Peer group influence, mental health outcomes, and coping strategies among secondary school students in Potiskum metropolis, Yobe State, Nigeria

Peer group strongly affect the mental health of secondary school students in positive peer relationships can improve emotional well-being, while negative influences can cause stress, anxiety, and low self-esteem. Understanding this helps schools and counsellors support students and teach effective coping strategies. Therefore, the study seeks to determine the peer group influence and mental health outcomes among public secondary school students in Potiskum metropolis, Yobe State: Implication for coping strategies. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design, the population of the study comprises of all public secondary school students in Potiskum Metropolis which was 7,546 students. However, a representative sample of students were selected using simple random sampling, Krejcie and Morgan table were used to determine the sample of 366. The data were collected using a structured questionnaire title”Peer Influence on Students Mental Health Outcomes and Coping Strategies Questionnaire”. (PISMHOCSQ), the questionnaire were divided into sections on: peer group influence, mental health outcomes, and coping strategies. The instrument was validated by experts in Guidance and Counselling and Educational Psychology. The reliability of the instrument were determined using the test–retest method and Cronbach’s Alpha. This ensures consistency and dependability of the instrument. Moreover, the data were also analyzed using: descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) to answer research questions; inferential statistics (Pearson correlation and regression analysis) to test hypotheses. The result of this research revealed that