Locus of Control and Vulnerability to Peer Pressure: a Study of Adolescent Behavior in Urban Ghanaian Context

Volume 4 - Issue 1

Manuela Julietta Amorin¹* and Desmond Ayim Aboagye²

Received: April 21, 2020;   Published: April 28, 2020

DOI: 10.32474/SJPBS.2020.04.000177

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Abstract

Peer pressure is one thing that every individual is vulnerable to and has faced before at some point in their lives. It is becoming a serious health problem, especially for adolescents as well as concerned parents because, though not all peer pressure leads to health-related concerns or is negative, most are that need curbing, or treatment. Thus, NGOs, youth organizations, social welfare as well as parents, are looking for different ways to tackle this health-related issue in society. This research investigated locus of control on vulnerability to peer pressure in the African context. A survey was conducted using 144 adolescents from 2 Senior High Schools in Ghana with ages ranging from 15 to 19 years old. The following data collection instruments were used: Informed consent, Demographic data which used to group the students into categories based on age, class form and gender; the Nowicki-Strickland test (1973) and the Steinberg and Monahan resistance to peer influence scale (2007) measuring Locus of Control and Resistance to Peer Influence respectively. Statistical methods such as the independent t-test and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (Pearson r) were used to study the relationships between age, locus of control, and resistance to pressure in the urban context. The findings revealed that there was no significant effect of locus of control on vulnerability to peer pressure, which still indicates that our study may be more bent towards the general idea that individuals with an internal locus of control are more likely to resist the pressure to conform by their peers.

Keywords: Adolescents; Locus of control; Peer Pressure; Health problems; Internal and External locus of control; Resistance

Abstract| Introduction| Statement of Problem| Purpose of Study| Objective of Study| Delimitation of study| Operational Definition of Terms| Theoretical Framework| Social Learning Theory| Theory of Learned Helplessness| Conceptual| Review of Empirical Data| Gender and Peer Pressure| Ethical consideration| Results| Discussion| Conclusion| Recommendations| References|