Antecedents of Academic Procrastination and its Relationship to Academic Achievement among Form Three Students in Kiambu County, Kenya
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Date
2022
Authors
Njuguna, Magdalene Nungari
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
The aim of this research was to examine the antecedents of academic procrastination and its relationship to academic achievement. Antecedents of academic procrastination featured in the current study were test anxiety and perception of academic stress. Academic achievement has been greatly studied in connection with psychological constructs like self esteem, self efficacy, self motivation, self regulation and fear of failure. However, the relationship between antecedents of academic procrastination and academic achievement has not been extensively researched. The specific objectives were: to find out the relationship between test anxiety and academic procrastination, to establish the relationship between perception of academic stress and academic procrastination, to determine the relationship between academic procrastination and academic achievement and to establish a prediction equation of academic achievement from test anxiety, perception of academic stress and academic procrastination. The study was guided by temporal motivation theory which suggests that people will always prioritise activities which promise the highest utility and procrastinate when the utility of doing a certain task is low. The study adopted a correlational research design while purposive sampling, proportionate sampling and stratified sampling were used to select 410 form three students. Questionnaires were used to collect data from the participants. Piloting of questionnaires was done in one public secondary school in Gatundu South Subcounty, Kiambu County before collecting the actual data. Descriptive statistics such as means, percentages and frequencies were used to summarize the collected data. Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient and Multiple Regression Analysis were used to test the stated null hypotheses set at α=0.05. Analysis of the collected data was done using SPSS version 20.0 for windows. The results provided evidence that there was positive correlation between test anxiety and academic procrastination (r (342) =.19, p =.00), likewise a positive correlation between perception of academic stress and academic procrastination (r (342) = .29, p = .00). Further the study established that there was a significant negative correlation between academic procrastination and academic achievement (r (342) = .271, p < 0.01). The equation for predicting academic achievement from test anxiety, perception of academic stress and academic procrastination was significant (F (3,338) = 15.338, p = .00). Major recommendations of the study were: Secondary school administrators should develop programs that can assist students to cope with test anxiety during examination period. Students can learn effective ways of curbing academic procrastination and academic stress so as to enhance their overall academic achievement.
Description
A Research Project Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Award of the Degree of Master of Education (Educational Psychology) of Kenyatta University
Keywords
Antecedents of Academic Procrastination, Academic Achievement, Form Three Students, Kiambu County, Kenya