| dc.description.abstract | A favorable school atmosphere, in which learners are well behaved, is one of the greatest concerns of education stakeholders. Although studies have reported a number of factors that lead to misbehavior among students in schools, peer pressure is reported to contribute up to 53% of cases of students’ misbehavior. Ministry of Education records document that 13 schools faced arson attacks in the year 2021 in Homa Bay County. These reports further highlight that the involved students were victims of substance and drug abuse. The report on HIV/AIDS prevalence by the National Aids and STI control programme also shows that Homa Bay county had a high prevalence rate of 20.6% with girls aged between 14 and 25 years heavily affected, which is considerably higher than the national average of 4.8%. Reports further show an average of 64 teenage pregnancies for every 10000 people in the sub county which is higher than those reported by neighboring sub counties. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of students and administrators on the role of peer pressure in predicting selected students’ behavior in secondary schools in Homa Bay Town Sub County Kenya. The objectives were: to investigate the perception of students and administrators on the role of peer pressure in predicting risky sexual behavior among secondary schools’ students in Homa Bay Town Sub-County, Kenya, to assess the perception of students and administrators on the role of peer pressure in predicting violent behavior among secondary school students in secondary schools in Homa Bay Town Sub-County, Kenya, and to determine the perception of students and administrators on the role of peer pressure in predicting drugs and substance use behavior among secondary schools’ students in Homa Bay Town Sub-County, Kenya. The target population was 10761 students and 33 deputy principals in the 33 secondary schools in Homa Bay Town Sub-County. Stratified and simple random sampling was used to select 30 secondary schools from which 30 deputy principals were selected. Three hundred and seventy students were selected by simple random sampling. Descriptive survey research design was adopted to find out the perception of students and deputy principals on peer pressure as a predictor of Students' sexual behavior, violent behavior, and substance and drug use. Data on the students’ and deputy principals’ perception was collected using structured questionnaires and deputy principal’s interview. The content validity of the research instruments was established by seeking opinions from the experts in the Department of Educational Psychology. Reliability was assessed by test re-test method. Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.882 and 0.996 was obtained for students’ and deputy principals’ questionnaires respectively. Descriptive statistics including frequency counts, means, standard deviation and percentages were used to analyze quantitative data. Qualitative data from the deputy principal interview was transcribed and categorized into emergent themes. The study showed that students expressed moderate agreement that peer pressure relates to students’ sexual behavior (mean=2.65), students’ violent behavior (mean=2.63) and drugs and substance use (mean=2.72). Deputy principals had higher level of agreement that peer pressure relates to students’ sexual behavior (mean= 3.24), students’ violent behavior (mean=3.33) and drugs and substance use (mean= 3.24). The findings of this study may help in increasing awareness and insight towards implementation of comprehensive peer educational programs in school and provide useful information to the Ministry of Education and policy makers. The study therefore recommends that secondary schools should implement comprehensive peer education programs that would bridge the gap in understanding and foster non judgemental discussions on peer pressure and its influence on students behavior. | en_US |
