INFLUENCE OF PERSONALITY ON OCCUPATIONAL PREFERENCE OF FINAL YEAR STUDENTS OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NASARAWA STATE, NIGERIA.

Author

Abel Mercy OLADAPO


Abstract

 This study examined the influence of personality on occupational preferences of final year students of senior secondary schools in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. Specific variables considered under personality that includes Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism. The researcher formulated five research questions and five hypotheses to guide the study. The study adopted a descriptive cross sectional survey design with a sample size of 380 students, obtained from a population of 146,616 students in Nasarawa State. The instruments were two open-ended questionnaires, one of which was researcher-constructed questionnaire called: Big Five Personality Questionnaires (BFPQ) and the second was Akinade Vocational Interest Survey (AVIS) which was adopted. The instruments were validated by two experts from Guidance and Counselling department of Nasarawa State University, Keffi and confirmed to be valid. The instruments were also confirmed to be reliable using Cronbach Alpha. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while the hypotheses were tested using the t-test statistical tool at 0.05 level of significance. Findings of the study revealed that there is significant influence of personality on occupational preferences of final year senior secondary school students in Nasarawa State. The study recommended that government, counsellors, school heads, teachers and parents should create enabling atmosphere for students to develop self-knowledge to enhance appropriate Occupational decisions.



Keywords

Personality, occupation, occupational preference



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References


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