INFLUENCE OF DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES ON STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF HOMOSEXUALITY IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN RIVERS STATE

Abstract

This study investigated Influence of Demographic Variables on Students’ Perception of Homosexuality in Public Universities in Rivers State. Descriptive survey design was used for the study. Eight research questions and eight null hypotheses guided the study. The population of the study consisted of all the students of 2021/2022 academic session in the three public universities in Rivers State with a population of forty thousand nine hundred and sixty nine. A sample of 388 students was drawn from the population. The sample was obtained through multi-stage sampling technique. The instrument used for data collection was a self-structured questionnaire titled: Students’ Homosexuality Perception Questionnaire (UHPQ). The instrument was validated by one expert in psychology and one expert in measurement and evaluation. The instrument produced a reliability of coefficient of 0.89. Data collected was analyzed using mean and standard deviation for research questions while the null hypotheses were tested using independent sample t-test at 0.05 level of significance. The result showed that students had a negative perception towards homosexuality irrespective of gender, age, level of study and course of study. It was concluded that there is no significant influence of students’ perception of homosexuality based on gender, age, level of study and course of study. Based on these results, it was recommended that the government should put in place agency to monitor the practice of same-sex to ensure compliance with the existence Same-sex Marriage Prohibition Law.