Socio-Economic Laxity on University Students: Implication for Social Values and Sexual Morality

Abstract The rate at which social values are being eroded in recent times among the Nigerian university undergraduates is very alarming. The position of their parents’ wellness and economic power are pointers to values erosion and compliance. Morality has degenerated globally, with particular reference to university undergraduates in southwest Nigeria. This calls for concern and urgent attention to ameliorate the upsurge. The study adopted descriptive research design of the survey type. The population consisted of all university undergraduates in both public and private universities in southwest Nigeria. The sample size consisted of 1,581 undergraduates were selected using multi-stage sampling procedure. An instrument tagged “Values Awareness and Compliance Questionnaire” (VACQ) was used to collect data for the study. Cronbach’s Alpha reliability Coefficient Analysis was used to determine the reliability coefficient which stood at 0.92 after the face and content validity had been ensured by experts in Social Studies, Sociology, and Tests, Measurement and Evaluation. The data collected were analysed using ANOVA and t-test analyses. The three hypotheses generated were tested at 0.05 level of significance.The study revealed that socio-economic status of parents did not significantly influence university undergraduates’ social values however, the socio-economic status of parents significantly influenced university undergraduates’ sexual morality. Based on the results, it was recommended that private university proprietors should identify the reasons behind the problems of undergraduates’ values degradations and parents of university undergraduates should not use their bad past experience and present affluence living to jeopardize the inculcation of right values to their wards as regards compliance and assist them to desist from sexual immorality especially as it involves more male undergraduates than female undergraduates