Socio-Psychological Factors Influencing the Educational Aspiration of Married Women in Rivers State, Nigeria

This research work investigated the influence of socio-psychological factors on the educational aspiration of married women in Rivers State. A stratified random sample of 680 married women selected purposively from 8 out of 23 local government areas of Rivers State was used for the study. The sample covered both the urban and rural residential areas (4 urban local government areas and 4 rural local government areas). An 80-item questionnaire consisting of 60 positive and 20 negative questions aimed at examining the influence of socio-psychological factors such as attitude to education, self concept, and job Interest, on the educational aspiration of married women, was constructed to enable the researcher collect adequate information for the study. For the purpose of analyses of data, mean, standard deviation and t-test were used. Findings revealed that the married women in Rivers State generally have high educational aspiration and chances are there that given a boost, their educational aspiration may even be higher. The findings also revealed that there was no significant difference in the educational aspiration of married women, with high and low level of education, and married women with high and low level of income. There was however significant difference; between the educational aspiration of married women in the urban and rural locations, between the educational aspiration of married women and their attitude to education, between the education aspiration of married women and their job interest. Out of the 6 null hypotheses formulated, 2 were accepted while 4 were rejected. Some recommendations were made and suggestions offered.Keywords: educational aspirations, socio-psychological factors, location, level of education, level of income, self-concept, job interestNigerian Journal of Guidance and Counselling Vol. 13 (1) 2008: pp. 92-10