peer group influence

Influence of peer groups in academic performance
Of high school students in school

Thesis statement:
Aims to determine the relationship of high school students on their peer groups, how they treat each other inside and outside the school premises and its influence on their academic performance in school.

Introduction:
High school Students cluster inside the campus, regard as peer group. Belonging to a group derives satisfaction where it creates a feeling of general well-being in individual. Peer group has in one way or the other influenced the life of students both academically socially, morally, psychologically and otherwise. The peer group maybe a dominant factor to consider in academic achievement of students in school. Acceptance by the group depends on the conformity. The influence of peers can be both positive and negative. On the positive side, it can serve as an important incentive for adolescents to perform well in school. On the negative side, peer influence can lead to discipline problems and delinquent behaviors both inside and outside school. Thus, the values of peers can play an important role in students’ educational experiences and outcomes. Most education takes place on group situation. The group impact and influence on its members is so strong that it takes the group as a whole to support the learning process. On way of looking at influence is to consider students who are involved in school activities such as sports, drama, student council and other activities tend to do better in school; however it is important factor on the students who believe that education is valuable, that they tend to do better in school.

This paper deals with the study on peer groups, on how to be aware not only of their role but also of the changes that might come up to the student, because of their influence.

What kinds of friends do high school students have? Are their friends interested in learning and studying and in participating in social activities? Do they belong to a group that likes to indulge in risk-taking activities? Do their patterns of peer association change over the course of their enrollment in high school? These questions can be addressed by a series of questions appearing in the first and second follow-up surveys of NELS:88, in which students were asked to report on the importance they felt their friends placed on various activities or goals. Their responses are presented in figure 1.
Figure 1. Percentage of students reporting that their friends consider it very imiportant to do the following things: 1990 and 1992

