Societal Values and Occupational Choice of In–School Adolescents With and Wthout Disabilities Innigeria

Abiogu; G. C.; Anyanwu; J.I.; Eskay; M.; Ezegbe; B.N.

Volume : IV, Issue : IX, September - 2014

Societal Values and Occupational Choice of In–School Adolescents With and Wthout Disabilities Innigeria

Abiogu, G. C. , Anyanwu, J. I. , Eskay, M. , , Ezegbe, B. N.

Abstract :

Choosing an appropriate occupationis one of the most difficult or serious decisions which an individual with and without disabilities makes.An individual’s decision to go for a particular occupation may depend on objectiveand subjective factors orcritical contacts. This study, which adopted a descriptive survey design, investigated the relationship between societal values and occupational choice of in–school adolescents with and without disabilities inCross River State, Nigeria.It was theorized that societal values will not significantly influence vocational choice based on gender.A 20– item structured questionnaire was developed, validated (reliability coefficient= .70) and used for data collection from a sample of 200 male and female in–school adolescents. The data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviationto answer the research questions and t–test todetermine if gender is an intervening variableon the influence of societal values on occupational choice of in–school adolescentsat 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed thatthe prestige accorded to certain occupations by the societyandthe attractive conditions of service of the occupation influenced the choice of the in–school adolescents. Hypothesis tested, however, revealed that there was no significant difference in the male and female in–school adolescentson the influence of societal values on occupational choice. It was, therefore, recommended that for students with and without disabilities to make a realisticoccupational choice, school counselors and special educators should start from the junior secondary classes to provide occupational information through career explorations, excursions and career assignments to sensitize and oaden the occupational horizon of the in–school adolescents with and without disabilities.