INVESTIGATION OF AGGRESSION LEVELS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH PEER PRESSURE AMONG HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

Abstract

Introduction: In our country, peer pressure in adolescence / high school students is a concept that has emerged to be emphasized
in recent years. It has been shown that peer pressure and aggression negatively affect the emotional-social development of the
individual in later ages. Therefore, necessary precautions should be taken in the early period. Thus, this study aimed to examine
the relationship between high school students' aggression levels and peer pressure in Sivas.
Material and Method: A total of 993 students were included in this analytical cross-sectional study. The data of the study were
collected by Peer Pressure Scale, Aggression Scale and personal information form. The data were evaluated by SPPS version
21. Frequency tables and descriptive statistics were used in the interpretation of the findings.
Results: It was determined that 48.6% of the students within the scope of the research are 15 years old; 41.7% of them have
good school success; 96.8% did not have grade repetition; 85.4% of them do not have a health problem; 89.3% of them have
positive friendship relations; 37.4% of them actively participated in socio-cultural activities; 77% of them respect each other
in their friend attitudes; 86.3% did not smoke; 6.8% of them smoked 2-10 cigarettes a day. The average score the students got
from the peer pressure scale is 52.68 ± 21.65; the mean score of the aggression scale was determined to be 129.82 ± 24.11.
Conclusion: This study revealed a strong correlation between peer pressure and aggression among high school students. While
peer pressure and the aggression of the students were shown to be affected significantly by sex, school success, repeated grade
level, health issue, peer relations, participation to the social activities, attitude of peers, smoking; it is shown that the age,
maternal age and education level of the mother, paternal age and the level of education, type of family and attitude of the family
did not seem to have an impact on these.