Peer influence

Cross-sectional research suggests that peer influence has a moderate to strong impact on adolescent risk behavior. Such estimates may be inflated owing to third-variable confounds representing either friendship selection effects or the operation of parallel events. Approximately 1,700 peer dyads in Grades 7 to 11 were studied over a 1-year period to estimate the influence of closest friends on sexual activity and binge drinking. Analyses suggested that peer influence was small but reliable when both selection effects and parallel events were taken into account. Peer influence varied as a function of individual-peer similarity and maternal relations but not in accord with other theoretical predictions. It is suggested that the magnitude of peer effects in previous research may be overestimated in many contexts.

To examine the association of adolescents' snack and soft drink consumption with friendship group snack and soft drink consumption, availability of snacks and soft drinks at school, and personal characteristics, snack and soft drink consumption was assessed in 749 adolescents (398 girls, 351 boys, age 12.4 -17.6 years), and their friends, and snack and soft drink availability at schools was measured. In regression analysis, consumption by friends, snack and soft drink availability within school, and personal characteristics (age, gender, education level, body mass index) were examined as determinants of snack and drink consumption.

Purpose: Much of the research on peer influence has examined the relationship between peer associations and delinquency. Relatively little empirical research has addressed the effects of delinquent behavior on peer intimacy and time spent with peers. Our research attempts to fill these gaps in the literature as we hypothesize that, net of peer delinquency, delinquents spend more time with their peers but are less closely attached to their peers.

Methods: Using data from two waves of the National Youth Survey (NYS), we present two sets of regression models to account for selection bias resulting from whether respondents reported having friends. To assess the stability of our findings, we supplement our presented findings with extensive use of alternate estimation strategies.

Results: Conclusions regarding our hypotheses do not vary by estimation strategy. Delinquents spend more time with their peers, but delinquents and non-delinquents do not report differences in closeness to their peers.

Conclusions: Given our control variables, our finding introduces complexity in the causal priority between time spent with peers and delinquency. Prior delinquency may be a predictor of more time with peers, but partly as an avenue for opportunities for crime, not for the sake of friendship.

Peer pressure is consistently implicated in the excessive drinking of college students. However, both theory and empirical findings suggest that peer pressure is a combination of three distinct influences: overt offers of alcohol, modeling, and social norms. Overt offers of alcohol can range from polite gestures to intense goading or commands to drink. Modeling occurs when the student's behavior corresponds to another student's concurrent drinking behavior. Perceived social norms can serve to make excessive alcohol use appear common and acceptable to the student. This review critically examines the literature on each form of peer influence and provides suggestions for future research. D

Health nudge interventions to steer people into healthier lifestyles are increasingly applied by governments worldwide, and it is natural to look to such approaches to improve health by altering what people choose to eat. However, to produce policy recommendations that are likely to be effective, we need to be able to make valid predictions about the consequences of proposed interventions, and for this, we need a better understanding of the determinants of food choice. These determinants include dietary components (e.g. highly palatable foods and alcohol), but also diverse cultural and social pressures, cognitive-affective factors (perceived stress, health attitude, anxiety and depression), and familial, genetic and epigenetic influences on personality characteristics. In addition, our choices are influenced by an array of physiological mechanisms, including signals to the brain from the gastrointestinal tract and adipose tissue, which affect not only our hunger and satiety but also...

What causes adolescents to be materialistic? Prior research shows parents and peers are an important influence. Researchers have viewed parents and peers as socialization agents that transmit consumption attitudes, goals, and motives to adolescents. We take a different approach, viewing parents and peers as important sources of emotional support and psychological well-being, which increase self-esteem in adolescents. Supportive parents and peers boost adolescents' self-esteem, which decreases their need to turn to material goods to develop positive selfperceptions. In a study with 12-18 year-olds, we find support for our view that self-esteem mediates the relationship between parent/peer influence and adolescent materialism.

