| 2010 | | PEER PRESSURE |

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, we would like to thank ALMIGHTY Allah for His help and granting us the ability to undertake this subject. It is by His Will that we have been able to complete our term report.
And we would like to thank all our family members who not only allow us to conduct this research but put our self one step ahead by giving their precious knowledge.
We are truly indebted to Miss Nadia Ayub for giving us this incredible opportunity to gain tremendous understanding of “Peer Pressure”. She showed commendable gesture of believing in our potentials and guided us throughout the completion of this report.
Last but not the least; we are deeply thankful to all the participants that have shared their valuable experiences by filling out our questionnaires as truly as they could and helped us in completion of our project.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4 INTRODUCTION 5 Negative and Positive Effects of Peer Pressure 5 Negative Effects of Peer Pressure: 5 Positive Effects of Peer Pressure: 6 Tips to Combat Peer Pressure 6 Be Confident Of Yourself 6 Be Comfortable With Your Choices 6 Be Your Leader 6 Build the Mental Toughness to Resist 7 AIMS OF STUDY 7 METHODS 8 SAMPLE 8 MEASURE 8 PROCEDURE 8 RESULTS 9 CONCLUSION 13 REFERENCES 13 APPENDIX-A 14 APPENDIX –B (QUESTIONNAIRE) 22

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Although people assume that peer pressure is an influential component of adolescent development, few empirical studies have investigated the nature and extent of its influence. The present study assessed how much pressure peers exerted in numerous areas of life and how this pressure influenced especially teenager’s attitudes and behaviors. The aim of study is to develop the finest and closest understanding of the ways through which peer pressure is effecting positively or negatively in adolescent development and their daily activities. The survey was done within IoBM campus and the students were the only participants .The percentage of male and female were taken equally to get the closest results in two different genders. The method used to gather data was survey and few verbal questions related to topic were also asked to get a better understanding of the level of impact of peer pressure on their lives. The questionnaire was designed with respect to rating scale so that the feed back can be easily evaluated. The finding of the surveys testified the fact that the age group of youngsters is the prime target of this psychological phenomenon. The findings suggested that adolescents may be their own worst enemy in any attempt to break away from gender-stereotypic attitudes and behavior. The most prior information gathered through this was the fact that the females tend to hide the pressure they feel and sometimes be a cause of pressure for others.

INTRODUCTION

PEER PRESSURE:
The social influence a peer group exerts on its individual members, as each member attempts to conform to the expectations of the group.

Negative and Positive Effects of Peer Pressure

Negative Effects of Peer Pressure:
Peer pressure is the phenomenon wherein we tend to get influenced by the lifestyles and the ways of thinking of our peers. Peer pressure can prove beneficial but it is most often observed to have negative effects on society. What is negative peer pressure? What is positive peer pressure? How do does it affect the teenagers?
When you do not like a particular idea or when you have no inclination towards a particular field, it is obvious that you won't like to go by it. For sure, you won't like to go that way. But it is you peer group which may compel you on doing something you hate. In such cases, there are chances that you won't do well in those things. Things you do not enjoy doing cannot fetch you success. You cannot emerge successful in something you have never liked doing. So, it is important that you do not lose happiness of your life by succumbing to peer pressure. Many a time, it happens, that we are forced to lead a certain kind of lifestyle due to peer pressure. You may not like partying on every weekend, you may not like night outs with friends, you may hate drinking or smoking, but peer pressure may make you do all that you had never wished to. There are many teenagers who experience great pressure from their peer group that forces them to take to drinking. You may take to something as grave as drug use, and that too, only because of peer pressure. In such cases, being overly pressurized by you peers can be detrimental to your living. Some teenagers literally spoil their lives by giving in to peer pressure. Peer pressure can lead to a loss of individuality.

Positive Effects of Peer Pressure:
Peer pressure is not always bad. It can help you analyze yourself and contemplate on your ways of life and some of the practices that the masses follow may actually teach you the way of living. You may be able to change yourself for the better. Looking at what others do, can help you bring about a positive change in your way of thinking. Knowing what the masses follow exposes you to the world outside your home. You understand the things going on around you. You are exposed to a wide variety in human behavior. Exposure to peer pressure gives you an opportunity to think about their tastes and their outlooks towards life. It gives you a chance to choose the best from what the masses do. If you are fortunate to get a good peer group, your peers can play a vital role in the shaping of your personality. Their way of looking at life may influence you to change for betterment. Some of your peers are your close friends.

