ABSTRACT

This study sought to explore the influence of parental socio-economic status on the career choice of secondary school students in Aba Education Zone of Abia State. Three research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. The sample of the study consisted of 200 ( 00 males and I 00 females) students that were drawn from the entire population of 853 (412 male and 441 female) senior secondary school students (SSl l) in Aba Education Zone in the 2022/2023 academic session through multi-stage sampling techniques. The study adopted a descriptive research design method. An instrument titled .. Parents socio-economic status questionnaire" (PSESQ)" was developed by the researcher for the studv. The instrument was validated by three experts, one in Psychology, onc in Guidance Counselling and one in Measurement and Evaluation, all from Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike. The testretest method was used to establish the reliability of the instrument. The data collected was analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMCC) and the reliability coefficient obtained was 0.83. Cronbach alpha procedure was used to determine the internal consistency of the PS ESQ and a reliability estimate of 0.86 was obtained. The data collected was analyzed using mean, standard deviation and t-test statistics. The mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while the null hypotheses were tested using t-test statistics at 0.05 level of significance. The study rev ea led the following findings: Parental level of education. parental occupation and parental level of income influenced the career choice of secondary school students in Aba Education Zone to a great extent and Parental level of education, parental occupation and parental level of income significantly influenced the career choice of secondary school students. Th is conclusion is based on the findings of this study which revealed that there was significant influence of parental level of education, parental occupation and parental level of income on the career choice of secondary school students. It was recommended that there should be periodic workshops and seminar for parents on parenting skills and ethics of parenting to enhance the ability of guiding their children- in making right decision with respect to career choice.