Most prison systems use quantitative instruments to classify and assign inmates to prison security levels commensurate to their level of risk. Bench and Allen (The Prison Journal 83(4):367-382, 2003) offer evidence that the assignment to higher security prisons produces elevated levels of misconduct independent of the individual’s propensity to commit misconduct. Chen and Shapiro (American Law and Economics Review, 2007)

The association between affiliating with aggressive peers and behavioral, social and psychological adjustment was examined. Students initially in 3 rd , 4 th , and 5 th grade (N = 427) were followed biannually through 7 th grade. Students' peer-nominated groups were identified. Multilevel modeling was used to examine the independent contributions of adolescents' typical peer context (betweenperson effect) and changes in peer context (within-person effects) to adolescents' adjustment. Typically affiliating with aggressive groups and affiliating with more aggressive groups than usual predicted higher aggression for all youth. Typically affiliating with aggressive groups predicted negative adjustment (lower social preference and self-worth, higher victimization) for girls but neutral or positive adjustment for boys. Although typical peer context was consistently associated with adjustment, changes in peer context predicted small changes in adjustment for several outcomes. Results underscored the need to adopt a more differentiated picture of adolescents' dynamic peer context and its association with normative development.

Mobile commerce is becoming increasingly important in business. Wireless application protocol (WAP) is one of the most widespread technical standards for mobile commerce. Following continuous technical evolution, WAP has now included various new features. However, WAP services continue to struggle for market share. Hence, understanding the adoption of WAP services is increasingly important for enterprises interested in developing mobile commerce. This study aims to: (i) identify the critical factors of WAP services adoption; (ii) explore the relative importance of each factor between WAP adopters and non-adopters; and (iii) examine the causal relationships among variables on WAP services adoption behavior. This study reports empirical test of the adoption of WAP services in Taiwan, based on the theory of planned behavior and innovation diffusion theory. The results indicate that the critical factors influencing the adoption of WAP services include connection speed, service costs, user satisfaction, personal innovativeness, ease of use, peer influence, and facilitating conditions. Some suggestions for subsequent researchers and practitioners seeking to understand WAP services adoption behavior are also provided. 

The research concerning relative and independent influences of family and peers upon adolescent drug use is reviewed. Although conflict between family and adolescents is one of the oldest, most predictable, andmin Western society--probably least avoidable of developmental conflicts, the sharp focus upon this conflict in the context of adolescent drug use is a more recent development. As interest and concern regarding adolescent drug use has grown, so has the research seeking to explain this behavior. Much of this research has focused upon the role of family and peer influence. After a brief review of the theories which support either the greater impact of family or peer influence on adolescent behavior, a more specific review of the Hterature concerning the role of these influences on adolescent drug use is presented. The outline of this presentation is derived from Kandel's theory of stages of drug use. Finally, a summary of research findings and specific suggestions for future research are made.

Purpose: Although some studies among adolescent girls found that friends within friendship groups were rather similar on dieting and/or body image constructs, these studies were limited by their cross-sectional designs. The current prospective study is the first to examine friendship group influences on eating disorder risk factors, including body dissatisfaction, weight concerns, dietary restraint, and dieting in adolescent girls. Methods: Design was a two-wave prospective study with 1-year interval. Of 863 girls (mean age ¼ 13.8, SD ¼ .7), 344 were members of one of the 103 reciprocal friendship groups identified using social network analysis. Results: Reciprocal friends were similar with respect to body image and dieting constructs. However, initial friendship group levels of body dissatisfaction, weight concerns, dietary restraint, and dieting did not predict individual body image and dieting variables 1 year later. Conclusions: The current findings attest to the significance of reciprocal friendship group correlates of eating disorder risk factors, but suggest that during early-to-mid-adolescence, levels of body image concerns and dieting within reciprocal friendship groups do not influence adolescents' own body image concerns and dieting over 1 year of time. Ó

Classroom composition research on social-emotional outcomes (CCRSO) aims to systematically explore how characteristics of classmates are related to the social-emotional outcomes of children and adolescents. In this introduction to the Special Issue, we first provide an overview of the scientific roots of CCRSO. We then develop a conceptualization of research areas typically of interest in CCRSO, which comprises four different fields of inquiry. Based on this, an overview on exemplary studies in these areas of research is given. Finally, we provide an introduction to methodological approaches and current challenges of CCRSO. We end with a brief discussion on potential future research directions.

