Role of Demographic Variables in Predicting Citizenship Norms, Political Efficacy and Civic Engagement Among Public University Students

Abstract

Abstract

This paper examines the role of demographic variables in predicting civic engagement. Precisely, it looks at the relative importance of religion and gender in predicting the likelihood of citizenship norms, political efficacy and civic engagement. The data used in this study were collected from a sample of 355 Nigerian undergraduates. Using t-test analysis and ANOVA, this study established that gender and religion, had partial predictive power in determining civic engagement of students. Specifically, result indicated that students’ political efficacy demonstrated that male (M=3.67, SD= 0.60) and female (M=3.36, SD= 0.69) had a substantial difference between them (t = 5.955, p= .015 < 0.05). Similarly, statistically significant difference occurred in civic engagement of students (F=3.452, p=0.032 < 0.05) based on religion. These findings have implications for scholars to conduct longitudinal studies that trace the civic engagement of students generally in universities.