The Role Of Demographics And Parental Rewards In Predicting Career Choice Among In-School Adolescents In Ibadan North Local Government Area Of Oyo State

Abstract

Career choice had been found to be a critical aspect of adolescents’ outcomes that could be a developmental milestone with long lasting effects if not properly guided. This study is set out to examine demographic factors (gender, class of study and age) and perceived parental job rewards as predictors of career choice of adolescents in Ibadan. The research utilized a cross-sectional survey research design using purposive sampling technique to select the secondary schools under investigation and accidental sampling to select two hundred and thirty nine (239) secondary school adolescents with the mean age 14.32, (SD- 9.14) in Ibadan South-West LGA and Ibadan North local government area of Oyo State. Perceived Parental Job Rewards Scale and Career choice questionnaire were utilized in the study. Three hypotheses were developed and tested in the study. Results showed that Adolescents who reported high perceived parental job rewards significantly reported high related career choice than adolescents with low perceived parental job rewards in secondary schools t (230) = 2.377, p<.05).Age and class of adolescents jointly contributed about 4.6% variance to career choice while age (β=-.128 ; t=-3.159, p<.001); {R=.215, R2 = .046, F(2,234) = 3.749; P <.05}. Also, Least Significant Difference exists between adolescents in JSS3 and SSS3 (Mean diff=-11.09*) on career choice. This study therefore concluded that adolescents with the orientation that their parental job rewards was higher significantly reported high related career choice among adolescents in Ibadan North LGA which suggests that parenting lifestyle had significant influence on their children’s career choices. Age and class of adolescent explained changes in career choice of adolescents’ career choices. Career counseling for JSS3 and SS3 students is therefore recommended as an effective intervention to strengthening their career decisions. Findings of this study have direct implications for career counseling and orientations among adolescents in secondary schools.