THE INFLUENCE OF FAMILY BACKGROUND ON STUDENTS CAREER CHOICE

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The problem of career has implications on national development. In every society, the quality of workers as well as their degree of Job satisfaction contributes directly or indirectly to economic stability and smooth running of the Nation's affair.

Career, according to national career development association(NCDA,2003) is the totality of work, paid or unpaid an individual does in his/her lifetime.

If workers are unable to derive satisfaction from their job, frustration sets in with accompanying decline in productivity and civil unrest due to workers thwarted goals.

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Career selection is one of the most important choices students will make in determining future plans. They are concerned about early entry into the occupational world and finding productive and rewarding places in and out of rapidly, fast changing societies where wages for employment is unlikely to be available on a scale sufficient to absorb more than a small fraction of the young people when they do arrive at the labour market.

Most students do not have the accurate information about occupational opportunities to help them make appropriate career choice.

The family background provides the basis on which a student's career planning and decision making evolves. However, the level of involvement can vary positively or negatively.

Family background factor found to be associated with career choice include:
*socio-economic status
*level of education
*Biogenetic factors such as temperament
(Panic and Jepson, 1992)

Being born to parents with limited education and income reduces the likelihood of going to college or achieving a professional and occupational goal which essentially predetermines the child's likely career choice.

Before the advent of formal education and civilization in the old western Nigeria, choice of career among children was sharpened by the informal education they obtained from their parents. Then, the role played by parents in influencing a child's career choice was so significant and an-out-of-school affair.

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Career choice has become a complex science with the advent of information technology, the emergence of post industrial revolution and job competition.

In recent times, parents/guardians have become more active in helping their children/wards to make the right career choices. Sometimes, students who are in dilemma about the type of career they would take up are misled by their parents because of their status or prestige of certain career.

The family being the first and major agency of socialization has a great influence and bearing on the development of the child. Today, a person need not only to make proper careee planning but also exhaustive career research before making a career choice so as to adjust with the evolving socio-economic conditions(Wattles,2009).