Parental Factors Influencing Acceptability of Children’s Involvement in Skill Acquisition Activities in Ondo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The current global unemployment crises especially in Nigeria prompted the study’s assessment of parental acceptability of children’s involvement in skill acquisition activities in Ondo state. A multistage sampling technique was used to select 120 respondents (parents) in Akure South and Akure North Local Government Areas of Ondo State, Nigeria. Data collected were presented using simple descriptive statistics. Chi-square analysis was used to test the hypothesis of the study. Data revealed that mean age of respondents was 43 years old, 96.7% were literate and mean household size was five persons. Majority (70.7%) had one child involved in skill acquisition activities. Most children (52.9%) were made to involve in skill acquisition activities in order to secure a financially self-sufficient future. Majority (83.3%) of the respondents chose weekends as the most convenient time for children to acquire skills.  Phone repairing (27.6%), Tailoring (22.4%), and Auto mechanic (20.7%) were the major skill acquisition activities involved in by children in the study area. Marital status (X2 = 28.34, p ≤ 0.05), level of education (X2 = 18.41, p ≤ 0.05), religion (X2 = 66.88, p ≤ 0.05), primary occupation (X2 = 51.28, p ≤ 0.05) and skill acquisition experience (X2 = 13.31, p ≤ 0.05) of respondents influenced their acceptability of skill acquisition for children in the study area. Government and non-governmental organization should therefore develop skill acquisition and entrepreneurship programmes for children as it has acceptability among parents. This should be run on weekends and holidays.