Psychosocial factors influencing attitude towards abortion among undergraduates in Nigeria

Abstract

The study examines the psychosocial factors capable of influencing abortion among university undergraduates in Nigeria. Two hundred (200) students consisted of 63(31.5%) males and 137(68.5%) females participated in the survey. The study adopted ex-post facto design. Their age ranged between 16 to 40 years with mean age of 28. Six hypotheses were generated and tested and the results revealed that individuals with internal locus of control were not positively disposed towards abortion than individuals with external locus of control [t (198) = 1.37; P > .05]. The study further revealed that there is a significant effect of gender on attitude towards abortion among undergraduates {t (198) = 2.67; P < .05}; also, the study showed that individuals with high selfesteem were not significantly different in their attitude towards abortion than those with low selfesteem {t (198) = .192; P > .05}; the result went further to reveal that ethnic grouping has no significant influence on undergraduate students’ attitude towards abortion (F (2,199) = 2.93; P> .05; and finally revealed that religion has significant effect on undergraduate students’ attitude towards abortion (F (2,199) = 8.98; P< .05. It was recommended that Counsellors and teachers should make reproductive health knowledge available to students in tertiary institutions through the provision of sex education. Awareness programmes should be encouraged which will aim at highlighting the consequences of sexual promiscuity and abortion among Nigerian youths and there should be complete sanitization of moral laxity and other social vices of students in tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

Key words: Psychosocial, Attitude, Abortion, Undergraduates, Nigeria