Peer Pressure and Academic performances of Students Enrolled in Public Sector Universities of Azad Jammu and Kashmir

The present quantitative study was conducted to determine the level of peer pressure, its relationship, and its impact on the academic achievements of students enrolled in the universities of Azad Jammu and Kashmir/AJK. A random sample of 400 out of 34000 students determined by sample size formula (Solvin, 1960) participated in the study. Peer Pressure Questionnaire (Saini, 2016) was used to measure the peer pressure among participants. CGPA was collected as an indicator of academic performances. The results of the study show that the majority (75.5%) of students experiences moderate level of peer pressure. A weak but significant negative correlation (r = -0.218, p = 0.035) was observed indicating that as peer pressure increases the academic performance slightly decreases. Regression analysis revealed that peer pressure has small but negative (β = -0.163, p = 0.001) impact on the academic performances, with each unit increase in peer pressure leading to 0.012 units decrease in academic performance. Results of the study align with past researchers and demonstrate why students should be able to fend off negative peer pressure by forming support networks with mentors and counselling professionals. The study recommends that pressure variations between cultures and genders, may be explored and the mechanisms behind positive peer interactions may also be identified.