PARENTAL NEGLECT, NEIGHBOURHOOD CHARACTERISTICS, AND COHABITATION BEHAVIOUR AMONG UNDERGRADUATES: A STUDY OF TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN EKITI STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

 Cohabitation among university students has become a norm and the order of the day, and this act has its own ill effects on different aspects of their lives. This study focused on investigating parental negligence and neighbourhood characteristics as factors contributing to cohabitating behaviour among students in tertiary institutions. The study was a descriptive survey research with a total number of 1801 undergraduates randomly drawn from 6 faculties in 4 higher institutions in Ekiti State. Three standardised instruments were adapted: the Neglectful subscale of the Parenting Style Inventory (?=.82), the Assessment of Subjective Neighbourhood Quality (?=.90), and the cohabitation questionnaire (?=.88) were used as measuring instruments. The data collected were analysed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation and T-Test. Based on the result of the findings, it was discovered that parental negligence positively influenced cohabitation behaviour (r = .118, p < 0.05), and neighbourhood characteristics are also a strong influence on cohabitation behaviour (r = .110, p < 0.05) among students in higher institutions in Ekiti State. It is recommended that family life be strengthened and parents reawaken to their responsibilities in order to curb cohabitation behaviour and its ill effects and reduce the influence of the environment their wards find themselves in.   Keywords: Cohabitation, Environmental Characteristics, Parental Negligence, Undergraduates, Tertiary institutions