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, , National
Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, First and Second Follow-Up Surveys.
As the survey results show, most high school students had friends who cared about school learning and achievement. For example, in 1990, a majority of high school sophomores (81 percent) reported that their friends considered finishing high school very important. While about one-third of them (36 percent) thought that their friends valued studying, half or more reported that their friends placed high priority on attending class (58 percent), getting good grades (51 percent), and continuing education after high school (53 percent). Although this general pattern remained fairly stable after two years when most of these students were seniors, there were some differences. As seniors, these students perceived their friends as placing somewhat less emphasis on class attendance and good grades, but more on higher education than they did two years previously when they were sophomores.4
While the majority of high school students reported having friends who cared about learning, some of them also said they had friends who were highly interested in social activities. In 1990, more than one-third (36 percent) of high school sophomores said that their friends considered it very important to be popular with their peers. About one fourth of the sophomores also described their friends as being very interested in playing sports (29 percent) and having a steady boyfriend or girlfriend (22 percent). These proportions, however, declined after two years, when the majority of the sophomores were seniors. In the senior year, for example, one-fifth of these students (21 percent) described their friends as being interested in playing sports, one-fourth of them (28 percent) thought that their friends were very interested in being popular with their peers, and less than one-sixth of them (16 percent) said their friends considered having a boyfriend or girlfriend very important.
In 1992, a small proportion of sample members reported that they had friends who considered having sex, using drugs, and drinking very important. As shown in figure 1, one in every five sample members (21 percent) thought that having sex was very important to his or her friends. About 10 percent thought that their friends considered drinking very important and 3 percent responded that using drugs was very important to their friends. The influence of these friends on an adolescent 's school learning would be an important topic for researchers to pursue in the future.
Peer Groups According to Students ' Demographic and Academic Characteristics
Do male and female students differ in their choice of friends in high school? Do students from different social and racial-ethnic backgrounds have different kinds of friends? Do academically oriented students associate with like-minded peers? The following analyses address these questions. To simplify the analyses, factor analysis was first conducted on the items shown in figure 1 separately for both the 1990 and 1992 data (see the technical appendix of this report for the actual factor loading). A series of bivariate analyses were then performed to compare students from different demographic and academic backgrounds in terms of their peer association.
Peer groups. Three factors emerged from this factor analysis, each corresponding to a distinctive value students perceived their friends to have (table 1). The first factor, seen in both the 1990 and 1992 data, consisted of the items relating to the degree of importance students ' friends placed on school learning. The second factor, also seen in both surveys, consisted of items that described the degree of importance students ' friends placed on social activities. The third factor, based only on 1992 data, included items that measured the extent to which students ' friends placed importance on engaging in delinquent behaviors. Each factor described the kinds of friends students had in high school--i.e., learning-oriented peers, socially active peers, and those oriented toward delinquent activities. All three factors were continuous standardized variables, with a mean of 0 and standard deviation of 1 on the sample used in the study. When a student had a higher score on a particular factor (e.g., factor I), this indicates that his or her friends valued more these things summarized by this factor (e.g., school learning). Students could also have friends that valued more than one factor (e.g., socializing and academics.
Table 1. Peer groups identified by NELS follow-up data in 1990 and 1992
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Factor Students ' friends emphasizing
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I School learing and achievement (in 1990 and 1992 data) Attending class regularly Studying Getting good grades Finishing high school Continuing education after high school II Social activities (in 1990 and 1992 data) Playing sports Being popular with students Having a steady boy/girlfriend III Engaging in delinquent activities (only in 1992 data) Having sexual relations Using drugs Drinking
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SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, ,
National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, First and Second Follow-Up Surveys.
Male versus female students. Male and female students differed with respect to the value orientations of their friends. As shown in table 2, in 1990, male students were more likely than their female counterparts to have friends who took school learning seriously (i.e., the factor mean for females is 0.16, larger than that of-0.12 for males). Males, on the other hand, were more likely than females to associate with peers who placed emphasis on social activities. Two years later (1992), these gender differences changed little.
Male and female students also differed in the extent to which they associated with another type of friend--i.e., one who valued engaging in delinquent behaviors. Based on the 1992 data, male students were more likely than female students to report that they had friends who considered it important to engage in delinquent behaviors.5
Table 2. Importance that students ' friends place on school learning, social activities, and engaging in delinquent behaviors, by student demographic and academic characteristics: 1990 and 1992
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SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, , National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, First and Second Follow-Up Surveys.
Minority versus white students. In both 1990 and 1992, Asian/Pacific Islander students were more likely than white students to report having learning-oriented friends. On the other hand, Asian/Pacific Islander students were less likely than their white peers to have friends who were interested in sex, drugs, and drinking. This finding is consistent with a recent study conducted by researchers from Stanford University and the University of Wisconsin that found that Asian-American students tend to form academically focused groups that study together, encourage each other, and strive for high grades (Leslie 1996).
Contrary to past research that has hypothesized a "disidentification" with academic achievement among black students (Steele 1992), 10th-grade black students in 1990 were more likely than white students to describe their friends as being academically minded (i.e., the factor mean for black students is 0.24, compared to -0.02 for whites). This difference, however, was not apparent after two years (1992).6 Black students in 1992 were less likely than their white counterparts to describe their friends as being interested in engaging in delinquent behaviors.7 Previous studies indicated that black students tend to disdain academic accomplishment, sometimes dismissing it as "acting white" (Ogbu 1985). Whether this explains the change observed here needs further investigation, however.
In both the 1990 and 1992 surveys, no differences were found between Hispanic or American Indian/Alaskan Native students and their white counterparts in the extent to which they associated with learning-oriented friends. While Hispanic 10th-graders were less likely than white students to have friends who emphasized social activities, no other differences were found between minorities and whites in the association with such friends.
Students from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Students from high-SES families were more likely than low-SES students to have friends who emphasized school learning and achievement. This pattern appeared to be quite stable throughout the high school years and is consistent with previous findings by Coleman ( 1961 ) and Hollingshead (1949). Interestingly, students with different SES backgrounds did not differ significantly in terms of their association with peers who emphasized social activities or engaging in delinquent behaviors.
Students from different academic backgrounds. There is reason to believe that students who care about learning are more likely to associate with peers who share this interest than those who have less interest in learning. This belief is supported by the data shown in the lower panel of table 2, where three measures of academic background were examined: (1) educational expectations in the 10th grade; (2) average GPA in reading, mathematics, science, and social studies from the 9th to 10th grades; and (3) whether a student had ever repeated a grade since the first grade.
