STUDY HABITS AND ACADEMIC PROCRASTINATION AS CORRELATES OF ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN AWKA, ANAMBRA STATE.

Abstract

This study investigated study habits and academic procrastination as correlates of the academic
performance of secondary school students in Awka. The study adopted a correlational research design
and was guided by two research questions and two null hypotheses tested at the 0.05 significance level.
A sample size of 560 (300 females; 260 males) was drawn through simple random sampling from the
population of 1571 senior secondary class 2 students in the 8 public secondary schools in Awka. Three
researcher-developed instruments were used for the study titled: Study Habits Questionnaire (SHQ) and
Academic Procrastination Questionnaire (APQ) and Academic Performance Scale (APS) were used for
the study. The SHQ and APQ were face and content validated, and the instrument's reliability was
determined using the test-retest method. The correlation coefficients obtained were 0.76 for study habits
and 0.69 for academic procrastination. Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used to answer the
research questions while Simple Regression Analysis was used to test the hypotheses. The study
revealed that both study habits and academic procrastination have a positive relationship with the
academic performance of secondary school students in Awka. It was recommended among others that
students should be encouraged to develop good study habits and eschew procrastination for maximal
success.