CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

A Peer group is both a social group and a primary group of people who have similar interests, ages, backgrounds, and social statuses. The members of this group are likely to influence the person’s beliefs and behavior. Unlike other agents of socialization, such as family and school, peer groups allow children to escape the direct supervision of adults.

Among peers, children learn to form relationships on their own and have the chance to discuss interests that adults may not share with children, such as clothing and popular music, or may not permit, such as drugs and sex. When these interests do not match the others these bring forth conflict among peers

The term peer pressure is often used to describe instances where an individual feels indirectly pressured into changing his/her behaviour to match that of his/her peers. Taking up smoking and underage drinking are two of the best-known examples. In spite of the often negative connotations of the term, peer pressure can be used positively, for example, to encourage other peers to study, or not to engage in activities such as the ones discussed above.

Although peer pressure is not isolated to one age group, it is usually most common during the adolescent stage. Adolescence is a period characterized by experimentation, and adolescents typically spend a lot of time with their peers in social contexts. Teenagers compel each other to go along with certain beliefs or behaviours, and studies have shown that boys are more likely to give in to it than girls; peer pressure consequently leads to peer conflict because not agreeing to what your peers want will lead to disagreement among the peers

Peer conflict refers to mutual disagreement or hostility between peers or peer groups. It is characterized as a conflict between people of equal or smaller power (friends). It occurs occasionally, it is unplanned and it does not involve violence or result in serious harm even though to an extent it does. Preparatory or peer conflict. Do not seek power or attention. However, peer conflict can escalate into violence (Kathleen and Elizabeth, 2009).

Peer conflict and aggression affect psychological development in that the presence of aggressive behaviours serves as a risk factor for psychological maladjustment in students. Conflict experienced by a child can affect the structure and functioning of the brain which can raise the letter risk of stress endures of problems including depression.

Furthermore, the risk for mental illness increases as the number of exposure to conflict and other victimization increases. In a sample of Chinese reference adolescents, peer conflict was found to significantly contribute to student’s low self-esteem, and thus was a significant predictor of depression, and to intensify suicidal thoughts (Kathleen and Elizabeth, 2009) .

Peer relations during middle childhood and adolescence are an important part of children’s social and emotional development. Children and adolescents pick up essential social and communication skills from their peers as they move into letter adolescence and early adulthood. Peer conflict is not necessarily a bad thing; disagreement and conflict are part of life, and children and adolescents need to developed skills to resolve the disagreement.

However, peer conflict can cause significant emotional and physical harm and led to aggressive behaviours when youth lack the social skills necessary to cope with their frustration. Therefore it is important for programs to be able to identify peer conflict and aggressive behaviour and to promote posture peer conflict resolution techniques for children and adolescents.

Peer education is the process of acquiring the values, the knowledge, and the development of the attitudes, skills, and behaviours to live in harmony with oneself, with others, and with the natural environment.

There are various declarations on the importance of peace education Ban ki Moon, UN Secretary General has dedicated the international day of peace 2013 to peace education in an effort to focus minds and financing on the preeminence of peace education as the means to bring about a culture of peace. The immediate past director-general of UNESCO koichin Mastsuura has written that peace education as being of fundamental importance to the mission of UNESCO and the United Nations.

Peace education programs centered on conflict resolution typically focus on the social behavioural symptoms of conflict training individuals to resolve inter-personal disputes through techniques of negotiation and peer. Learning to manage anger fight fair and improve communication through skills such as listening turn-taking identifying needs and separating facts from emotions and assume others have a hostile intent during conflicts. (Laura, 2011)

The better educators and students understand the nature of the conflict. The better able they are to manage conflicts constructively (Moran, 2001) once conflicts management as a philosophy and a set of skills that assist individuals in better understanding and dealing with conflicts as it arises in all aspect of students

 The reason for peer conflict differs by age

In elementary school-age children, the types of social environments that most often give rise to conflicts are related to the following circumstances: possession and use of objects; limited resources, such as toys and games; negative interactions with peers, such as aggression, jealousy, and exclusion from groups; and violation of rules.

