Peer Group Influence as a Correlate of Secondary School Students’ Motivation towards Learning in Oluyole Local Government, Ibadan

Abstract

This study investigated peer group influence as a correlate of secondary school 
student’s motivation towards learning in Oluyole Local Government area of 
Ibadan. The main purpose of this study is to determine the influence of peer 
group as a correlate of secondary school student’s motivation towards 
learning. In specific terms, the study is designed to determine whether peer 
group influence secondary school students’ motivation towards learning, the 
factors that can determine student’s motivation towards learning, whether 
peer group influence determines variation in Academic Performance of male 
and female students, whether age does determine the extent to which peer 
influence affects Academic Performance of students, just to, mention a few. 
The researcher employed descriptive survey method for the study. The 
population for the study was based on all the fifty two (52) secondary schools 
under Oluyole local government area of Oyo state; consisting of twenty seven (27) public secondary schools and thirty two private secondary schools. 
Sampling techniques used were multistage, stratified and simple random 
sampling technique. A multistage sampling technique was used due to two 
stages involved in selecting the sample. At the first stage, schools are stratified 
into public and private, and simple random sampling technique was used to 
select ten public secondary schools out of twenty seven and ten private 
schools out of thirty two which make a total of twenty schools. At the second 
stage, a simple random sampling technique was used in selecting only ten 
student’s from the selected secondary schools from both private and public 
secondary schools, five from junior secondary school and five from Senior 
Secondary School in Oluyole Local Government area in Ibadan making a total 
of two hundred students. A pilot survey was carried out by administering the 
research instrument to ten randomly selected students who were not part of 
the selected respondents after which the instrument was subjected to analysis 
and a cronbach Alpha value 0.757 was obtained. Descriptive statistical tool 
such as mean and standard deviation were used to analyse the obtained data 
to answer three questions while person product moment correlation was used 
to analyse Hypotheses 1 and T-test was used to analyse Hypotheses 2 and 3. 
All analyses were carried out at 0.05 level of significance. The perceived 
motivation status of secondary school students towards learning is higher 
through the weighted mean of 3.24. Peer influence on the academic 
motivation of secondary school students towards learning is high at 2.89. Peer 
group influence on secondary school students’ academic motivation is high at 
3.02. There is significant relationship between peer group influence and 
secondary school students’ motivation towards learning at 0.005. There is no 
significant gender difference in peer group influence of secondary school 
student’s motivation towards learning at 0.958. There is no significant school 
type difference in secondary students’ academic motivation towards learning 
at 197. It is recommended that students should move with peer groups that 
will motivate them towards learning.