PARENTAL MARITAL STATUS AND THEIR PERCEPTION ON THE TEACHING OF SEXUALITY EDUCATION IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study investigated parental marital status and their perception on the teaching of sexuality education in public secondary schools in Rivers State. One research question with a corresponding null hypothesis guided the study. The study adopted a correlational research design. The population for the study comprised all the 5,185,400 male and female parents. The study adopted a cluster sampling technique such that the existing three Senatorial Zones of the state were used. There are a total of 23 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the 3 Senatorial Zones. Rivers South Senatorial Zone has eight LGAs with 2,044,060 population, Rivers West Senatorial Zone has eight LGAs with 1,824,407 population and Rivers East Senatorial Zone has seven LGAs with 1,316,933 population. Two LGAs were choen from each of the three Senatorial Zones. The sample size of 400 was derived using Taro Yamen’s formula. Questionnaire on “Parents’ Perception and Sexuality Education in Secondary Schools (QPPSESS)'' was used for data collection. Face and content validity were ensured by experts. Temporal stability with the help of test-retest was used to calculate the reliability coefficient and an index of 0.81 was achieved. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research question while the hypothesis was tested at 0.05 Alpha level, using linear regression. It was found, among others, that widowed parents had higher perception on the teaching of sexuality education in public secondary schools in Rivers State. It was recommended, among others, that the classroom teachers who are obliged to handle sex education should not take it as a golden opportunity to molest and assault the students sexually.