In adolescents, additional social conditions that lead to peer conflicts become apparent, among them: jealousy of or exclusion from social groups; intrusive behavior, such as stealing and intimidation; stereotyping and the formation of cliques; jealousy based on envy of another person’s possessions; and claims about opinions and beliefs. ( Sidorowicz and Elizabeth, 2009)

By gender, boys tend to engage in more conflicts related to status or dominance, such as acquiring over who is better at specific sports, whereas girls turn to engage in more disputes related to relational issues, such as disclosing as secret or not being invited to a party. Constitute the main elements of these programs

By social status peers who have different social status will react differently in any situation those from rich backgrounds will always want to look down on others from poor backgrounds, will want them to listen more on them than they listen to every one’s opinion

Structure

Individual factors such as problem solving skills, self-regulation skills and language associated with students who engage in ingressive’s behaviour. They are more likely to exhibit deficits such as poor impulse control how frustration tolerance, limited ability to generate alternative responses to stress, and limited insight into the feelings of themselves and others.

This inability to correctly process social information can cause students to misinterpret social care. The structural features–the “anatomy”–of a conflict are usually described as issues, strategies, and outcomes (Ross and Conant, 1992).

ISSUES include control of the physical or social environment, such as control of objects or physical space.( Killen and Turiel, 1991) categorize children’s conflict as involving issues of morality (such as physical harm and individual rights) and of social order (such as rules for activities).

Conflict strategies include physical and verbal tactics that can be both aggressive and nonaggressive. Researchers concur that children’s conflicts infrequently include aggression (Killen and Turiel, 1991). Nonaggressive physical strategies include taking a toy or entering a play space. Verbal strategies range from simple opposition to complex reasoning and negotiation.

Children may use teasing and superiority of size, age, physical ability, or knowledge (Wilson, 1988) to establish control, or they may seek adult intervention to resolve a conflict. Killen and Turiel (1991) found, however, that children were capable of resolving conflicts on their own, and that adult intervention usually led to an adult-generated resolution.

The outcome of a conflict may be

(1) An unresolved situation, as when children simply drop the issue;

(2) An adult-imposed solution;

(3) The submission of one child to another;

(4) A mutually agreed-on solution achieved through bargaining, compromising, or finding alternate activities (Wilson, 1988).

In a study of 69 children in three preschools, Killen and Turiel (1991) found that, during peer group activity, more conflicts were unresolved than resolved; and among conflicts that were resolved, few resolutions were adult-generated. In free play settings, adults resolved conflicts more frequently than children, including at least 60 percent of conflicts that involved physical harm and social order.

During the Peace Movement of the 1960s and 1970s several community-based dispute resolution centers emerged across the United States and Canada. These centers promote mediation as a speedy, humane, and less expensive alternative to the courts (Duffy, Grosch, and Olczak, 1991). The process of mediation is based on the concept of “win/win” solutions (resolutions that address the needs of both disputants).

Community-based dispute resolution centers typically mediate landlord-tenant matters, environmental concerns, family and divorce cases, and a variety of other community problems. The first school-based conflict resolution program began in New York City in 1972. Peer medication programs appeared by the early 1980s in San Francisco, Chicago, and New York.

In Canada, the first high school peer mediation program was initiated in Ottawa in 1987. Presently, there are over 350 conflict resolution programs in schools in the United States and programs have been initiated in most Canadian provinces (Picard, 1990). by Mahduri Pendharkar (1995)

Managing peer conflicts

Students need to know how to manage and resolve conflicts if they are to become responsible members of schools and of society. Some educators believe competence in conflict resolution skills can lead to increased social and academic achievement in the short run and a more harmonious world in the long run (Van Slyck and Stern, 1991). These skills should be incorporated into existing curricular areas for the following reasons:

1. Escalating violence in schools is a concern to educators and to the general public. It seems that many students do not acquire the skills on peaceful conflict resolution on their own or from their families; therefore, there are some good reasons for thinking these skills should be taught.
2. Students who lack conflict resolution skills often spend more time and energy in negative interactions with peers and teachers than in attaining the goals of the curriculum. Negative interactions often lead to consequences such as time-out, in-school suspension, suspension, and so on. Levin (1990) found a high correlation between a number of disciplinary interventions and the risk of dropping out of school. High school completion is a basic requirement for entry into the work force, so schools must teach the skills that students requireby (Mahduri, 1995)

Statement of the Problem

Peer groups play a vital role in the academic performance of students this role could extend to negative and positive. Some students often exhibit deviant behaviour due to motivation from peers and the reverse is true when the behavior is a positive one. This influence from peers can affect the academic performance of the students either positively or negatively. It for that reason that the study is out to investigate the effect of peer conflict on student’s academic performance

 Objective of the study

General objective

To investigate the effect of peer conflict on students academic performance in secondary schools in Ndop-sub division North West Region of Cameroon.

Specific Objective

1. To find out the causes of peer conflict
2. To examine the effects of peer conflict on students
3. To attempt possible solutions to peer conflict related problem