FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCE

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

COURSE TITLE: RESEARCH METHODS

COURESE CODE: POL321

NAME: OKOBAROH FAVOUR UFUOMA

MATRIC NO: SSC2010574

ASSIGNMENT
Choose a relevant social problem and write research proposal.

Parental Background and the Career Choice of Secondary School

Students in Ekosodin
INTRODUCTION
Choosing a career is a lifelong process that demands accurate perceptions of ability, potential
and achievement. Many career choices are made which requires much taught and reflection
(Kelly, 2013).
The issue of career choice by individuals entering into occupations has implications of national
development. Occupation in the view of (Okorie & Ezeji, 2014), is a way of life. Character
moulding, determines income, social status, style of life, choice of friends one makes, mental and
the physical health of one, (Hummel & McDaniels, 2011), which goes to imply that the choice of
occupation has a convincing link with one’s entire way of life.
According to Jungen (2008), there is this notion that the primary aim behind any pursuit of
various occupations is the fundamental human need to make a living, and to have satisfaction of
needs. While this have some elements of truth in it, the present society with its changes and
sophisticated social and economic systems have taken the problem of occupational choice two
steps further by making it complex and mysterious. There are many variables that stand to decide
which/what occupation an individual chooses effectively (Aswani, 2012). Hence occupational
choice made means foregoing several alternatives. Some of these factors tend to have more and
strong impact than others. Udoh and Sanni (2012) asserted that a general ranking of these factors
in order of extent of influence escape from us because of individual differences in life. That
which can significantly influence the occupational choice of an individual may have less or no
significance in another. Be that as it may Toby (2000) opined that while it may be difficult to
ascertain the reliability of these variables, it is not correct that there are cases in which some
form of interaction among them that one modifies the other. Some of these variables are either
biologically and psychologically based, while others are socio- economical rooted. Yet
individuals still get in occupation by chance or accident (Wert, 2010).
Man’s occupation determines the kind of person he becomes since, through his working hours,
his cognitions about himself, his wants and goals and his interpersonal response traits are
moulded (Larke, 2003). Since the mid-fifties, research has suggested that family interaction is
linked to career choice and occupation behaviour (Onyejiaku, 2001). Career development is the
balancing, recognizing and meeting of needs of individuals while at the same time responding to
the outer forces and realities of life (Mugenda, Kimani, Maina & Wainaina, 2010). Environment
tends to influence the career students choose in various ways. Someone in the student’s life may
make a significant impact or impression, leading to a definite career choice (Williams, 2016).
Parents’ educational background may influence student views on whether or not to continue their
education in a particular career.
Sometimes someone they saw on television or media presentations may influence the student’s
career choice, or parents may have demanded that they assume a family business. These various
environmental factors impact on the student’s choice of career (Wert, 2010). The family used to
have an upper hand on the occupational decisions of its members. In the view of Osuala (2010)
career guidance before now use to be the prerogative of the parents which is no longer as
influential as it used to be. This is due to the change and dynamic social-economic situations in
the nation, even if the family has not completely lost its influence on the vocational life of its
children, because either directly or indirectly, their influence still exists.
The family decides not only the individuals’ personality, even the vocational interests to a great
extent because of its social group status (Hayes & Hopson, 2013). Children are brought up with
respect to values of the family and as they grow, they learn, internalize and concretize such
behaviour patterns which they are exposed for. The pattern of behaviour and training the children
acquire from the family normally determines their job perception and eventually occupation
decision (Osuala, 2010). Parents convey their influence to children through interactions such as
conversations and through their reactions (both verbal and nonverbal). This then affects what
children say and perceive about various careers. Often there is a contradiction between what
parents say to children and what they ask of them, for instance, a parent may comment that it is
acceptable to pursue a particular career in a non-profit agency, but then counter such statements
with comments about low pay and long hours. These types of references imply that it is more
important to earn a high salary than to pursue a satisfying career (Toby, 2000).
Furthermore, Onyejiaku (2001), Wert (2010) and Denga (2012) postulated various positive
relationship between children’s early rearing experiences and their occupational choice, since
children spend most of their years at home and they naturally regard this as their reference group
