Peer Pressure, Academic Stress and Goal Adjustment in Day Scholars and Hostelite College Students

Abstract

The current study aimed to investigate the gender differences in peer pressure, academic stress, and goal adjustment in day scholars and hostelite college students. A cross-sectional survey research design and convenience sampling strategy were used. Data were collected from 300 college students (day scholars = 171 and hostelites = 129) with a mean age of 17.26(0.86) years of day scholars and a mean age of 17.57(0.91) of hostelites from various public and private colleges, Lahore. For this purpose, Peer Pressure Inventory (Kiran-Esen, 2003) was used to measure peer pressure, Academic stress was measured by using Academic Stress Scale (Kim, 1970) and Goal Adjustment Scale (Wrosch, Scheier, Miller, Schulz, & Carver, 2003) used to measure goal adjustment and demographic information was also obtained. Reliability analysis, independent samples t-test, and Two-way MANOVA were applied. A t-test revealed that day scholar college students experience more direct peer pressure and academic stress. They are more tend to disengage in unattainable goals and are more inclined to reengage in attainable goals rather than hostelite college students. Two-way MANOVA depicted that day scholar boys assume direct peer pressure and they more disengage in unattainable goals and reengage in attainable goals as compared to day scholar girls and hostelite girls and boy college students. The current study will give insight to related educational governing bodies to introduce effective educational methods and a sound environment for students where they can deal with academic stress effectively and be more involved in goal reengagement.