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CHAPTER 1

THE PROBLEM

Introduction

One of the most pressing issues faced by schools and other educational

institutions these days is the prevalence of vices. Vices have become a common

concern globally and are especially prevalent in urban areas, including our

locality. Over time, such behavior has become a habit, which is widely regarded

as inappropriate, immoral, and damaging to society. Vices are a common

occurrence in all aspects of life. As human beings, we all have certain vices that

are inherent in our systems. However, some vices have a more significant impact

on our daily lives than others. Researchers have identified two vices that

commonly affect our lives, particularly in school settings. These vices are

procrastination and absenteeism, and they are well-known and frequently

encountered by students and people in general.

Procrastination is a topic of interest across various fields, from finance

where people delay dealing with their financial troubles, to healthcare where

people postpone seeing their physician. It is also a common issue among

students who delay working on their projects, assignments, and other tasks

within the given timeframe. However, procrastination has been associated with

several negative outcomes such as depression, anxiety, task delay, and low

conscientiousness. These negative outcomes can interfere with task

performance in schools and other areas. Delaying a task frequently leads to a

more significant task and more serious problems like stress in the subject area, a
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sense of guilt, crisis in learning new things, severe loss of personal productivity to

cope with study matters, and social disapproval for not fulfilling responsibilities or

commitments. When these feelings are combined, they can promote further

delays, leading to more procrastination.

Regular attendance in school is crucial for student success in academics.

When students consistently attend school, they are more likely to build skills and

progress in their studies, enabling teachers to better support their learning.

Absenteeism, a tendency to be away from school without a valid reason, is a

major issue that can lead to falling behind in academics and getting into trouble

with academic performance. Unfortunately, absenteeism is a common problem in

schools that requires attention from both teachers and parents. Absenteeism

refers to the habitual pattern of being absent from a duty or obligation without any

valid reason. It can be of two types- planned and unplanned, depending upon the

situation and reason for not attending the respective avenue. Unfortunately,

people are prone to absenteeism in their day-to-day lives, especially students.

Absenteeism is often considered an indicator of poor individual performance and

a breach of the implicit contract between employees and their employers or

students and teachers. This is seen as a management problem and is framed in

economic, quasi-economic, and educational terms.

A student's success is typically measured by their examination

performance, while the best criterion for performance is the sum of the student's

academic performance in all the subjects taken. Researchers had deliberated

much on performance as a measure of school output however, Academic

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performance can influence by mostly the major factors of vices as being

elaborated from above. The students' procrastination is one of the impacts on

students' academic performance, also student absenteeism is one of the major

contributors to why students' academic performance was moving along at the

same time. Thus, the purpose of this study is to determine whether students'

vices such as procrastination and absenteeism affect the academic performance

of the students in school.

Theoretical frameworks

This study was anchored by Procrastination and Task Avoidance Theory

is another one of Dr. William McCown’s premier works, it entails about covering

an intriguing area of psychology of procrastination.

Procrastination is a fascinating and highly complex human phenomenon

for which the time has come for systematic theoretical and therapeutic effort. This

theory was explained in the interwoven elements of anxiety, depression, passive

aggressiveness, perfectionism, agitation, conscientiousness, and other related

characteristics, regarding this behavior that affects life satisfaction in 25 percent

of all adults because of procrastination. This attests to the fact that clinicians

often encounter people with problems related to procrastination and are

frequently stymied. Up until Procrastination, little scientific attention was given to

the characteristic, which is often at the root of problems in human productivity

and happiness. This was both a contributor and an outcome of psychiatric

conditions, negatively impacting productivity in work, school, families, and social

relationships. The theory above relates to our present study since it tackles about
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procrastination which is the main factor in moving along academic performance

of the students in school, also it emphasizes the shortcomings of procrastination

that can affect a student’s academic performance in school.