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Recent structural and functional imaging studies have provided evidence for continued development of brain regions involved in social cognition during adolescence. In this paper, we review this rapidly expanding area of neuroscience and describe models of neurocognitive development that have emerged recently. One implication of these models is that neural development underlies commonly observed adolescent phenomena such as susceptibility to peer influence and sensitivity to peer rejection. Experimental behavioural evidence of rejection sensitivity in adolescence is currently sparse. Here, we describe a study that directly compared the affective consequences of an experimental ostracism manipulation (Cyberball) in female adolescents and adults. The ostracism condition led to significantly greater affective consequences in the adolescents compared with adults. This suggests that the ability to regulate distress resulting from ostracism continues to develop between adolescence and adulthood. The results are discussed in the context of models of neurocognitive development.

Negativer Peereinfluss gilt als einer der zentralen Risikofaktoren für eine dissoziale Entwicklung von Kindern und Jugendlichen. Um ungünstige Einflussprozesse zwischen Gleichaltrigen besser zu verstehen und wirksame Präventionsmaßnahmen dagegen entwickeln zu können, ist es entscheidend, die moderierenden Faktoren von Peereinfluss zu kennen. Diese können Aufschluss darüber geben, wer für negativen Peereinfluss besonders gefährdet ist und welche Bedingungen eine ungünstige
Beeinflussung vermindern. Zu diesem Zweck wurde eine systematische Übersicht über alle Längsschnittstudien
zu dieser Thematik erstellt. Die Befunde aus 66 einbezogenen Untersuchungen zeigen, dass die Wirkung der Peers auf die individuelle Entwicklung sowohl von personalen, psychologischen
als auch sozial-kontextuellen Merkmalen abhängt. Die Ergebnisse werden hinsichtlich ihrer Relevanz für die Prävention dissozialen Verhaltens und bezüglich weiterer Forschungsstrategien zu dieser Thematik diskutiert.

Objective To examine the multivariate nature of risk factors for youth violence including delinquent peer associations, exposure to domestic violence in the home, family conflict, neighborhood stress, antisocial personality traits, depression level, and exposure to television and video game violence.

A new self-report measure of children's attitudes toward TV advertising is described. The selfreport scale was administered to 300 8-to-10-year-old children, and their parents completed a questionnaire evaluating socioeconomic status, educational level, and peer influence. Results of a factor analysis supported three identifiable factors reflecting theoretically based constructs of children's attitudes toward TV advertising: enjoyment, credence and behavioral-intention. The scale showed good convergent validity and internal consistency. Credence of TV advertising decreases significantly across age groups. Environmental factors also are significant predictors of children's attitude toward TV advertising. The implications of the findings for future theoretical and empirical development of research in this field are discussed.

Despite advances in tobacco control, adolescent smoking remains a problem. The smoking status of friends is one of the highest correlates with adolescent smoking. This homophily (commonality of friends based on a given attribute) may be due to either peer pressure, where adolescents adopt the smoking behaviors of their friends, or peer selection, where adolescents choose friends based on their smoking status. This study used structural equation modeling to test a model of peer influence and peer selection on ever smoking by adolescents. The primary analysis of the model did not reach significance, but post hoc analyses did result in a model with good fit. Results indicated that both peer influence and peer selection were occurring, and that peer influence was more salient in the population than was peer selection. Implications of these results for tobacco prevention programs are discussed.

