Maingi, Caroline2025-08-042025-08-042024-10https://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/31048A Research Project Submitted In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for the Award of Masters of Education Degree in the Department of Educational Psychology, Kenyatta University, October 2024.Secondary school students’ performance in national examination in Machakos SubCounty has been declining over time and this has been an area of interest for educational researchers and psychologists. More specifically, educational psychologists would like to find out the psychological reasons leading to decline in academic performance regardless of the improved teaching-learning activities due to provision of teaching-learning materials and qualified teachers. The answer to this issue might be found in the psychological rather than environmental elements that affect students. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine how locus of control, academic procrastination behaviors, and academic achievement among form three students in Machakos Sub-County relate to one another. The study also aimed to determine whether there are gender differences in students' locus of control, academic procrastination styles, and joint effects of students' academic procrastination styles and locus of control on academic achievement. The study was based on attribution theory and temporal motivation theory. The study employed correlational research design. The location of the study was Machakos Sub-County. The study targeted 34 public secondary schools with a population of 3384 students. The study employed both stratified random sampling and purposive sampling techniques to select the sample. The form three class of each selected school was purposively sampled. The study used a sample size of 350 respondents from 11 schools. The primary data was collected by use of both open ended and structured questionnaires. Piloting was done in two randomly selected schools which were not included in the actual study to test the validity and reliability of the research instruments. Permission to conduct the study was sought from the relevant authorities. The statistical package for social sciences was used for data processing. The data analysis was done using descriptive and inferential statistical procedures. The study results showed that there was a positive and significant correlation between students' academic performance and their external and internal locus of control, r (172) = .36, p < .05; r (169) = .58, p < .05. Further, the study results showed that there was a negative and significant correlation between students' academic procrastination and students’ academic performance, r (341) = .40, p < .05. The findings revealed no significant gender differences among students’ academic procrastination and locus of control; t (2, 34), p =.41; t (2, 34), p = .68. There was a joint and significant relationship between academic procrastination, and locus of control with academic achievement, F (2, 338) = 32.23, p < .05. The study recommends that teachers should develop strategies and support systems that will allow students to develop appropriate internal and external locus of control which are important in improving their academic achievement. Students should also be taught on effective strategies for setting concrete goals that they are able to achieve while avoiding the negative habit of both passive and active procrastination for better academic achievement.enThesis