Livelihood-coping Strategies of Undergraduate Students in a Harsh Socio-Economic Environment in Rivers State, Nigeria

This study examined livelihood-coping strategies of undergraduate students in a harsh socio-economic environment. The purpose of the study was to empirically investigate on the livelihood-coping strategies of undergraduate students in a harsh socio-economic environment. The study employed cross-sectional survey design. Two research questions guided the conduct of this study. The study population comprised 3 universities in Port Harcourt. A sample size of 384 undergraduate students were simple randomly drawn from the sample frame of three million (72000) undergraduate students using Krejcie and Morgan table. Simple random sampling technique was employed in gathering the sample elements. The instrument for data collection in this study was a self-designed structured questionnaire. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions. The findings of this study revealed a significant impact on research question one, that is, the responses on “what are the common livelihood-coping strategies among undergraduate students in a harsh socio-economic environment”. Also, mean score and standard deviation scores signifies that the statement items on how these strategies impact the academic performance and well-being of students were all agreed by the participants. The study therefore concludes that, all the research questions have positive and significant impact. This study therefore recommends that, Nigerian students need to cope with academic and personal anxiety through active and passive coping strategies. Parents need to nurture their child run in a supportive home-environment. When students in school. University administrators and staff and teachers should continuously provide conducive learning environment for the students to ensure better academic achievement.