Career decision-making, particularly among high school students, is something that all students should carefully consider since it has ripple effects in one's life. This paper presents an overview of peer pressure as a factor that influences career decision-making among high school students in Midlands Province, Zimbabwe. A quantitative research approach was used in the current study. A survey design that made use of questionnaires in collecting data was used. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse data. A total of one thousand and ten student participants and 20 career guidance teachers who were randomly selected participated in this study. Results from the study indicated that students are influenced by their peers in making career decisions in a number of ways. Chief among the predictors were peer advice, encouragement and peer education. However, students denied that they seek validation of their career decisions from their peers. The study recommended that a similar national study be carried out to enable generalisation of the results to a wider community.

Mathematics is one of the most challenging subjects as perceived by some students. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between several factors such as students' attitude, students' interest, teacher's instruction, peer influence and their mathematics achievement. Sample of this study involved 114 Form 4 (Grade10) students' selected from a public secondary school. The instrument used to elicit students' perception was a self reported questionnaire using the 5 point Likert-type scale. The findings showed that attitude of students, interest and strategy of teachers' teaching the subject had a positive association with students' achievement. Peer influence had a weak association with achievement in mathematics.

Recent theoretical approaches to the etiology of eating disorders and body image disturbances have begun to focus on multifactorial models. In the current study, the Tripartite Influence model was examined in a large sample of college females (ages 18 -22). This model proposes that three primary core sources of influenceparents, peers and media -contribute to the development of body image and eating disturbances. Additionally, the model suggests that at least two factors mediate the relationship between influences and disturbance -appearance comparison and internalization of media information. In this study, appearance comparison was examined as a mediational link between peer, family and media influence variables and the outcome disturbance measures of eating dysfunc-tion and body image dissatisfaction. Covariance structure modeling (CSM) was used to test the proposed pathways. The results indicated that appearance comparison mediated the effects of family and media influences on body dissatisfaction, which in turn influenced restrictive and bulimic behaviors. In addition, peer influences had a direct influence on restriction. Perfectionism was hypothesized to relate to body dissatisfaction, but was in fact found to influence appearance comparison. The findings were limited by the necessity of several modifications to the originally proposed models, yet offer replication and extension of previous work with appearance comparison and support for further testing of the Tripartite Influence model. D

The high increase of usage rates of Social Networking Sites (SNS) such as Facebook are a worldwide phenomenon as are people spending hours in Facebook especially among young adolescents. However, beside their useful and enjoyable features, SNS like Facebook have also proven to have undesired outcomes in terms of technostress, social overload, or even addiction. Addiction as a variable in adoption models has been introduced into the IS community by Turel and Serenko (2011) who operationalized online-auction addiction and assessed its impact on adoption determinants as perceived usefulness. By means of an empirical study of 125 young adults, the present research shifts the focus to the causes of addiction using the example of Facebook. We thereby focus on three groups of addiction predispositions (Family dysfunction, peer influence and behavioral conditioning) and empirically investigate their impact on Facebook addiction.

Body image dissatisfaction is a significant risk factor in the onset of eating pathology and depression. Therefore, understanding predictors of negative body image is an important focus of investigation. This research sought to examine the contributions of body mass, appearance conversations with friends, peer appearance criticism and internalization of appearance ideals to body dissatisfaction among adolescents. The sample was comprised of 239 (54% female) adolescents, with a mean age of 16 years. Self-report questionnaires were completed on body dissatisfaction, peer appearance conversations and criticism, internalization of appearance ideals, height and weight. For girls and boys, body mass, appearance conversations with friends, peer appearance criticism and internalized appearance ideals emerged as significant predictors of body dissatisfaction. Gender moderated the effect of body mass on body dissatisfaction. Internalization mediated the relationship between peer appearance conversations and criticism, and body dissatisfaction. These findings suggest that while body mass exerts a differential risk for body dissatisfaction among boys and girls, internalisation may represent a key psychological process that underpins body dissatisfaction among both boys and girls.

