Coping appraisal and affinity towards vegetarianism among a group of civil servants of Oyo state, Nigeria

Abstract

Vegetarianism holds great promises for attenuating the scourge of chronic human illnesses and ensuring 
environmental sustainability. It is gaining reputation as a responsible option. Hence, a methodical look at a seemingly 
under investigated, socio-psychological aspect of vegetarianism is called for. As such, self and response efficacy as 
well as affinity, with regards to vegetarianism were investigated among 565 government ministries employees. The 
mean affinity score almost bipolarized respondents as 54.9% scored above the mean while 45.1% scored below the 
mean. The relationship between self and response efficacy on one hand and affinity on the other is quite strong (R = 
0.452; R2 = 0.204; P < 0.05). Results of t- test and ANOVA shows that age, religion and education are significantly 
associated with affinity towards vegetarianism (P< 0.05). Being older, Muslim and highly educated are associated with 
better affinity towards vegetarianism. There is optimism for vegetarianism in the study area, but there is the need to 
strengthen campaign for ensuring same.