PARENTS’ AND PEER INFLUENCE AS PREDICTORS OF CAREER PREFERENCE OF IN - SCHOOL ADOLESCENTS IN IKPOBA OKHA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF EDO STATE

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the parents’ and peer influence as predictors of career preference of in-school adolescents in Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area of Edo State. Five (5) research questions were raised for the study and all were formulated into hypotheses and tested at 0.05 level of significance.

Related literature were reviewed. The descriptive research design which adopted a correlate approach was adopted for the study. Simple random sampling technique was adopted to select 350 SS II students for the study. The questionnaire titled parents’ and peer influence questionnaire (PPIQ) was used to elicit information from the respondents. The instruments were modified and validated by the researchers’ supervisor and one other test expert. The reliability of the instrument was tested using Cronbach Alpha statistics and the value obtained for the instrument is 0.77. The data obtained for the study was analyzed using inferential statistics. Hypotheses one to four was analyzes using linear regression while hypothesis five was analyzed using multi regression. The hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance.

The findings reviewed that parents’ influence did not predict the career preference of in-school adolescents while peers play a major role in predicting the career preference of in-school adolescent in Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area of Edo State. It was recommended that Government should employ more career counsellors in secondary schools to guide the students on their path of career choice, Parents’ should continuously be enlightened through seminar to encourage their children to make career choice independently, Career tours and career talk should be encouraged in all secondary schools in the State.