Socio-Demographic Factors Associated with Participation in Recreational Activities among Undergraduate Students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka

Abstract

This paper investigated socio-demographic factors associated with participation in recreational activities among undergraduate students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Four research questions guided the study. The cross sectional survey design was employed in order to accomplish the purpose of the study. The population for the study consisted of 9,973 undergraduate students of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in Enugu State Nigeria. A sample size of 392 was drawn using the multi-stage sampling procedure. The instrument for data collection was a self structured Factors Associated with Participation in Recreational Activities Questionnaire (FAPRAQ). The instrument was validated by five experts from the Department of Human Kinetics and Health Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The instrument had a reliability index of 0.67, adjudged reliable for the study. Data generated were analyzed using phi coefficient. Results of the findings indicated that economic-related factors had strong relationship with participation in recreational activities among the undergraduate students, based on age (φ = 0.69) and year of study (φ = 0.67); while gender (φ = 0.56) and faculty of respondents (φ = 0.36) has moderate relationship with participation in recreational activities. The findings also revealed that time-related factors had moderate relationship with participation in recreational activities among the undergraduate students based on gender (φ = 0.36) and year of study (φ = 0.39). Based on the findings, the researcher recommended that facilities and equipment for recreational sports in the campus should be situated close to the hostels or classrooms so that it would be easily accessible to the students.