the psychological consequences of cohabitation among students of ...

Ozean Journal of Applied Sciences 6(2), 2013
representational survey, nearly 66% of high school senior boys and 61% of the girls indicated that they agreed or
mostly agreed with the statement claiming that it is usually a good idea for a couple to live together before
getting married in order to find out whether they can really get along. Nearly three quarters of the students
slightly more girls than boys stated that “a man and woman who lived together without being married are either
experimenting with a worth while alternative lifestyle or “doing their own thing and not affecting anyone else”.
Meanwhile statistics has shown that this cohabitation phenomenon among students has a far reaching effect on
their later lives. However, the effects are both positive and negative but more on the negative side. Although
most theories of marital choice predict that cohabitation would increase stability of later marriages for those
couples who do marry, evidence to date suggests the contrary. Couples that cohabit prior to marriage seem to
end their marriages at significantly higher rates than couples who never lived together before wedding Bennet,
Blanc & Bloom, 1998; DeMaris& Rio, (1992). According to Haruna (2008), there was a study on couples living
together in one of the campuses in the Federal Polytechnic, Bida, which revealed several heartbreaks one after
the other. It is very shocking that casual sex and cohabitation are now becoming one of the favourable subjects
of the Nigerian youths as you hear jokes about it from our campus boys and girls. Even secondary school
students practice the act as they see it glorified in movies and televisions. They have become convinced that
cohabitation and sex are the means to improve their love towards each other. On the other hand, young people
who abstain from sex are seen as weird and branded by their peers as religious fanatics.
Statement of the Problem
The majority of young Nigerian men and women today want to marry and have children. Therefore, many of
them see cohabitation as a way of life and to test their compatibility and probably the chances of long-lasting
marriage. The reason being that after living together for several years and having „cordial relationship‟ a person
will eventually have a marriageable mate. Traditionally, cohabitation among university students or nonuniversity
youths is forbidden in most Nigerian cultures. It is seen as an act that must not be conducted or
practiced either secretly or openly. Despite this condemnation, some youths still practice it with impurity. It has
become a problematic issue that it threatens to destroy the marital institution or life which is now almost
becoming beyond control. A lot of marriages collapse/brake up few years after wedding which depicts students‟
perception of cohabitation as a cont5ract that can terminate any time. It is presumed that campus cohabitation
does not last and where it doe4s, it breads various problems in later marital life. Therefore, this study was
embarked upon to investigate the psychological consequences of cohabitation among students of Tai Solarin
University of Education, Ijagun, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, Nigeria.
Hypotheses
The following hypotheses which guided the study were tested at 0.05 level of significance.
Ho 1 - Hatred for opposite sex will not significantly be a consequence of cohabitation among students
of tertiary educational institutions.
Ho 2 - Depression will not significantly be a consequence of cohabitation among students of tertiary
educational institutions.
Ho 3 - Lack of concentration leading to poor academic performance will not significantly be a
consequence of cohabitation among students of tertiary educational institutions.
METHODOLOGY
The design of the study was the descriptive survey research. The utilization of the design was hinged on the fact
that it is suitable for gathering data from a relatively large number of cases at a particular time. The population
of the study comprised all the male and female students of Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijagun, Ijebu-
Ode, Ogun State, Nigeria. The sample was made up of a total of three hundred (300) students selected through
stratified random sampling technique. It involved selection of seventy five (75) students from each of the four
(4) colleges in the university. The research instrument was the researcher designed Likert type questionnaire
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