Influence of Family Structure and Religious Orientation on Utilization of Internet Facilities among Tertiary Institution Students in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

The study investigated the influence of Family Structure and Religious Orientation on Utilization of Internet facilities among Tertiary Institutions Students in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Two research questions and Two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The study adopted descriptive research design and ex-post facto.  The population of study consisted of 15,458 year two students in four selected tertiary institutions in Akwa Ibom State. The sample size of 1, 545 students were selected for the study through clustering sampling techniques. Data were collected using researcher developed instrument known as “Socio-Environmental Factors and Student’ Internet Utilization Questionnaire” (SESIUQ) containing 60 items. Cronbach Alpha method was used to ascertain the internal reliability coefficient of 0.83. Data collected were analyzed using Mean to research question while research questions 2 were answered using Simple Regression. Hypothesis 1 was tested using the analysis of variance (ANOVA) hypotheses 2 were tested using F-ratio. The two null hypotheses formulated were tested using appropriate statistical techniques at 0.05 level of significance. From the result of data analysis, eight hypotheses formulated were rejected. As a result, it was concluded that family structure, religious orientation, gender, residential environment, student-students relationship, lecturer-students relationship, student’s time management and learning environment have significant influence on students’ internet utilization in tertiary institutions in Akwa Ibom. It was therefore recommended among others that parents should not neglect what their children watch on the internet or the time spent on social media aspect as that could constitute a distraction from reading and preparing for classroom learning activities. Community leaders and well spirited bodies should always be concerned about the high rate of criminal activities, internet fraud, cyber crime and other delinquent behaviours that are prevalent in our society. These behaviours are anti-development and might undermine the progress of the society.