| dc.description.abstract | Peer influence is the process by which children shape each other's behavior and attitudes, leading to conformity within the group. Vulnerable adolescents are at risk for becoming more deviant through association with deviant peers and peer groups. The objective of this study was to investigate peer influence on deviant behavior in secondary schools in Nairobi country. The instruments used to collect data in this study were questionnaires and interviews. Respondents were asked to indicate their level of agreement with given statements by way of an ordinal Likert scale of 1 to 5 where 1 stands for strongly agree, 2 agree, 3 moderately agree, 4 disagree and 5 strongly disagree.
Majority of the respondents indicated that individual characteristics such as arrogance in order to fit in bad group, drug abuse, loneliness, low self-esteem, resistance to advice and criticism, and lack of discipline, self-control, and lack of good parenthood, make adolescents more susceptible to peer influence. They admitted that school absenteeism, dishonesty, drug and substance abuse, engagement in fights and quarrels, ignorance of helpful instructions and pre-marital sex had the highest cases of deviancy, with the consequence of poor academic performance.
The respondents strongly agreed that teachers should increase personal awareness of adolescent social systems. They moderately agreed that teenagers with close ties to their parents are not likely to become delinquent or suffer depression than students who felt distant from their families.The study established some important strategies of parents and teachers in an adolescent's life.
These strategies were: advising and guiding the adolescents, providing an avenue to act as good role models, offering guidance and support, providing basic needs, motivating adolescent learners, and providing useful knowledge on sex education and finally shaping and moulding adolescents. All these strategies would lead to an all round personality. The study recommends further research aimed at investigating peer influence on deviant behavior in representative secondary schools in other counties in Kenya, so as to determine the magnitude of deviancy at the national level.
Further a study should also be carried out to investigate the factors that cause deviant behavior at other levels of educational institutions in Kenya. Recommendation: There is need to establish the reason(s) behind the prevalence of ACE among children in K.ilifi and to formulate policies that would lead to reduction of the disease in the area. Effort should be made to ensure that children with ACE receive the recommended treatment as this reduces the seizure frequency. Health education should also be intensified to discourage the use of herbal medications for seizure control as AEDs achieves better seizure control. | en_US |