Tips to Combat Peer Pressure Be Confident Of Yourself
No matter how clichéd it sounds, building self-confidence is the best way to counter peer pressure in a successful way. Have you ever wondered why is it that only some people set the norms, while others follow them? People look forward to those who are self assured and confident and try to be in their shoes. Only a confident person can make others follow his/her footsteps. Be Comfortable With Your Choices
Peer pressure may force you to alter your original choices and that’s exactly where it becomes problematic. Always remember that you have to live with the choices that you make in life and you can’t let your peers dictate what you choose. They can be your inspiration, but you will have to be assertive to resist their influence on the options you choose in life. You are a different individual with a separate identity, after all. Be Your Leader
Instead of being led by your friends, be your own leader. This is, undoubtedly, the key to combat and avoid peer pressure. As long as you remain a part of the crowd, you will tend to give into peer pressure. You need to remind yourself that you have a unique personality just as everyone is different from others. You can be what you are and still be an integral part of your friends’ circle. Lead yourself and act according to your diktats.

Build the Mental Toughness to Resist
Not every one is gifted with the kind of mental toughness required to resist the pressure or avoid the temptation to be one of ‘them’. You will have to be very headstrong to resist peer pressure and this is very much possible, provided you train yourself the right way. For instance, if you anticipate a situation which may force you to behave in a particular way, you can avoid it by constantly reminding yourself that you won’t fall into such traps. Hard, though it may seem, practice is known to make a man perfect.

AIMS OF STUDY
The basic aim of the study is to develop the closest and the finest understanding of the ways through which the peer pressure affect the behavior, attitudes and moral values of adolescences. We have discussed some major areas of peer pressure like education, life style, daily activities etc. The survey has been conducted in very friendly environment. This survey leads us to many conclusions on rational basis that the major percent of females hide or tend to hide the information and simply feel the pressure but don’t let anyone know about the fact or simply they became a strong reason of pressure for others.

METHODS

SAMPLE:
120 students of age group of 18-27 replied to our questionnaire out which 60 of them were male and 60 female and all participants belong to the Institute Of Business Management.

MEASURE:
The whole survey was measured with the help of a questionnaire which was consisted of 15 questions from various areas of peer pressure which include education, lifestyle of teenagers, daily activities, drugs and different trends that comes up with the society culture. The questionnaire was based on rating scale.

PROCEDURE:
A consent form was also attached along with the questionnaire which gives outline information about the topic of research and purpose behind this research. Besides it gives complete right to the participant to withdrawal from the research whenever they feel uncomfortable. This survey was conducted by simply giving the questionnaire forms to willing participants and their feedback helped us to draw nearest conclusions and all personal data has been kept confidential and during our survey we faced some hurdles and obstacles in a form of refusal of giving feedback and the last but not the least the shortage of time .

RESULTS

RATING SCALE: 1- NOT AT ALL 2- RARELY 3- OFTEN 4- TO SOME EXTENT 5- HIGHLY PRESSURE
Q1: Do you feel pressure in studies due to your peer performances? RATING SCALE | MALE | FEMALE | 1 | 13.3 % | 33.3% | 2 | 33.3 % | 18.3% | 3 | 25.0% | 16.7% | 4 | 25.0% | 20.0% | 5 | 3.3% | 11.7% |
ANALYSIS: The conclusion drawn from above finding is that the students somehow feel peer pressure in studies but the males feel the more pressure than females and female also tend to hide their pressure regarding peer performances because they have a high percentage at highly pressure.

Q2: Do you feel pressure if peers are getting good grades? RATING SCALE | MALE | FEMALE | 1 | 15.0% | 13.3% | 2 | 25.0% | 36.7% | 3 | 18.3% | 26.7% | 4 | 35.0% | 13.3% | 5 | 6.7% | 10.0% |
ANALYSIS: The conclusion drawn from above findings is that the majority of the males feel the pressure to some extent while majority of the female still believe that they are not affected by peer good grades.

