ABSTRACT

This study on waysof improving the clothing maintenance skills of male youths in tertiary institutions in Benue State was motivated by a great concern about how youths maintain their clothing. The concern emanated from lack or inadequate clothing maintenance skills common among male youths in tertiary institutions and their patronage of service men on campus. Seven research questions and seven null hypotheses were developed to guide the study. Descriptive survey research design was employed in selecting the respondents for the study. The study was carried out in Benue State covering the three tertiary institutions. The population for the study comprises of 1,932 newly admitted male students in three tertiary institutions across Benue State for 2014/15 academic session. The sample for the study was 300 first year students from three tertiary institutions in Benue state. The sampling technique is a multistage sampling.Theinstrument for the study was a structured questionnaire developed by the researcher and it is titled: Improving Clothing Maintenance Skills of Male Youths (ICMSMAY). It was developed by the researcher based on the review related literature on clothing maintenance. The instrument was divided into eight sections. The instrument was face-validated by three experts. The experts were requested to assess the items of the instruments in terms of clarity, relevance and appropriateness in addressing the problem of the study and research questions under investigation. Their comments and corrections were incorporated in the final draft of the instrument. To establish the internal consistency of the questionnaire, Cronbach Alpha reliability technique was used in which reliability value 0.74 was obtained The 300 copies of the questionnaire distributed were retrieved making 100% rate of return. The data collected were analyzed using mean for answering research questions while t-test statistics was used for testing the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance and at 298 degree of freedom. It was found out that male youths in tertiary institutions required proper training in clothing maintenance most especially during their growing up years. Clothing maintenance skills such as brushing and airing renovation, laundry, ironing and storage skills are needed by male youths in tertiary institutions. Based on the findings, the study among others recommended that male youths should be provided withadequate materials for clothing maintenance such as thread, needles, button, zipper among otherswhen going to tertiary institutions; male youths should be taught the best ways to maintain their clothes better.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Basic necessities for human survival in life are water, food, shelter, and clothing. Clothing is one of those phenomena of everyday life which demands human attention. Anyakoha (2008) defined clothing as any article that is placed on the body in order to protect or adorn it. There are different types of items regarded as clothing, such as garments, shirts, trousers, shoes, hats and jewelries. Clothing is referred to as covering for the human body that is worn such as dresses, shoes, hats, and jewelry (Bohn, 2004). The type of clothing worn depends on social, geographical and physical considerations of the wearer and the purpose of put on such clothes.

Clothing serves many purposes; it can serve as protection from sun and rainfall, it also enhances safety during hazardous activities. It protects humans from rough surfaces by providing a barrier between the skin and the environment. The human body sheds skin cells, body oils, exudes sweat, urine, and feaces; while from the outside the body is exposed to sun damage, moisture, abrasion and dirt which often affects clothing (Laitala, Klepp, Kjeldsberg, and Eilertsen,2011). Nwadi and Anyakoha (2011) stressed that when clothes are selected to meet the wearer’s psychological, sociologically, cultural and physical needs; they are subjected to a variety of stressors such as dirt and pollen, moisture such as perspiration and rain, environmental pollutants, wrinkling, stains from contact with food or perfumes, sunlight, stretching from movement and abrasion. No matter how well clothes are, no person is ever well dressed unless those clothes are given appropriate maintenance.

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