This study was anchored by Absenteeism Workplace Theory 2014 by

Federica Cucchiella, Absenteeism is the term generally used to pass on to

impulsive employee absences from the workplace. Many causes of absenteeism

are legitimate personal illness or family issues for example, but absenteeism also

can often be traced to other factors such as a poor work environment or workers

who are not committed to their jobs. If such absences become excessive, they

can have a seriously adverse impact on a business’s operations and ultimately

its profitability. A component model of organizational commitment was used to

study job withdrawal intentions turnover and absenteeism. Affective commitment

emerged as the most consistent predictor of these outcome variables and was

the only view of commitment related to turnover and to absenteeism.

The theory above relates to our present study since it tackles about

absenteeism which is the main contributor why students in school are not

maintaining consistently their academic performance. Also, it emphasizes the

shortcomings of absenteeism that can affect a student’s

academic performance in school.

Operational Framework

The study was anchored on Procrastination and Task Avoidance Theory

1995 by Dr. William McCown’s and Absenteeism Workplace Theory 2014 by

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Federica Cucchiella, which the theory shows the effect of procrastination and

absenteeism to the students. It also tells about the impact of these vices to each

individual.

This study had independent variables and dependent variable whereby

the independent variables that are the students’ vices that will be describe in

terms of procrastination and absenteeism; the dependent variable is academic

performance.
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Operational Model

Fig.1. The operational model of the study

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Statement of the Problem

The study focuses on the effects of vices to the academic performance of
the selected students at Lucan Central Colleges. Inc.
Specifically, it aims to answer the following questions:

1. What are the vices that students engage to?

2. What is the level of students’ engagement to vices?

3. How frequent do students engage to vices?

Statement of Hypothesis

The following hypotheses will be tested at .05 level of significance.

Ho = There is no positive effect of vices to students’ academic

performance.

Ha = Vice has a significant impact on the academic performance of

students.

Assumption of the study

1. The researchers assumed that the respondents will be a great source of

information.

2. The researchers assumed that the respondents will be sincere to their

responses.

3. The researchers assumed that respondent’s level of expectation and

satisfaction may vary on their perception however there will be similarities.

Scope and Delimitation

The scope of this study is to determine whether the students’ vices such

as procrastination and absenteeism affects the academic performances of Senior

High School students of Lucan Central Colleges. This study delimits to the
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respondents of the study. Where all Grade-11 EIM, ICT, SMALL ENGINE and

HOME ECONOMICS students that are enrolled in the school year 2023-2024 are

only allowed to participate in this research, for whom they often intentionally

delaying their work that is needed to respond as earlier and to themselves who

aren’t attending in school classes consistently are included to this study.

Significance of the study

This study will explain what are the effects of vices to students’ academic

performance. Moreover, the results of this study will beneficial to the following:

Respondents. The respondents will have an awareness on the effects of

vices to their academic performance. The findings of this study will help to

identify what are the effects of vices to students especially to their academic

performance.

Future researchers. The findings of the study will serve as a reference

material and a guide for future researchers who wish to conduct the same topic

this study have.

Definition of Terms

Absenteeism. Is a habitual pattern of absence from a duty or obligation

without good reason. Generally, absenteeism is unplanned absenteeism.

Academic Performance. Refers to the percentage of marks obtain by the

pupils on each five compulsory subjects after two terms of study in standard eight

class. It is defined by students’ reporting of past semester CGPA/GPA and their

expected GPA for the current semester.

Procrastination. Is defined as the avoidance of doing a task that needs to

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be accomplished. It could be further stated as a habitual/intentional delay of

starting or finishing a task despite its negative consequences.

Vices. Is a habit which regarded as a weakness in someone’s character,

but not usually as a serious fault.

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CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter provides theoretical background of the study which concerns

students’ vices and their academic performance. Related studies conducted by

some researchers were discovered to support this study. The works of different

authors and researchers will substantiate and will contributed enough evidence

to prove and strengthen the result and the findings of this research.

Students’ vices