Q3: Do you feel peer pressure in bunking the classes? RATING SCALE | MALE | FEMALE | 1 | 33.3% | 56.7% | 2 | 21.7% | 10.0% | 3 | 13.3% | 16.7% | 4 | 16.7% | 8.3% | 5 | 15.0% | 8.3% | ANALYSIS: The conclusion from the above findings shows that the majority of males and females do not agree that they feel pressure in bunking the class due to peers.
Q4: Do you feel peer pressure in selection of courses? RATING SCALE | MALE | FEMALE | 1 | 25.0% | 33.3% | 2 | 20.0% | 23.3% | 3 | 16.7% | 21.7% | 4 | 21.7% | 15.0% | 5 | 16.7% | 6.7% |
ANALYSIS: The conclusion from the above findings shows that the majority of males and females do not agree that they feel pressure in selection of courses but somehow some of them still accepting the fact that they are being affected by peer pressure.
Q5: Do you feel peer pressure in dressing due to peers dressing standards and styles? RATING SCALE | MALE | FEMALE | 1 | 43.3% | 51.7% | 2 | 11.7% | 18.3% | 3 | 20.0% | 18.3% | 4 | 20.0% | 3.3% | 5 | 5.0% | 8.3% |
ANALYSIS: The conclusion had drawn from the above findings shows that the very minor percentage in both the genders feels the peer pressure in peers dressing style and standards.
Q6: Do you feel peer pressure in brands selection of various things? RATING SCALE | MALE | FEMALE | 1 | 23.3% | 46.7% | 2 | 30.0% | 33.3% | 3 | 25.0% | 6.7% | 4 | 18.3% | 11.7% | 5 | 3.3% | 1.7% |
ANALYSIS: The conclusion drawn from above findings is that the males are feeling peer pressure in brand selection somehow, while majority of the females admitted that they are not affected by their peers in brand selection.
Q7: Do you feel peer pressure in giving preference to any mobile handset? RATING SCALE | MALE | FEMALE | 1 | 35.0% | 48.3% | 2 | 20.0% | 30.0% | 3 | 21.7% | 13.3% | 4 | 18.3% | 6.7% | 5 | 5.0% | 1.7% |
ANALYSIS: The conclusion from above findings is that majority of both i.e. males and females are not affected by their peers in giving preference to their mobile handsets.
Q8: Do you feel peer pressure in giving preference to any laptops? RATING SCALE | MALE | FEMALE | 1 | 40.0% | 53.3% | 2 | 15.0% | 20.0% | 3 | 16.7% | 18.3% | 4 | 21.7% | 6.7% | 5 | 6.7% | 1.7% |
ANALYSIS: The conclusion from above findings is that majority of both i.e. males and females are not affected by their peers in giving preference to their laptops but few people still find themselves in pressure in different electronic gadgets.
Q9: Do you feel peer pressure due to peers financial status or pocket money? RATING SCALE | MALE | FEMALE | 1 | 51.7% | 50.0% | 2 | 20.0% | 25.0% | 3 | 8.3% | 11.7% | 4 | 15.0% | 6.7% | 5 | 5.0% | 6.7% |
ANALYSIS: The conclusion from above findings is that the high percentage in both gender declare their positions against any pressure and decline the fact of feeling pressure in general world.
Q10: Do you feel peers smoking pressurize you in any manner? RATING SCALE | MALE | FEMALE | 1 | 63.3% | 78.3% | 2 | 8.3% | 5.0% | 3 | 13.3% | 8.3% | 4 | 6.7% | 6.7% | 5 | 8.3% | 1.7% |
ANALYSIS: The conclusion from above findings is that majority of both male and female are not affected by their peers in smoking trend but still some males find themselves under pressure because of friends smoking habits. Q11: Do you feel peer pressure in shisha trend? RATING SCALE | MALE | FEMALE | 1 | 55.0% | 75.0% | 2 | 15.0% | 10.0% | 3 | 15.0% | 8.3% | 4 | 8.3% | 5.0% | 5 | 6.7% | 1.7% |
ANALYSIS: Although the trend is getting very common these days but still majority in male and female results reflects through their feedback that they don’t counter this trend because of any pressure. Q12: Do you feel peer pressure in giving preference to any music? RATING SCALE | MALE | FEMALE | 1 | 38.3% | 53.3% | 2 | 23.3% | 16.7% | 3 | 28.3% | 25.0% | 4 | 5.0% | 3.3% | 5 | 5.0% | 1.7% |
ANALYSIS: Male gives more preferences to music because of friends somehow the case is same for females. Q13: Do you feel peer pressure in giving preference to movies? RATING SCALE | MALE | FEMALE | 1 | 40.0% | 46.7% | 2 | 13.3% | 21.7% | 3 | 13.0% | 21.7% | 4 | 10.0% | 8.3% | 5 | 6.7% | 1.7% |
ANALYSIS: The above scale varies with person to person not especially by gender.

