PREMARITAL COHABITATION AS A PREDICTOR OF ACADEMIC ENGAGEMENT AMONG UNDERGRADUATES IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN ANAMBRA STATE

PREMARITAL COHABITATION AS A PREDICTOR OF ACADEMIC ENGAGEMENT AMONG UNDERGRADUATES IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN ANAMBRA STATE
ABSTRACT
The study investigated premarital cohabitation as a predictor of academic engagement among undergraduates in public universities in Anambra state. Four research questions and four null hypotheses guided the study. Conceptual, theoretical and empirical studies were reviewed. The study adopted correlation research design. The population of the study comprised 242 undergraduates that share common accommodation in Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka and Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbrariam campuses. The entire population was used as sample because of the manageable size. The instruments developed by the researcher titled, ‘Premarital Cohabitation Questionnaire (PCQ)’ and ‘Academic Engagement Questionnaire’ (AEQ) were used for data collection. The instruments were subjected to face and content validation. The reliabilities were established using Cronbach Alpha. The results gave coefficient values of 0.96 for PCQ and 0.93 for AEQ. The researcher administers the instrument to the respondent with the help of six trained research assistants. The data were analyzed using simple regression analysis. The results of the study revealed among others that premarital cohabitation significantly predict academic engagement of students in public universities in Anambra State; and that premarital cohabitation also significantly predicts academic engagement of male and female students in Anambra state public universities. The result further showed that premarital cohabitation significantly predicts academic engagement of urban rural based universities students. Finally, the study also found that premarital cohabitation significantly predicts academic engagement of younger and older students in Anambra state public universities. Some recommendations were made among which was that accommodation should be made affordable to students on campus so that students should not be made vulnerable to all kinds of exploitation including cohabitation.