The Good Behavior Game (GBG), a type of interdependent group-oriented contingency management procedure, was first introduced in 1969 and has been used with overwhelming success in classrooms and other settings. Since its inception, the "game" has utilized team competition and peer influence combined with reinforcement procedures. It has been found to be popular, easy-to-use, time-efficient, and widely applicable and versatile. This review describes the game and its numerous variations and adaptations, as well as empirical findings specific to the variety of target behaviors and participants to which it has been applied. In addition, different types of reinforcers used, information on consumer acceptance, and issues related to implementation are considered.

Recent theoretical approaches to the etiology of eating disorders and body image disturbances have begun to focus on multifactorial models. In the current study, the Tripartite Influence model was examined in a large sample of college females (ages 18 -22). This model proposes that three primary core sources of influenceparents, peers and media -contribute to the development of body image and eating disturbances. Additionally, the model suggests that at least two factors mediate the relationship between influences and disturbance -appearance comparison and internalization of media information. In this study, appearance comparison was examined as a mediational link between peer, family and media influence variables and the outcome disturbance measures of eating dysfunc-tion and body image dissatisfaction. Covariance structure modeling (CSM) was used to test the proposed pathways. The results indicated that appearance comparison mediated the effects of family and media influences on body dissatisfaction, which in turn influenced restrictive and bulimic behaviors. In addition, peer influences had a direct influence on restriction. Perfectionism was hypothesized to relate to body dissatisfaction, but was in fact found to influence appearance comparison. The findings were limited by the necessity of several modifications to the originally proposed models, yet offer replication and extension of previous work with appearance comparison and support for further testing of the Tripartite Influence model. D

The London studies of school effectiveness in the 1970s provided evidence that the qualities of schools made a significant difference to pupil progress, after taking account of the characteristics and backgrounds of the pupils at the time of school entry. The purpose of this article is to review the further evidence that has accumulated since then in order to assess how far the findings have been confirmed or refuted, what new questions have arisen and what key challenges remain. The continuing areas of research and debate include school effects on behavioral outcomes, the effects of class size, the importance of parental involvement, the impact of intake mix, peer influences, and level of resources. There has been greater agreement on the many features fostering school effectiveness. However, questions remain on how to bring about desired changes. The paper concludes by drawing attention to 10 largely unanswered questions that matter for policy and practice.

We need to be productive in order to have a better life. This is true for all people, not just for adults but for students too. Despite having lots of assignments and school works, students often fail at self regulation which is not completely understood. Students fail to recognize why they delay doing tasks. Procrastination, defined as the act of delaying or postponing something, is one of the reasons why most students often get distracted and causes them to neglect or delay performing a specific task. And when we talk about Procrastination it comes to our mind was a negative but, in our research, look for the other side which is the positive side of procrastination.

Economists generally believe that higher savings will spur economic growth, thus strengthening the economy further. In Malaysia however, the sharp increase in the ratio of household debt to disposable income particularly over the past ten years has raised doubts on the ability of Malaysians to save and plan for their future. As a result, total household savings remained low and there is high risk that Malaysians would not have sufficient savings for their retirement. Even more worrying is that young adults reportedly are the main group who are trapped into this financial difficulty. The issue has raised concern on the needs to educate young Malaysian adults on the fundamental importance of savings in order to ensure financial sufficiency on their retirement. With regards to savings behavior, the needs for savings are different amongst individuals due to different mind-set, behavior, knowledge, and social environment. This study intends to explore the savings behavior amongst students of higher learning institutions in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Specifically, the study intends: (i) to investigate the determinants of savings behavior; and, (ii) to examine the mediating effect of attitude towards the relationship between financial literacy and savings behavior. Data was collected using structured questionnaire and analyzed using SMART-PLS, a second generation structural equation modelling software. The results indicate that family involvement plays a major role in nurturing students' savings behavior, followed by financial literacy and peer influence. In addition, students are said to have more favorable financial attitude when they are financially literate. Financial attitude however, does not mediate the relationship between financial literacy and savings behavior. This research is expected to contribute to the body of knowledge within the financial wellness and personal financial planning context.