As expected, students who had higher educational expectations, obtained a higher GPA, and had never repeated a grade were more likely to have learning-oriented friends throughout high school years than those who had lower expectations, had a lower GPA, or had been retained in a grade. Differences were especially large between students who expected to pursue college or graduate education and those who expected only high school graduation and between students who had an A average and those who had a D average.
Academically strong students were less likely than their academically weak counterparts to have friends who valued delinquent behaviors. However, few differences existed in terms of students ' association with peers who were interested in social activities. This suggests that while students with different academic backgrounds distinctively chose friends who cared about (or did not care about) learning, or who thought engaging (or not engaging) in delinquent behaviors important, they equally liked (or did not like) to have friends who were fond of social activities.
How Does Students ' Peer Association Relate to Their Educational Outcomes?
What are the educational outcomes for students who associate with learning-oriented friends, "socially active" peers, or peers who think having sex, using drugs, and drinking are very important? Table 3 presents an answer to this question. Six educational outcomes were examined in this investigation: (1) reading proficiency level in the 12th grade; (2) math proficiency level in the 12th grade; (3) dropping out of school at least once between 9th and 12th grade; (4) enrollment in an academic program in high school; (5) high school graduation status in 1994; and (6) postsecondary education attendance in 1994. Since students ' gender, race-ethnicity, and SES were related to the kinds of friends they chose (see table 2), and it is also well known that these demographic characteristics are correlated with the set of educational outcomes examined here, these relationships were investigated after adjusting for these student characteristics.8 For reading and mathematics proficiency level in 12th grade, a composite score of 10th-grade achievement in reading, mathematics, science, and social studies was also included for additional adjustment.9
As shown in table 3, while students ' association with "socially active" peers seemed to be unrelated to their educational outcomes, their association with "learning-oriented" or "delinquent-type" peers did relate to their success in school. For example, compared with students with friends who showed a relatively low level of interest in learning, those with friends who cared most about school learning were less likely to drop out of school, and more likely to be enrolled in an academic program, to reach an advanced level of reading and math proficiency during their last year of high school, to graduate from high school, and to continue their education after high school.
Students with friends who placed importance on pursuing sex, drugs, and drinking differed markedly in terms of their educational performance. For instance, students ' association with more such friends was related to a higher rate of dropping out of school, a lower rate of being enrolled in an academic program in high school, graduating from high school, and continuing their education after high school. It should be noted that all of these relationships were estimated after controlling for students ' SES, race-ethnicity, and gender, and that for reading and mathematics proficiency, the estimation also controlled for 10th-grade achievement.
Summary and Implication for Future Research
The results presented in this report suggested that high school students differed significantly in their choice of friends. Some students had friends who were concerned with school learning and achievement. Some had friends who valued dating, playing sports, or being popular with their peers. A smaller proportion liked to associate with those who were interested in having sex, using drugs, and drinking. The results presented in this report further demonstrated that the kinds of friends students had in high school were related to a wide range of important educational outcomes, after holding constant important demographic characteristics and previous academic achievement. Although it remains unclear at this point whether peer association had a causal and independent influence on students ' learning, the results of this study clearly suggested that students who had more "learning-oriented" friends tended to perform better in school than other students over the course of their schooling, and students who spent time with those interested in delinquent activities were less likely to experience success in school.
Based upon these results, future research may pursue: (1) identifying factors related to students ' choice of friends; (2) incorporating school characteristics to explore whether students attending different types of schools associate with different kinds of peers; and (3) investigating the effect of peer associations on students ' learning and other important educational indicators, such as course-taking behavior or dropping out of school.
References
Coleman, J.S. (1961). The Adolescent Society. New York: The Free Press.
Epstein, J.L. and Karweit, N. (1983). Friends in Schools:Patterns of Selection and Influence in Secondary Schools. New York, Academic Press.
Hollingshead, A.B. (1949). Elmtown 's Youth. New York: Wiley.
Ingels, S.J., Scott, L.A., Lindmark, J.T., Frankel, M.R., and Myers, S.L. (1992). NELS:88 First Follow-Up: Student Component Data File User 's Manual. NCES 92-030. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement.
Leslie, C. (1996). "Will Johnny Get A 's?" Newsweek 72 (July 8).
Ogbu, J.U. (1985). "The Consequences of the American Caste System." In The School Achievement of Minority Children. ' New Perspectives, ed. V. Neisser. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 19-56.
Steele, C.M. (April 1992). "Race and Schooling of Black Americans." Atlantic Monthly, 68-78
A sorority is an association composed of women who have common interests or who share a common trait. One of the most famous types is the North American college sorority, although similar college groups can be found in other regions of the world as well. Women can also form social associations outside of the college framework. The primary goal of such groups is to create a bond among the women through their common membership. Though these associations are typically composed only of women, some do allow men to join.
In college sororities, prospective members usually attend events during a period early in the semester that is designated as “rush week.” During rush week, people can visit different groups to get a feel for each one 's members and style. If a student wants to join, she submits an application, and the existing members vote on the applications at the end of rush week, using their interactions with prospective members as a guideline. Many also have academic requirements, such as a minimum grade point average.
Once accepted into the group, new members undergo initiation to become full members. Initiations at sororities and fraternities are infamous, and some colleges have enacted rules designed to protect student safety in initiations. Dangerous hazing activities are often explicitly banned, and pledges are informed that they have the right to refuse to participate in initiation activities that conflict with their safety or religious beliefs. Despite this, initiation can be dangerous or traumatizing for some initiates.
Many college fraternities are established with academic criteria for membership. People who wish to join typically participate in activities that take place over the course of a week at the start of a semester. Since most colleges with a system have multiple fraternities, these events usually take place during the same week for all groups, allowing people to explore all their options. This period is known as “rush week.”
After rush week, current members of the fraternity decide which new members should be voted in. Traditionally, new pledges participate in an initiation ceremony that has historically been accompanied by hazing challenges. Due to concerns about the risks of hazing that involve dangerous activities and drinking, many colleges have explicitly banned it in the interest of student safety. Some colleges have also cracked down on fraternity parties in response to complaints from other students and the surrounding community.

References: Coleman, J.S. (1961). The Adolescent Society. New York: The Free Press. Epstein, J.L. and Karweit, N. (1983). Friends in Schools:Patterns of Selection and Influence in Secondary Schools. New York, Academic Press. Hollingshead, A.B. (1949). Elmtown 's Youth. New York: Wiley. Leslie, C. (1996). "Will Johnny Get A 's?" Newsweek 72 (July 8). Ogbu, J.U. (1985). "The Consequences of the American Caste System." In The School Achievement of Minority Children. ' New Perspectives, ed. V. Neisser. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 19-56. Steele, C.M. (April 1992). "Race and Schooling of Black Americans." Atlantic Monthly, 68-78 A sorority is an association composed of women who have common interests or who share a common trait