Assessment of Gender Variations in Cognitive, Affective and Behavioural Attitudes Towards Dress Code among Students in the Faculty of Education, Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate gender variations in cognitive, affective and behavioural attitudes towards dress code among students in the Faculty of Education, Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria. A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The population of the study is made up of 6,605 undergraduate students in the Faculty of Education. The sample comprised 879 students selected through stratified and proportionate stratified sampling techniques. The instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire, which was validated by experts in Measurement and Evaluation. The Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient was used to estimate the reliability of the instrument and a coefficient of 0.83, 0.88 and 0.70 was obtained for Cognitive, Affective and Behavioural Component of attitude towards dress code respectively. The data collected were analysed using mean, standard deviation and independent samples t-test. The hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that student generally have positive cognitive, affective and behavioural component of attitude and that there is no significant difference between male and female students’ attitude towards the dress code in the Faculty of Education. The study recommended amongst others, that the faculty should strengthen awareness campaigns through seminars, orientation programs, and sensitization activities to continually emphasize the professional relevance of decent dressing.