Perceptions of Students and Administrators on peer pressure as a predictor of students sexual behavior in secondary schools in Homa-Bay Town Sub-County, Kenya.

Abstract

Abstract A favorable school atmosphere, in which learners are well behaved, is one of the greatest concerns of education stakeholders. Although studies have reported a number of factors that lead to misbehavior among students in schools, peer pressure is reported to contribute up to 53% of cases of students’ misbehavior. The report on HIV/AIDS prevalence by the National Aids and STI control program shows that Homa-Bay had a high prevalence rate of 20.6% with girls aged between 14 and 25 years heavily affected, which is considerably higher than the national average of 4.8%. Reports further show an average of 64 teenage pregnancies for every 10000 people in Homa bay town sub county which is higher than those reported by neighboring sub counties. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of students and administrators on peer pressure as a predictor of students’ sexual behavior in secondary schools in Homa Bay Town Sub County Kenya. The objective was to investigate the perception of students and administrators on the role of peer pressure in predicting risky sexual behavior among secondary schools’ students in Homa Bay Town Sub-County, Kenya. The target population was 10761 students and 33 deputy principals in the 33 secondary schools in Homa Bay Town Sub-County. Stratified and simple random sampling was used to select 30 secondary schools from which 30 deputy principals were selected. 370 students were sampled by simple random sampling. A descriptive survey research design was adopted to find out the perception of students and deputy principals on peer pressure as a predictor of Students' sexual behavior. Data on the students’ and deputy Principals’ perception was collected using structured questionnaires and deputy principal’s interview. The content validity of the research instruments was established by seeking opinions from the experts in the Department of Educational Psychology. Reliability was assessed by test re-test method and Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.882 and 0.996 was obtained for student’s and deputy principal’s questionnaires respectively. Descriptive statistics including frequency counts, means, standard deviation and percentages were used to analyze quantitative data. Qualitative data from the deputy principal interview was transcribed and categorized into emergent themes. The study revealed that Students generally expressed moderate agreement that peer pressure relates to Students’ sexual behavior (mean=2.65). Deputy Principals responses revealed that school administrators had higher level of agreement that peer pressure relates to Students’ sexual behavior (mean= 3.24). The findings of this study may help in increasing awareness and insight towards implementation comprehensive peer educational programs in school and provide useful information to the Ministry of Education and policy makers on secondary schools’ students’ behavior.