Indecent Dressing Among Female Undergraduates on Sexual Conduct and Study Engagement of Their Male Counterparts in Universities in the Southeast Nigeria

Abstract

Although academic performance and indecent dressing had been hotlist in literature globally, the academic standard of students in Nigerian universities continues to be a downturn with those of the males being worse hit. Literature revealed a paucity of research on whether indecent dressing pattern of female undergraduates is contributory to this academic failure of their male counterparts. The thrust of this study, therefore, is to explore the impact indecent dressing of female undergraduates has on the sexual conduct and study engagement of their male counterparts. The study was carried out in the Southeastern region of Nigeria. The population of the study comprised all second and third year full-time single male undergraduates. A sample size of 1500 was selected for the study, drawn through a multi-stage sampling procedure. The instrument for data collection was researchers-structured 17-item questionnaire tagged “Male Undergraduates Study Engagement Questionnaire (MUSEQ).” The validity of the instrument was established through extensive use of relevant literature and also peer-reviewed by experts in Research Methods, Psychology and Counseling all from the Faculty of Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. Cronbach-Alpha reliability coefficient was used to determine the reliability of the instrument after data had been collected from a sample of 65 undergraduates from another university that was not part of the study. The pre-test of the instrument produced an alpha reliability coefficient of 0.82. Three research questions guided the study and were answered using percentages and mean values. Results indicated that indecent dressing of female undergraduates in southeastern, Nigeria, sexually compromises the study-related state of mind and negatively impacts the study engagement of male undergraduates. Based on these results, it was recommended among others that the university administrators should wake up and be intentional about enforcing the dress code policy which sets the rules about how students should dress and where one does not exist, a Dress Police Team made up of responsible members of staff of the universities should be established and empowered to discipline offenders.

“Four of my Lecturers Including my HOD Took Sexual Interest in Me”: Factors Facilitating Sexual Harassment and Exploitation in Nigerian Higher Education Institutions

“…There have been clashes between the management of these academic institutions and the students regarding the dress codes, particularly female students who are most often targeted with these codes. Academic reports consistently suggest that female students more often dress provocatively compared to their male counterparts (see Anierobi et al, 2021;Farinloye & Omobuwa, 2016;Nwikpo et al, 2022). Some female students have identified themselves as adults who should not be controlled.…”