ABSTRACT

The study investigated goal-orientation as determinant of career preference of in-school adolescents in Imo State. The study was guided by two research questions and two null hypotheses which were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted correlational survey research design. The sample comprised 902 respondents drawn from a population of 18,036 in-school adolescents in SSII(SS 2) in Imo State throughmultistage sampling technique for the study. Two research instruments were used in collecting data for the study namely. Students’ Goal Orientation Questionnaire (SGOQ) and Students Career Preference Questionnaire (SCPQ). The instruments were validated by three experts. The stability indices ofthe instruments were 0.84 and 0.72 for SGOQ and SCPQ, respectively. Indices of internal consistency were established using Cronbach Alpha and reliability indices of 0.80 and 0.88 were obtained for SGOQ and SCPQ, respectively. Data obtained were analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient, Pearson r, R2 to answer the research questions while linear regression and multiple regressions analysis were used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level ofsignificance. The findings revealed that: Learning goal orientation determined 58.1% of career preference among in-school adolescents and learning goal orientation significantly determined career preference among in-school adolescents in Imo State, there was no significant correlation between learning goal orientation and male and female in-school adolescents’ career preference because learning goal orientation determined only 4.9% and 4-8% of male and female in-school adolescents' career preference respectively. It was recommended that in-school adolescents should be trained on the importance of goalorientation in determining their career preference without gender discrimination.