Conflict Resolution among Secondary School Students in Terms of Gender, Age and Class: A Case of Eldoret East District, Kenya

Abstract

One of the most widely held beliefs is that peer groups control the behaviour of children, sometimes more than parents and teachers particularly the case with teenagers. Peers are prime candidates for promoting imitation in children; for instance if a child sees one of their peers playing aggressively they play aggressively. Therefore, peers may reinforce certain behaviours. From this evidence it is clear that peer counsellors can play a key role in peer behaviour modification. This paper seeks to establish the differences in conflict resolution based on gender, age and class of students. Eldoret East District in Rift Valley Province was the study area having a population of 3745; the number of boys is 1862 while that of girls is 1883. The sample size was obtained through purposive sampling considering those schools which had conflict resolution programmes ongoing. From the study, Gender, age and class differences in conflict resolution have been found to exist.

Keywords: conflict resolution, secondary school students, gender, age, class