relationship between degrees of self-esteem and peer ...

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL of ACADEMIC RESEARCH

Vol. 5. No. 3. May, 2013

M. Uslu. Relationship between degrees of self-esteem and peer pressure in high school adolescents. International Journal of Academic Research Part B; 2013; 5(3), 117-122. DOI: 10.7813/2075-4124.2013/5-3/B.19

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DEGREES OF SELF-ESTEEM AND PEER PRESSURE IN HIGH SCHOOL ADOLESCENTS Mustafa Uslu Faculty of Occupational Education, Selcuk University, Konya (TURKEY) [email protected] DOI: 10.7813/2075-4124.2013/5-3/B.19 ABSTRACT This study examines the relationship between adolescents’ self-esteem and peer pressure degrees according to their gender and socioeconomic status. The data were obtained from 500 high school students using the Self-efficacy Expectation Scale, developed by Rosenberg (1965) and adapted by Cuhadaroglu (1986) and Kıran-Esen (2006), and the “Peer Pressure Scale (PPS), developed by Kıran (2002). Findings show that when adolescents’ peer pressure degree is viewed according to their level of income, their self-esteem degree is higher with middle income level and vice versa with higher income level. Another finding is that adolescents with lower income level are exposed to further peer pressure than middle and high income level. Self-esteem degree is negatively affected by peer pressure. However, there is a positive correlation between their self-esteem degree and indirect peer pressure and further analysis shows that there’s a negative correlation between their status of being exposed to direct or indirect peer pressure. Adolescents with direct peer pressure perceive that indirect pressure is less than the others. Key words: Self Esteem, Peer Pressure, Adolescence 1. INTRODUCTION One of the most important factors that affect adolescence is the social environment of the adolescents. In this period, adolescents mostly communicate with peers. As children grow into preteens and then into teenagers, they often become less dependent on the family and more dependent on their peers when it comes to making choices and developing morals and values. Peer is a concept that is defined as being at the same age. Negative emotional-social development in adolescents is defined as peer pressure, bullying or mobbing (in professional life). In these three negative development types, aggression is a recurring case point encountered individually or as a group (Adams, 1995; Dusek, 1987; Leymann, 1990; Vandekerckhove & Commers 2003). In terms of gender, it’s been determined that %7 of females and %15 of males are bullies; similarly, %12 of girls and %13 of boys become the victims of adolescence. It can easily be conferred that children who are bullies in school age will probably be the same in their adolescence (Sourander et al., 2000). Brown & Eicher (1986) define peer pressure as a situation that a person avoids doing something he doesn’t really want to do. Kaplan (1980) states peer pressure is an appeal that recent or prospective group members feel towards a certain group. Peer pressure can also be a good thing. Teens learn social norms from their peers. Socially awkward kids can learn how to fit in and communicate well with others by observing and emulating other teenagers. Similarly, self-confident teens can act as positive mentors and set good examples for others. A positive peer group that your teen fits into well can help boost her self-esteem; it might prevent her from engaging in harmful or risky behaviors (Burack, 1999). Although some authors ascribe peer groups some very valuable positive functions related to adolescence (Beaty & Alexeyev, 2008; Due, Hansen, Merlo, Andersen & Holstein, 2007), the opinion about its negative effects is dominant (Darcy, Deanna, & Vivek, 2000; Schnohr & Niclasen 2006; Ryan, 2000; Pitzer, 1999. Halperin, 2001; Kiran-Esen, 2003). Another important factor in adolescence is self-esteem and it’s easily affected by peer pressure. Individuals develop an attitude towards an object they are aware of or event they come across. These attitudes become one of the most important determiners of a person’s emotions, ideas and behaviors. People begin developing an attitude towards their own individuality and towards others (Aktuğ, 2006). Self-esteem is literally defined by how much value people put on themselves. It also means self-knowledge. High self-esteem refers to a highly positive evaluation of the self. Low self-esteem refers to an unfavorable definition of the self. Self-esteem also refers to a person’s belief about whether he or she is smart and pretty, for instance, and it necessarily says nothing about whether the person really is smart or pretty. Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) showed that teachers’ false, unfounded beliefs about their students later became objective, verifiable realities in the performance of those students. In other words, students’ definitions of themselves generate as a self-fulfilling prophecy and, in the end, it becomes their reality against the World (Baumeister & Leary, 1995) Adolescence is a time when identity development is particularly important (Baumeister and Leary, 1995; Livingstone, 2006). Leary and Downs (1995) think self-esteem to be an internal representation of social acceptance and rejection and a psychological gauge monitoring the degree to which a person is included versus excluded by others.

