INFLUENCE OF RELIGIOSITY, PARENTING STYLES AND PEER ATTACHMENT ON ATTITUDE TOWARDS PREMARITAL COHABITATION AMONG TERTIARY INSTITUTION STUDENTS IN OYO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study investigated the influence of religiosity, parenting styles and peer attachment on attitude towards premarital cohabitation among tertiary institution students in Oyo state, Nigeria. Correlational research design was adopted for the study .Six hundred and fifty- four young adults (Mean age=22.81, SD= 4.18; Males=269, Females= 385) selected through stratified random sampling technique from three tertiary institutions in Oyo state ,Nigeria were involved in the study. Four research instruments: Premarital Cohabitation Attitudinal Scale (PCAS; α= .82), Parental Authority Questionnaire (PAQ; α= .87),Inventory of Parents and Peer Attachment (IPPA; α= .81) and Religious Commitment Inventory (RCI 10; α= .77) were employed for the study. With the aid of Pearson Product Moment Correlation and Multiple regression, the analyzed results showed that the predictor variables jointly explained about 46 percent variance in attitude towards premarital cohabitation (F(5,653) = 110.02, R2= .459, P< .001). Furthermore, in order of magnitude, the study yielded the following results as the relative contributions of predictor variables on attitude towards cohabitation: religiosity(β= -.334, t= -11.027 P<.001) permissiveness (β= .318, t= 10.475; P< .001); authoritativeness (β= -.186, t= --6.293, p<.001); authoritarianism (β = .179, t= 5.970, P<.001) and peer attachment (β = .147, t=5.012,P< .001).These results were discussed and it was suggested among other things that counselling psychologists should emphasize positive parenting in their marital counselling and that religious organizations should be involved in the efforts towards reduction of premarital cohabitation among young adults living in campuses.