with parent as important figures. In this regard, Carter (2009) classified parental work attitudes
into four namely;
Silent attitude, resentful attitude, participating attitude and candid attitude. Carter further
explained silent attitude as where parents rather discuss their own work and less of another
peoples’ work. There is no vocational plan for children hence leaving their children’s
occupational aspirations to chance. The resentful attitude is expressed by parents who only make
incidental remarks about work. They leave their children’s occupational choice to fate and
schooling and never attempt to consciously discuss vocation with their children. The
participating attitude is exhibited by parents who are interested on their jobs and discuss them
freely with their children thus exposing their children to these occupations. Lastly, the candid
attitude is children centred, which describes parents that openly and courteously discuss all
aspects of work, the advantages and the disadvantages thereof, with their children (Carter, 2009).
In analyses of the various attitudes exhibited by parents regarding occupational issues with their
families, it is glaring that children from these levels of home will have differences in attitudes
regarding work. Invariably children from the participating and candid attitude parental
environment could be vocationally mature much earlier than children from the other two
categories.
Parental occupation and education also impact strongly on the occupational choice of School
children. It is believed that children brought up in a family with a peculiar occupation are likely
to be influenced by such occupation. In some cases, families are known for certain occupation
over a long generation. Children whose parents and grandparents, brothers and sisters, uncles
and aunties are medically oriented will obviously have different vocational interest from children
that are raised in a family known for trading teaching over the years (Trice & knapp, 2010).
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of parental background on the career
choice of secondary school students in Ekosodin Community. In specific terms, the study
intended to ascertain:
1. The influence of parental attitude towards occupations on the career choice of male and
female students in Ekosodin Community.
2. The influence of parents’ level of education on the career choice of male and female
students in Ekosodin Community.
3. The influence of parents’ occupation on the career choice of male and female students in
Ekosodin Community.
Research Questions
The study sought to provide answer to the following research questions:
1. What is the influence of parental attitude towards occupations on the career choice of
male and female students in Ekosodin Community?
2. What is the influence of parents’ level of education on the career choice of male and
female students in Ekosodin Community?
3. What is the influence of parents’ occupation on the career choice of male and female
students in Ekosodin Community?
Hypotheses
The following hypotheses were formulated and tested at a 0.05 level of significance to guide the
study;
1. There is no significant difference in the mean response of male and female students regarding
the influence of parental attitude towards occupations on their career choice in secondary schools
in Ekosodin Community.
2 There is no significant difference in the mean response of male and female students regarding
the influence of parents’ level of education on their career choice in secondary schools in
Ekosodin Community.
3. There is no significant difference in the mean response of male and female students regarding
the influence of parents’ occupation on their career choice in secondary schools in Ekosodin
Community.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Before the advent of formal education in Nigeria, the family used to have veto powers on the
occupational decisions of its members. Speaking of that era, Onyejiaku (1980) maintains that
vocational guidance which used to be the prerogative of the parents no longer commands such
influence, that is, the influence of parents, because of the changed and dynamic socio-economic
conditions in the country. But then, it would be wrong for one to assert that the family has
completely lost its influence on the vocational life of its members because directly or indirectly,
it still has.
Bear and Roeber (1969) state that through family influences, everyone is exposed to values,
attitudes, feelings, and a climate for learning. This underscores why the family has profound
influence on the evaluative aspects of the child’s development including his judgement of which
career to pursue. A child’s desires, his satisfaction and dissatisfaction, and his sense of values are
influenced by the educational statuses in the family too. As the family is the social group with
which the child has direct contact, it determines not only the individual’s personality but also his
vocational interests, at least to some appreciable extent.
A child is raised in accordance with the values of the family and as he grows he learns,
internalizes and concretizes the behaviour patterns to which he is exposed. All these behaviour
patterns and training which the child learns from the family often determines his job perception
and subsequent occupational decision.
Roe (1956,1957), Switzer (1962), and Onyejiaku (1987), among others have postulated some
