Effects Of Parental And Peer Influence On Youth's Attitude Towards Career Choices In Agriculture

Abstract

Parental and peer influence play crucial roles in shaping career choices, and understanding their impact on  agriculture is essential for devising effective strategies to address this issue. The main objective of the study was to examine the effects of parental and peer influence on youth career choices in agriculture. Data was collected from 486 male rural youth selected from district of Mardan, Pakistan. The study followed a cross-sectional design, and the respondents were selected using a multistage stratified random sampling technique. The collected data was analyzed with Chi-square test and Gamma statistics to test the strength and direction of the association between variables. The results show highly significant (P = 0.000, χ2=91.83) and negative (γ = -0.336) association between agrarian disinterest among youth and parents not wanting their children to pursue agriculture as a career. Similarly, a highly significant (P = 0.000, χ2=104.05) and negative (γ = -0.358) association was portrayed between agrarian disinterest among youth and parents disliking the participation of their children in farming. In addition, a highly significant (P = 0.000, χ2=50.21) and negative (γ = -0.260) association between agrarian disinterest among youth and parents' preference for their children to become engineers or doctors was evident. Additionally, the study found a significant (P = 0.000, χ2=115.52) and negative (γ = -0.381) association between agrarian disinterest among youth and friends looking down on those who did work as farmers. Likewise, a highly significant (P = 0.000, χ2=76.79) and negative (γ = -0.285) association was found between agrarian disinterest among youth and friends considering farming as a low-dignity job. Further, a highly significant (P = 0.000, χ2=48.29) and negative (γ = -0.274) association was depicted between agrarian disinterest among youth and friends considering someone successful if they did dignified work other than agriculture. Moreover, the family background was introduced as a control variable at a multivariate level, and found that youth from farming families are more prone to develop a highly negative attitude towards the agricultural profession under the influence of their parents and peers than youth from non-farming families. The study findings suggested that parents and peer roles in youth career decisions cannot be negated, by targeting them, youth can be easily accessed to attract them towards the agriculture sector. For this purpose, organized campaigns are needed to create awareness about the potential of the sector and motivate and inspire people to employment opportunities available in the agricultural sector. However, every campaign must be targeted to adequately focus on the youth and their local social contexts due to demographic variations.