Study Habit and Stress as Correlates of Secondary School Students’ Academic Performance in English Language and Mathematics in Rivers State

Abstract

This study investigated study habits and stress as correlates of secondary school students’ academic performance in English Language and Mathematics in Rivers State. The study adopted a correlational research design. Four research questions and four hypotheses guided the study. The population for this study is made up of 6,000 senior secondary one (SSI) students in the 261 government-owned secondary schools in the 23 Local Government Areas of Rivers State. A sample size of 450 SSI students in public schools was used for the study, drawn through a multistage sampling method. The instrument for data collection was a self-structured questionnaire titled: “Study Habit and Stress Questionnaire” (SHSQ). The instrument was validated by experts in Measurement and Evaluation, Department of Educational Psychology, Guidance and Counselling, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Port Harcourt. The reliability of the instrument was determined using the test-re-test reliability method and yielded a reliability coefficient of SHSQ (?= 0.85). Pearson Product-Moment Correlation was used to answer research questions and test the hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study showed that there is a very weak and significant relationship between family problems and the academic performance of secondary school students in Rivers State. It further revealed that there is a very strong and significant relationship between homework and assignments, time allocated to studying, concentration, and academic performance of secondary school students in Rivers State. Based on the findings, it was recommended that teachers are to provide proper assistance to enable students to learn at schools to perform well in examinations and assignments, and family problems should be reduced to enable secondary school students in Rivers State to do better in their academic performance.