Nigerian College Students\' Attitudes about Love, Marriage and Sexual Relations: Implications for Family Counselors

Abstract

214 (116 females and 98 males) Nigerian college students enrolled in three Nigerian universities responded to a questionnaire designed to replicate a previous study of African- American college students' attitudes about love, marriage and sexual relations. The results showed that in agreement with previous studies, none of the variables of love and marriage were significant for gender. However, when controlling for educational level, the graduate students were more likely to answer “No” to the question “Would you marry someone for qualities other than love?” and reported being more influenced by the media in relationships. A significantly higher number of females more than males agreed on the value of a satisfying sexual relationship due to love but more males than females responded “No” to the statement “Love is important to satisfying sexual relationships”. The premarital and marriage counseling implications were discussed.

Keywords: Nigerian college students; attitudes; love; marriage; sexual relationships;counseling

International Journal of Educational Research Vol. 3 (1) 2007 pp. 35-46