reject the alternative hypothesis (H1) or otherwise based
on the result of the test carried out.
The hypotheses are stated below:
1.
There is no significant influence of peer group pressure on adolescents’ smoking habits.
2.
There is no significant societal influence on adolescents’ smoking
habits.
3.
There is no significant influence of government on adolescents
smoking habits.
4.
There is no significant school influence on adolescents’ smoking
habits.
1.8 Definiton of major terms:
Peer group:
A peer group is a
social group of humans. Peer groups are an informal primary group of people who
share a similar or equal status and who are usually of roughly the same age and
interact within the social aggregate.
Peer pressure:
Peer pressure refers to the influence
exerted by a peer group in encouraging a person to change his or her attitudes,
values, or behavior in order to conform to group norms.
It can equally be
described as instances where an individual feels indirectly pressured into
changing their behavior to match that of their peers. Taking up smoking is one
of the best known examples.
Adolescent:
Adolescent will
be seen as a young person developing from a child into an adult i.e. persons
between the ages of 13 and 18.
Smoking:
Smoking is
defined as the practice where cigarettes or tobacco is burned and the vapors
either tasted or inhaled.
Habit:
Habit is defined
as a thing that one does often and almost without thinking, especially
something that is hard to stop doing.
1.9 Limitations:
The population of this study will be all
secondary schools in Lagos State and samples were limited to members of Senior
Secondary School (SS2). The result obtained from this study would not be
generalised to all schools in Nigeria.
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