Objectives: The objectives of this research were a) to explore the applicability of 'motivational climate' research to early career athletes under the age of twelve, b) to re-examine the concept of 'motivational climate' in the light of recent scientific developments, and c) to concurrently study the influences of coaches, parents and peers on athletic motivation.

In recent years, research on the subject of child sexual abuse disclosures has seen an increase in the use of qualitative methods to explore individual experiences, reflecting an emphasis on understanding diversity rather than typicality. This research study builds on previous work that viewed disclosure as a process that occurs over time, influenced by both anticipated reactions and actual reactions that in turn influence future decisions about disclosing. The study has as its fundamental focus the experience of telling. Interviews were conducted with young people aged 8 to 19 years (n=22), parents (n=21) and adults who had experienced sexual abuse in childhood (n=10). In all, 29 young people’s stories were represented in this study. The study was informed by Grounded Theory methods and data was managed using the NVivo computer programme. By directing the analysis to take account of the impediments to telling, the motivation to tell and the consequences of telling, a theoretical fr...

The influence of parents, close friends, and other peers on teens’ sexual behavior has been well documented. Yet, we still know little about the processes through which these reference groups’ oftentimes competing norms impact teens’ own sexual norms and behaviors. Drawing on qualitative data from 47 interviews conducted with college-bound teens, we investigate the processes through which perceived parental, close friend, and other peer norms about sex influenced teens’ decisions about whether and when to have sex. Although virtually all teens perceived that most of their peers were having sex and that parents were almost universally against teen sex, some teens had sex and others did not. Our findings demonstrate that teens who remained virgins and those who were sexually active during high school often negotiated different sets of competing norms. Differences in understandings of age norms, in close friends’ sexual norms and behaviors, and in communication about sex with parents, close friends and other peers were related to different levels of sexual behavior for teens who otherwise shared many similarities in social location (e.g., class, race, and educational status). While virgins reported an individualized process of deciding whether they were ready for sex, we find that their behavior fits within a traditional understanding of an age norm because of the emphasis on avoiding negative sanctions. Sexually experienced teens, on the other hand, explicitly reported abiding by a group age norm that prescribed sex as normal during high school. Finally, parents’ normative objections to teen sex – either moral or practical – and the ways they communicated with their teen about sex had important influence on teens’ own sexual norms and behaviors during high school.► We compare virgins’ and sexually active teens’ age norms and decisions about sex. ► Contextually, teens perceive that parents are against teen sex and most peers are having sex. ► Parents’ moral objections to or practical concerns about teen sex influence communication. ► Close friends are similar to teens in sexual norms and behaviors. ► Parents, close friends, and other peers jointly influence teens’ decisions about sex.

This thesis explores the existence of misperceptions regarding the peer-drinking norm among undergraduate students at Stellenbosch University and the role of these misperceptions in explaining students' drinking behaviour. A more permissive perception of the drinking norm has been associated with heavier alcohol consumption and negative consequences for oneself, others and property. Perceptions of the academic norm and its relation to personal academic and drinking behaviour are also investigated. Furthermore, the study examines the role of perceptions of the drinking norm in personal drinking behaviour in the context of other cognitive factors (perceptions), experiences prior to enrolling at university, as well as socio-demographic and contextual factors. The theoretical framework used to understand the origin, occurrence and perpetuation of misperceptions regarding the social norm includes Bourdieu's theory of habitus, social norms theory, social learning theory and attribution theory. Data were collected from 640 students out of a random sample of 3 177 who had been invited to participate in a web-based survey during September 2009. In addition, 18 personal semi-structured interviews were conducted with students.