positive relationship between children’s early rearing experiences and their occupational choice,
since children spend most of their years at home and they naturally regard the family as their
reference group with parents as significant figures.
Paul (1962) classified parental work attitudes into four broad categories as expounded below:
1. The silent attitude: here parents do not discuss work openly due to a lack of interest in the
vocational life of the children. Parents here seldom discuss their own work and much less that of
others. They do not make vocational plans for their wards thus leaving their children’s
occupational aspirations to chance.
2. The resentful attitude: parents with this kind of attitude only make incidental remarks
about work. They leave their children’s occupational choice to fate and schooling and never
attempt to consciously discuss vocation with their children.
3. The participating attitude: parents with this kind of attitude are keen on their jobs and
discuss them freely and with obvious enthusiasm with their children thus exposing their children
to these occupations.
4. The candid attitude: this describes parents that openly and candidly discuss all aspects of
work, the advantages and the disadvantages thereof, with their children.
According to Paul (1962), children from these categories of home will have differing attitudes
towards work assuming that other influential variables are kept constant. Again, children from
the third and fourth categories would mature vocationally earlier than children from the first and
second categories.
In addition to parental attitude towards work, parental occupation and education also impact
strongly on the occupational choice of children. Children raised in a home dominated by a
certain occupation are likely to be influenced by that occupation. Some families are noted for
maintaining certain occupations across several generations. A boy whose father and
grandfathers, uncles and brothers are physicians or lawyers will invariably have different
vocational interest from a boy raised in a family noted over the years as farmers, teachers,
accountants, or labourers (Onyejiaku, 1987). Studies of occupational mobility by Davidson and
Anderson (1937) revealed a tendency for families to remain on the same occupational level
through three generations. However, this tendency has dramatically changed. The high rate of
competition for prestigious and lucrative occupations between the rich and poor families has
seen rich parents compelling their children to train for the prestigious and lucrative positions in
order to maintain the status quo, and poor families pressuring their children vehemently to train
for the prestigious and lucrative positions too in order to liberate the family from the shackles of
poverty (Onyejiaku, 1987). The level of parental formal education is another factor that
influences the vocational interests of children. Parental education level determines the amenities
and the cultural level of the home. Parents armed with adequate education often get gainful
employment. Thus, with their level of income and exposure, they are better disposed to procure
educational materials for their children and discuss job opportunities with them. Without doubt, a
child surrounded with good magazines, books, as well as intelligent discussions could be
expected to develop different, and perhaps better, vocational interests than a child not exposed to
those things (Onyejiaku, 1987). According to Denga (1990), children from low income homes
fail to develop interest in and acquire vocational training because of the educational inadequacies
of the parents.
Carter (1999) in his study also supports the view that a child learns about occupations through
examples of the parents as they visit their parents’ work places. If the impression there is good
then the child seeks to identify with the occupation but if they are bad, the child rejects such
occupation. Caplow (1994) and Wert (1997) in their separate studies found that career choice are
inherited obviously and directly from parents. Furthermore, Miller (2000) in his study discovered
that parental attitude and behaviour are positively associated with students’ career maturity.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This study employed descriptive survey design and was carried out in Ekosodin Community. The
population of the study consisted of 50 senior secondary three (SS3) students of public and
private secondary schools in Ekosodin Community. The sample for the study was 50 SS3
students selected using proportionate stratified random sampling technique. The instrument used
for the study was a self-structured questionnaire tilled “Parental Background and Career Choice
Questionnaire (PBCQ)”. The PBCQ was patterned to illicit information from the respondents in
four-point rating scale of Strongly Agree (SA) with 4 points; Agree (A) with 3 points; Disagree
(D) with 2 point and Strongly Disagree (SD) with 1 point.
DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
The findings with respect to research question one showed that the students agree that
their parents’ interest in their choice of career motivated them to choose it; parents’ willingness
for them to choose their choice of career created more interest in them for the course; parents’
dislike for their choice of career discouraged them from going for the course. This result
