SOCIAL NETWORK USE, PEER INFLUENCE AND PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT AS PREDICTORS OF READING HABIT OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN OSUN STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Reading habit is critical for students’ success at all levels and literature have shown that poor reading habit is prevalent among secondary school students in Nigeria, especially in Osun State. Attendant results of poor reading habit include: mass failure, poor communication skills and poor analytical skills which have been a source of concern to stakeholders in educational sector. Existing studies focused largely on students’ academic performance, with little attention paid to reading habit and how it could be influenced by social network use, peer influence and parental involvement. This study, therefore, was carried out to examine social network use, peer influence and parental involvement as predictors of reading habit among public secondary school students in Osun State, Nigeria. The Expectancy-value and Social Cognitive theories were used as the framework, while mixed-methods was adopted. The multistage sampling procedure was used. The three senatorial districts in Osun State were enumerated. The simple random sampling technique was used to select one of the two educational zones in each of the three senatorial districts. The simple random sampling method was assumed to pick two Local Government Areas (LGAs) from each educational zone. The proportionate-to-size sampling method was assumed to pick 12 government owned schools in the selected LGAs, and 20.0% of students in each school totaling 1,101 students. The instruments used were Reading habit (r=0.73), Social Network Use (r=0.90), Peer Influence (r=0.89) and Parental Involvement (r=0.86). Six sessions of Focus Group Discussions were held with 60 secondary school students across six schools. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson product moment correlation and Multiple regressions at 0.05 level of significance, while qualitative data were content-analysed. The respondents’ age was 16.00 ± 1.36 years. The majority (58.0%) read for more than one hour every day. However, teachers’ note (x =3.75) was the most preferred reading material, followed by textbooks (x =3.44). The purpose of reading was to pass examinations (x =3.59). The most preferred social network site was Facebook (x =3.30). Against the threshold of 2.50, peer influence (x = 2.70) was high among the students, while parental involvement (x = 2.25) was low. There were positive significant relationships between social network use (r = 0.35), peer influence (r = 0.24), parental involvement (r = 0.29) and reading habit. Social network use, peer influence and parental involvement jointly contributed significantly to the reading habit of students [F (3, 1078) = 68.09 Adj. R2= 0.16] accounting for 16.0% of its variance. Social network use (β = 0.27) and parental involvement (β =0.19) predicted reading habit, while peer influence did not. The students admitted that social network use gave them the opportunity to be abreast of latest information on various subject areas. Social network use and parental involvement, more than peer influence, enhanced reading habit among public senior sec ondary school students in Osun State, Nigeria. Fathers and mothers should participate in the reading activities of their children while teachers should encourage social network use towards improvement of their students’ reading activities.