TY  - EJOU
AU  - Asiegbu, Martin F. 
AU  - Obioha, Chidiebere Wisdom 
AU  - Dimonye, Simeon C. 
AU  - Anikpe, Ekenechukwu Anazor 
AU  - Nwaogaidu, John Chidubem 
AU  - Okoro, Charles Kenechukwu 
AU  - Chinweze, Uzochukwu Chukwuka 
AU  - Chukwuorji, JohnBosco Chika 

TI  - Academic major satisfaction in a sample of Nigerian university students
T2  - Journal of Psychology in Africa

PY  - 2025
VL  - 35
IS  - 3
SN  - 1815-5626

AB  - Despite the increasing enrolment in higher education in sub-Saharan Africa, the systematic understanding of students’ academic major satisfaction in these contexts has not received significant research interest. We examined the academic major satisfaction of students in the Nigerian context by the sense of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Participants were 452 students from Fine and Applied Arts (FAA, n = 207, 32.9% female, mean age = 20.86, SD = 3.40) and philosophy (n = 245, 42.9% female, mean age = 21.43, SD = 3.38 years) at a large Nigerian public university. They completed the Basic Needs Satisfaction Scale and the Academic Major Satisfaction Scale, as well as a socio-demographic questionnaire. Results following regression analysis and <i>post-hoc</i> <i>t</i>-tests indicated that while FAA students were more satisfied with their major than those in philosophy overall. Philosophy students reported significantly higher relatedness than the FAA students. FAA students did not rate autonomy and competence higher than Philosophy students. Within academic majors, high autonomy was associated with greater academic major satisfaction for only FAA students, whereas FAA and Philosophy students with high competence and relatedness reported increased academic major satisfaction. Findings suggest students self-determine their academic major satisfaction in the Nigerian educational setting by primarily autonomy and competence considerations.
KW  - academic major satisfaction; career development; humanities; self-determination theory; university; wellbeing

DO  - 10.32604/jpa.2025.067166