Q14: Do you feel peer pressure in giving preference to any restaurant or cafe? RATING SCALE | MALE | FEMALE | 1 | 25.0% | 41.7% | 2 | 18.3% | 23.3% | 3 | 21.7% | 20.0% | 4 | 30.0% | 13.3% | 5 | 5.0% | 1.7% |
ANALYSIS: The conclusion from above findings is that majority of both male and female gives preference to any particular restaurant or café because of friends or peer choice.
Q15: Do you feel peer pressure in moral and ethical beliefs? RATING SCALE | MALE | FEMALE | 1 | 30.0% | 5.0% | 2 | 15.0% | 26.7% | 3 | 23.3% | 8.3% | 4 | 18.3% | 3.3% | 5 | 13.3% | 6.7% |
ANALYSIS: The conclusion drawn from above findings is that majority of the boys admitted that peer pressure do not affect their moral and ethical beliefs, while girls admitted that they are affected to some extent.
CONCLUSION

Although people assume that peer pressure is an influential component of adolescent development, few empirical studies have investigated the nature and extent of its influence. The finding of the surveys testified the fact that the age group of youngsters is the prime target of this psychological phenomenon. The findings suggested that adolescents may be their own worst enemy in any attempt to break away from gender-stereotypic attitudes and behavior. The most prior information gathered through this was the fact that the females tend to hide the pressure they feel and sometimes be a cause of pressure for others.

REFERENCES http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/peer+pressure http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/how-to-get-rid-of-peer-pressure-6164.html

APPENDIX-A (GRAPHS) Q-1: Do you feel pressure in studies due to your peer performances? MALE FEMALE

Q-2: Do you feel pressure if peers are getting good grades? MALE FEMALE

Q-3: Do you feel peer pressure in bunking the classes? MALE FEMALE

Q-4: Do you feel peer pressure in selection of courses? MALE FEMALE

Q-5: Do you feel peer pressure in dressing due to peers dressing standards and styles? MALE FEMALE

Q-6: Do you feel peer pressure in brands selection of various things? MALE FEMALE

Q-7: Do you feel peer pressure in giving preference to any mobile handset? MALE FEMALE

Q-8: Do you feel peer pressure in giving preference to any laptops? MALE FEMALE

Q-9: Do you feel peer pressure due to peers financial status or pocket money? MALE FEMALE

Q-10: Do you feel peers smoking pressurize you in any manner? MALE FEMALE

Q-11: Do you feel peer pressure in shisha trend? MALE FEMALE

Q-12: Do you feel peer pressure in giving preference to any music? MALE FEMALE

Q-13: Do you feel peer pressure in giving preference to movies? MALE FEMALE

Q-14: Do you feel peer pressure in giving preference to any restaurant or cafe? MALE FEMALE

Q-15: Do you feel peer pressure in moral and ethical beliefs? MALE FEMALE

APPENDIX –B (QUESTIONNAIRE)

AGE: a) (18-20) b) (21-23) c) (24-27) GENDER: a) Male b) Female ACADEMIC LEVEL: a) Freshman b) Sophomore c) Junior d) Senior e) Others (please specify) ____________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ INSTRUCTIONS: Read each statement carefully and tick or circle on the correct scale. We would appreciate if you answer the questions as honestly as possible. Please take few minutes to answer the questions. HOW MUCH PEERS PRESSURE YOU FEEL IN THE FOLLOWING ISSUES | ITEMS | Not at all | Rarely | Often | To some extent | Highly pressure | 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 | Do you feel pressure in studies due to your peer performances? Do you feel pressure if peers are getting good grades? Do you feel peer pressure in bunking the classes? Do you feel peer pressure in selection of courses? Do you feel peer pressure in dressing due to peers dressing standards and styles? Do you feel peer pressure in brands selection of various things? Do you feel peer pressure in giving preference to any mobile handset? Do you feel peer pressure in giving preference to any laptops? Do you feel peer pressure due to peers financial status or pocket money? Do you feel peers smoking pressurize you in any manner? Do you feel peer pressure in shisha trend? Do you feel peer pressure in giving preference to any music? Do you feel peer pressure in giving preference to movies? Do you feel peer pressure in giving preference to any restaurant or cafe? Do you feel peer pressure in moral and ethical beliefs? | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |