DETERMINANTS OF FEMALE STUDENT’S PARTICIPATION IN SPORTS IN NGWO GIRLS SECONDARY SCHOOL OF ENUGU STATE: AN IMPLICATION FOR COUNSELLING

Abstract

 The main purpose of the study was to find out the determinants of female students’ participation in sports in Ngwo girls secondary school of Enugu State. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. Descriptive survey research design was utilized for this study. The population for the study comprised 520 JSS 3 and SS3 students in Ngwo girls secondary school of Enugu State. The population was made up of 250 JSS3 students and 270 SS3 students. The choice for the both classes is based on the fact that they are the highest class level representing the junior and senior class level in the secondary school system. The population size was manageable hence there was no sampling. A 16-itemed questionnaire developed by the researcher was used for data collection. The questionnaire titled; Determinants of Female Students’ Participation in Sports (DFSPS) was used for data collection. The Instrument was validated by three research experts; two from Health and Physical Education Department and one other expert from the field of Measurement and Evaluation, all from the Faculty of Education, Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT). The reliability of the instrument was determined using Cronbach Alpha Reliability Coefficient, overall reliability coefficient was 0.97. 520 copies of the questionnaire were administered and retrieved by the researcher with the help of one research assistant that was properly trained on the content of the questionnaire and its administration to ensure that the questionnaire was properly administered. Data collected with the questionnaire was analyzed using Mean(x) with Standard Deviation (SD) to answer each of the research questions, while the hypotheses were tested using t-test statistics at 0.05 level of significance. The analysis was computer based with the use of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to analyze the respondents’ ratings. The decision rule for the Mean(x) was based on the principle of Mean, 2.50. The null hypotheses were rejected when the significant level was less than and were not rejected when the significant level was more than 0.05 level of significance. From the result of the finding, it was concluded that parental factors to a great extent determine female students’ participation in sports in Ngwo girls’ secondary school of Enugu State, and that there is no significant difference in the mean ratings of rating of JSS 3 and SS3 students on the extent to which parental factors determine female students’ participation in sports in Ngwo girls secondary school of Enugu State. Lastly was concluded that peer group determine female students’ participation in sports in Ngwo girls secondary school of Enugu State, and that there is no significant difference in the mean ratings of female students in the JSS3 and SS3 classes on the extent peer group determines female students’ participation in sports in Ngwo girls secondary school of Enugu State. Based on the findings, recommendations were made among others, that increased awareness on the importance of sports participation especially among the female students in Enugu State and Ngwo in particular.