Premarital Sexual Permissiveness among Nigerian Undergraduates: The influence of Religiosity and Self-Esteem

Abstract

The study investigated empirically the influence of religiosity, self-esteem and age on attitude towards premarital sexual permissiveness among a sample of 400 Nigerian undergraduates (males =200, females =200 Age range =20 to 31 years). The instrument of data collection is a self-reported questionnaire that measured religiosity, self-esteem and premarital sexual permissiveness. Results indicated that religiosity was the most salient of the three variables that entered the regression equation, and accounted for 39% of the variation in premarital sexual permissiveness. Self-esteem also entered the regression equation and accounted for an additional 9% of the variation in premarital sexual permissiveness. Together, these two variables explained 48% of the variation in premarital sexual permissiveness. Age did not enter the regression equation. Moreover, jointly, religiosity, self-esteem and age were significant predictors of premarital sexual permissiveness. The findings suggest that a lower level of religiosity promote greater permissive attitude towards premarital sex. However, high level of self-esteem was associated with more permissive premarital sexual attitude. It is therefore, concluded that religiosity and self-esteem are important factors that can play important roles in understanding attitude towards premarital sexual permissiveness among Nigerian undergraduates.