Counselling Strategies for Preventing Early Girl-Child Marriage in Afikpo Education Zone of Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Abstract

Aim of the Study: This study investigated the counselling strategies for preventing early girl-child marriage in Afikpo Education Zone of Ebonyi State, Nigeria. Three research questions were answered and descriptive survey design was adopted for the study.

Methodology: The population of the study consisted of 250 Counsellors in all the five local government areas in Afikpo Education Zone. The entire population was used in the study because the number was manageable by the researchers. The instrument used in collecting data for the study was a structured questionnaire titled Counselling Strategies for Preventing Early Girl Child Marriage Questionnaire (CSPEGCMQ). The instrument was dully validated by experts in the Department of Guidance and Counselling and Measurement and Evaluation, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. Arithmetic mean was used for data analysis.

Findings: The result showed that family pressure, poverty, unwanted pregnancy, conspiracy, broken homes, peer pressure, virginity syndrome, unhappy home, and misconceptions are the cause of early girl-child marriage as agreed by the respondents. The results also indicated that cervical cancer disease, school dropout, hatred for the men, sex outside marriage, early widowhood, frustration, intolerance and divorce are all consequences of early girl-child marriage.

Conclusion: The results equally reviewed that all the items in section C of the instrument are counselling strategies for preventing early girl-child marriage. The study recommended among others, that counsellors in conjunction with the parents should mount campaign through seminars, workshops.