Family and Material Motivators of Sexual Promiscuity

Abstract

In this article, the extent to which parents financial support, family discipline, and desire for 
materialism predispose female undergraduates to sexual promiscuity in public universities in Akwa 
Ibom State, Nigeria was examined. Three research questions and three null hypotheses were formulated 
and analysed in the study. The correlational research design was utilized for the research. The study 
population comprised 22,717 female undergraduates in the two government-owned Universities in the 
state. A sample 1,136 female undergraduates drawn from the two universities using the multi-stage 
sampling procedure provided data for the study. Instrument for data collection was the researcher
developed questionnaire tagged “ Socio-Personal Variables and Predisposition to Sexual Promiscuity 
of Female Undergraduates Questionnaire (SPVPSPFUQ)” was used for data collection. To establish 
the reliability of the questionnaire, a Cronbach’s Alpha statistics was applied for test of internal 
consistency of the instrument, which yielded the overall reliability index of 0.79 and 0.86 for items 
measuring the independent and dependent variables respectively. Out of 1,136 questionnaires 
administered, a total of 1,128 were properly filled, retrieved and data coded correctly for analysis. 
Data generated from the field were analysed using R-value and R2 - value to answer the research 
questions while Simple and Multiple Linear Regression statistics was used to test the hypotheses at 0.5 
level of significance. The study findings revealed that parents financial support, family discipline, desire 
for materialism significantly predisposed female undergraduates to sexual promiscuity in public 
universities in the study area. Conclusions were drawn from the findings while the researcher 
recommended among other things that parents should be encouraged to take the discipline of their 
children seriously as well as dedicating financial resources to aid their educational advancement, so 
as to help them develop good morals. Such discipline would help the children to desist from nursing 
promiscuous desires.