PEER PRESSURE AMONG HOSTELERS AND DAY SCHOLARS

The objective of the research was to analyze the peer pressure experienced by students residing in hostels versus those attending school as day scholars. During adolescence, peers assume a significant role in shaping behavior. Peer pressure manifests when individuals feel implied or overt encouragement to embrace similar values, beliefs, and goals, or to engage in comparable activities within their peer group. Additionally, the analysis compared peer pressure levels between senior secondary school students residing in hostels and those who commute daily, categorized by gender. The sample comprised 80 secondary school students, split evenly between 40 from residential senior secondary institutions (20 boys and 20 girls) and 40 from non-residential senior secondary institutions (20 boys and 20 girls), aged between 16 and 19 years, and randomly selected from two residential and two non-residential schools in the Sonipat district of Haryana, representing both rural and urban backgrounds. The Peer Pressure Scale, developed by Sandeep Singh and Sunil Saini, was utilized to evaluate peer pressure among the selected participants. Collected data were statistically analyzed using mean, standard deviation, and t-tests. The findings indicated no significant difference in peer pressure levels between hostellers and day scholars.