corroborates that of Udoh and Sanni (2012) who found that parents’ attitudes towards
occupations, parents’ level of formal education, and parents’ occupation exert influence on the
career choice of secondary school students in Uyo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State,
Nigeria. The outcome of the analysis of the first hypothesis further revealed that there was no
significant difference in the mean response of male and female students regarding the influence
of parental attitude towards occupations on their career choice in secondary schools in Ekosodin
Community
The second research question two sought to ascertain students’ perception on the
influence of parent’s level of formal education on the career choice of male and female students
in Ekosodin Community From the result, both male and female students agree that their parents’
education aided them to assist me in making my career decision; their parents’ education aided
them to provide for them the educational resources needed to make right decision in my career
choice; parents’ education aided them provided them the exposure needed to make right decision
in my career choice.
They however disagreed that parents choose their career choice for them based on their
education; they chose same course as their parent(s) because they aspire to be like their parents
and that parents’ level of education has nothing to do with their choice of course. This result is in
agreement with that of Pfingst (2015) who conducted a study to investigate the relationship
between parental socio economic status and girls’ career aspirations in North Brisbane State
High School and a South Coast State High School in Australia. Pfingst found that students
whose fathers had reached the highest level of education to year 10 or 12, were more likely to
aspire to attend university than to directly enter the work force either part or fulltime.
Furthermore, the findings of this study is consistent with the finding of Mbagwu and Ajaegbu
(2016) who conducted a study to ascertain the influence of parents’ educational background on
career choice of teenagers among senior secondary school students in Owerri, Imo state.
Mbagwu and Ajaegbu found that teenagers whose parents were from high educational
background were more consistent and did not have much difficulty in making career choice
when compared with those whose parents had low educational background. The analysis of the
second hypothesis indicated that male students did not differ from their female counterparts in
their opinion regarding the influence of parent’s level of education on their career choice in
secondary schools in Ekosodin
Community
Research question three sought to ascertain students’ perception on the influence of
parental occupation on the career choice of male and female students in Ekosodin Community
From the result, both male and female students disagree that they chose their course because it is
same course one of their parents read in school and s/he was doing very well; they like their
father’s career and also chose to read it in school; they like their mothers’ career and also chose
to read it in school; they chose their career in line with their family business; they were not
influenced by their father’s or mother’s occupation; their fathers’ occupation is not giving him
enough money. This finding is in line with that obtained by Alphonse (2016) who conducted a
study to investigate the extent to which parental factors influence career choice among form four
students in Nairobi County. Alphonse found that parents’ occupations, parents’ socio-economic
status, parents’ values and expectations, influenced the career choice of students in the study
area. Furthermore, the analysis of the third hypothesis revealed that male students did not differ
from their female counterparts in the opinion regarding the influence of parental occupation on
their career choice in secondary schools in Ekosodin Community

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

CONCLUSION
Based on the findings of this study, it was therefore concluded that the career choice made by
students in secondary schools in Ekosodin Community are influenced by their parents’ attitude.
Their choice of career is also influenced by their parents’ level of education and occupation.
There is need therefore to mount sensitisation programmes for both parents and students of
secondary schools in the study area regarding choosing career. Such programme could reduce
the level of negative influence parents could exert on the career choice of their wards.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The following recommendations were made based on the findings from this study:
(1) The services of guidance counsellors should be employed in secondary schools to
counsel students on choosing career. This will sensitise them of the various careers and the
prospects of such career.
(2) School should organise career talks with parents to sensitise them of various careers
available for their wards. This will go a long way to help especially uneducated parents on the
career part ways their wards can choose.
(3) Parents should be involved in the academic activities of their wards. This way they may
know the areas of strength and weakness on their wards so they can administer appropriate
advice as regard their career choice.
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