Influence of Peer Pressure on Gang Behaviour among Secondary School Students in Osun State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated the prevalence and types of gang behaviour among Secondary School Students in Osun State. It also determined the influence of peer pressure on gang behaviour among the students. These were with a view to providing information on the predisposing factor of students’ gang behaviour. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design. The population of the study comprised all students in public secondary school in Osun State. The sample size consisted of 895 public secondary school students who were selected using the multistage sampling technique. A simple random sampling technique was used to three Local Government Areas (LGAs) from each of the three senatorial districts in the state and four secondary schools from each of the LGAs selected. Seventy-five students were selected from Junior Secondary Class 3 (JSS3) to Senior Secondary Class 2 (SS2) using a stratified random sampling technique. Two adapted instruments titled Questionnaire on Students’ Gang Behaviour (QSGB), and Peer Pressure on Adolescents’ Behaviour Questionnaire (PPABQ) were used to elicit information from the students. Frequency counts, percentages, and Linear Regressions were used to analyse the data. The results showed that gang behaviour was prevalent among 20.8% of the JSS3 students, 29.0% of the SS1 students and 17.2% of the SS2 students. Also, the result showed that intimidating/threatening other students (RSI = 0.5911), involvement in drug and alcoholism (RSI = 0.5223) and engaging in underage drinking (RSI = 0.5148) were the common gang behaviours among the students. Lastly, the result showed a significant influence of peer pressure on gang behaviour among the students at F-value (β = 0.261, F = 48.70, p < 0.05). The study concluded that peer pressure could predispose secondary school students in Osun State to gang behaviour.