ABSTRACT
The invention of information and communication technology has gone a long way in creating a new opportunity for marketing organizations to reach customers. One of such innovative and non store ways being employed by marketing organizations to serve customers is the creation of online shopping web pages. With the current popularity of smartphones among Nigerians and the evolving computing capabilities of this device, proponents argue that Nigerian consumers’ purchase behaviour will be positively altered. It is therefore the aim of this study to investigate the effect of smartphone ownership on online purchase behaviour of consumers in Lagos. The study employed a descriptive and survey research design, while a closed ended and structured questionnaire served as instrument for data collection. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select one hundred and forty eight Lagos residents who served as respondents and whose responses yielded the data for analyses. While percentages and frequency tables were used to analiyze and present the study’s descriptive statistics, parametric statistical tests such as one sample t-test, independent sample t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used as inferential statistics in testing the five hypotheses stated in the study. Some of the findings of this study are that m-commerce are still at its early stage in Nigeria, with only two percent of sampled respondents shopping daily, about twelve percent weekly, while majority of a little over fifty percent shop monthly; patrons shop a combination of products mainly through their smartphones;  the demographic variables of gender and age do not exert influence on the online purchase decisions of consumers, even as smartphone ownership will significantly enhance consumers’ online product information search, improve their product knowledge and positively impact their online product purchase decisions. It is recommended among others that shopping sites should now be optimized for both Internet and mobile telephony access and online vendors should begin to visualize smartphones as a veritable avenue to reach target markets in order to sell their products and services.

Bullying and victimization are prevalent problems in the area of adolescent peer relationships. Middle school students (N = 4,263) in one Maryland school district completed surveys covering a range of problem behaviors and psychosocial variables. Overall, 30.9% of the students reported being victimized three or more times in the past year and 7.4% reported bullying three or more times over the past year. More than one half of the bullies also reported being victimized. Those bully/victims were found to score less favorably than either bullies or victims on all the measured psychosocial and behavioral variables. Results of a discriminant function analysis demonstrated that a group of psychosocial and behavioral predictors-including problem behaviors, attitudes toward deviance, peer influences, depressive symptoms, school-related functioning, and parenting-formed a linear separation between the comparison group (never bullied or victimized), the victim group, the bully group, and the bully/victim group.

The purpose of the study was to critically analyse the impact of the dynamics of continuous assessments on learner’s attitude towards mathematics in Kenyan Secondary Schools. The continued poor performance in mathematics may be attributed to the students’ poor attitude towards the subject.  How the learners develop a poor attitude towards the subject prompted the researchers, who teach mathematics to carry out this study?  Learners encounter various forms of assessments in mathematics on daily basis. The objectives of the study were: a) To critically analyse the impact of monitoring of assessments on the attitude towards mathematics in secondary schools in Kenya, b) To find out the impact of the quality of assignments on the attitude of learners towards mathematics n secondary schools in Kenya, c) To determine the impact of peer influence towards assessments on the attitude towards mathematics in secondary schools in Kenya, d) To evaluate how resources used to give assessments affect the attitude of learners towards mathematics n secondary schools in Kenya, e) To establish the impact of reinforcements on the attitude of learners towards mathematics in secondary schools in Kenya. A qualitative research was carried out using a critical analysis design. The study concluded that the continuous assessment dynamics in mathematics go a long way in leaners developing a negative attitude towards the subject. The researcher recommended that: schools should come up with assessment policies to help in monitoring continuous assessments, teachers need to be in serviced on the construction and use of continuous assessment, schools need to have a variety of learning materials other than text books and schools need to nature a positive culture towards mathematics.

Considerable evidence supports the hypothesis that peer relationships influence the growth of problem behavior in youth. Developmental research consistently documents the high levels of covariation between peer and youth deviance, even controlling for selection effects. Ironically, the most common public interventions for deviant youth involve segregation from mainstream peers and aggregation into settings with other deviant youth. Developmental research on peer influence suggests that desired positive effects of group interventions in education, mental health, juvenile justice, and community programming may be offset by deviant peer influences in these settings. Given the public health policy issues raised by these findings, there is a need to better understand the conditions under which these peer contagion effects are most pronounced with respect to intervention foci and context, the child's developmental level, and specific strategies for managing youth behavior in groups.