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL of ACADEMIC RESEARCH

Vol. 5. No. 3. May, 2013

In terms of the literature related to self-esteem, findings in Kaya and Saçkes’s (2004) study show that selfesteem is an important factor especially in adolescence. In this period, adolescents can feel themselves lonely and think that there is nobody to help them to deal with their problems. Similarly, adolescence is a period in which people decide on vital subjects for their life. In the light of the information above, it can be stated that self-esteem of the adolescents may change or differ because of their relationship with peers ( Aktuğ, 2006). Victims might incorporate harmful opinions into their self-concept, leading to a devaluation of their selfesteem and further social withdrawal from peers (Salmivalli, Kaukiainen, Kaistaniemi, &Lagerspetz, 1999). Adolescents with low self-esteem are more frequently victimised than are adolescents with high self-esteem (Egan & Perry, 1998; Grills & Ollendick, 2002). An explanation for this predictive relationship could be that adolescents with feelings of low self-esteem attract negative attention from peers, provoking specific bullying behaviors from others (Kaltiala-Heino, Rimpelä, Marttunen, Rimpelä, & Rantanen, 1999; Olweus, 1992; as cited in Overbeek, 2009). Some current findings present a mixed picture of the role that self-esteem and health locus of control play in adolescent substance abuse. Kaplan (1980) found negative self-attitudes to be related to subsequent substance abuse and other deviant behavior by adolescents. Dielman et a1. (1987) found self-esteem to show low, but significant, negative correlations with adolescent use of cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana. These correlations ranged from -0.09 to -0.18 for a total self-esteem scale as well as for three subscales “School Adjustment”, “SelfConfidence” and “Happiness”. In some other studies, however, no significant relationships have been found between self-esteem and adolescent substance use. The “Susceptibility to Peer Pressure” index was significantly and negatively correlated with self-esteem indices index. These correlations ranged from -0.09 to -0.29. In this study, we aim to examine the impact of peer pressure on self esteem of adolescents and, for this purpose, the following sub-problems are given: 1. Is there a positive or negative correlation between adolescents’ self-esteem and peer pressure in terms of their gender? 2. Is there a difference between adolescents’ self-esteem and peer pressure in terms of their level of income? 3. Is there a positive correlation between self-esteem and peer pressure in terms of adolescents’ level of income? 2. METHOD This is a descriptive study which aims to find out whether there is a difference between adolescents’ selfesteem and peer pressure degrees in terms of their gender and level of income. The sample of this study is 500 adolescents, after reaching 527 students,27 of them are excluded because of various errors in their answers. At the end, 500 students between ages 15-17 form the sample group where 227 (%55,4) of which are male and 223 (%44,6) are female present. The research was carried out in 2012-2013 academic year in the fall term in High school in Kayseri. 2.1. Research Instruments 2.1.1. The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) (Appendix D) is a 10-item Guttman Scale which was developed by Rosenberg (1965) and adapted by Cuhadaroglu (1986). In the adaptation study, psychiatric interviews conducted with high school students were used as the criteria for the RSES. Examining the correlation coefficient between the scores of interviews and self-esteem scale revealed a good criterion coefficient of.71. On the other hand, in a recent study conducted by Celik (2004), RSES was also found to be quite reliable in a university sample. In Celik’s study, Cronbach Alpha coefficient for RSES was found to be.87 (n = 733). 2.1.2. Peer Pressure Scale (PPS) Peer Pressure Scale (PPS), developed by Kıran (2002), is a five point Likert scale that has the goal of measuring adolescents’ peer pressure. The Cronbach Alpha Coefficient calculated for the reliability of PPS is.90 for the whole scale (34 items),.89 for the direct peer pressure subscale (19 items), and.82 for the indirect peer pressure subscale (15 items). Also the retest reliability coefficient is;.82 for the whole scale,.74 for the direct peer pressure subscale, and.79 for the indirect peer pressure subscale. Factor analysis is used, in the study of the validity of structure. The total variance revealed by the two factors obtained is 40.527 %. A single score is calculated from the scale. While High scores mean high peer- pressures, low scores show low ones. 3. FINDINGS Mean score, Standard deviation, N values and descriptive statistics related to t-test are as follows in Table 1.

118 | PART B. SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL of ACADEMIC RESEARCH

Vol. 5. No. 3. May, 2013

Table 1. T-test results for adolescents’ self-esteem and peer pressure in terms of their gender.

Self-esteem

Direct peer pressure

Indirect peer pressure

Gender

N

mean

Std. deviation

t

P

Female

223

20,29

8,45

-17,63*

,000

Male

277

32,63

7,18

Female

223

50,70

14,98

22,45*

,000

Male

277

29,00

5,25

Female

223

21,18

7,07

-6,09*

,000

Male

277

28,42

16,57

*p