Age and Marital Status as Predictors of Undergraduate Students’ Academic Achievement in Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria

Aims: To determine marital status and age as predictor of undergraduate students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

Study Design: Ex-post facto research design.

Materials and Methods: The sample for the study was 632 100 level students selected using simple random sampling technique of balloting without replacement. The data collected were pre-existing results of 100 level students on Use of English retrieved from the respective departments. Data collected was analyzed using simple regression analysis.

Results: The findings of the study revealed that marital status of the undergraduate students had R2 change of 0.000. This indicates that marital status had the predictive power of 0.00 percent for undergraduates’ academic achievement in Use of English course. Also, at 1 df numerator, 631 df denominator and P value = .05 level of significant, the calculated F value = 0.85 is less than the critical F value = 3.84. Therefore, marital status of the university undergraduates is not a significant predictor of their academic achievement in Use of English course taught in tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Similarly, age of the undergraduate students had R2 change of 0.020. This indicates that age had the predictive power of 2.00 percent for undergraduates’ academic achievement in Use of English course. Also, at 1df numerator, 631df denominator and P value .05, the calculated F value = 14.06 and is greater than the critical F value of 3.84. This implies that age of university undergraduates is a significant predictor of their academic achievement in Use of English course.

Conclusion: Based on the analysis, it was concluded that age of university undergraduates is a significant predictor of their academic achievement in Use of English course in tertiary institutions. It was also deduced that marital status of undergraduates is not a significant predictor of their academic achievement in tertiary institutions.