PEER GROUP INFLUENCE AND SELF- CONCEPT AS CORRELATES OF EXAMINATION MALPRACTICE AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN ABIA STATE

Abstract

This study determined the extent peer group influence and self-concept correlates with examination malpractice among senior secondary school students in Abia State. The study adopted a correlational research design. Two research questions guided the study while two hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The sample of the study consisted of 1,036 senior secondary school class II students drawn through simple random sampling technique from the entire population of 10,365 SSII students in Abia State. Peer group influence and self-concept on examination malpractice questionnaire (PGISCQ) was designed and validated by three experts in the College of Education and was used for data collection. The data generated for the study were analyzed using Pearson, R2 (coefficient of determination) to answer the research questions while linear regression was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed that peer group influence predicted 72.9% of examination malpractice among senior secondary school students in Abia State. The study also revealed that self-concept was a positive and significance correlate of examination malpractice as it predicted 46.9% of the examination malpractice among senior secondary school students. Based on the findings it was recommended among others that students should be provided with necessary information by psychologist and guidance counsellors about the different psychosocial variables and how they could lead academic adjustment for effective learning outcomes and reduce their propensity to engage in examination malpractice.