Study Habits as Correlate of Senior Secondary School Students’ Attitude and Achievement in Chemistry in Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.68050/JAMS.2026.608Keywords:
Study Habits; Attitudes; Academic Achievement; Chemistry; Senior Secondary School.Abstract
This study investigated study habits as correlates of senior secondary school students’ attitudes and achievement in Chemistry in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Nigeria. A correlational survey research design was adopted. The study population comprised 10,440 Senior Secondary II Chemistry students in 90 public senior secondary schools across the six Area Councils of the FCT. A multistage sampling procedure was used to select students from six public senior secondary schools in three Area Councils. The study used the Study Habits Inventory (SHI), Chemistry Attitudes Scale (CAS), and Chemistry Academic Achievement Data (CAAD). Face and content validity were established through expert review, while reliability coefficients reported in the thesis were 0.82 for SHI and 0.87 for CAS. Data were analysed using frequency counts, means, standard deviations, and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient with SPSS. The findings indicated no statistically significant relationship between study habits and Chemistry achievement, whereas study habits were significantly and positively related to students’ attitudes toward Chemistry. Gender-disaggregated results showed no significant relationship between study habits and achievement for either male or female students, but significant positive relationships existed between study habits and attitudes for both groups. Based on the findings, the study recommended, among others, that Chemistry teachers should integrate laboratory activities, inquiry-based learning and everyday chemical demonstrations to improve students’ understanding and achievement and school principals and guidance counsellors should provide compulsory, termly study-skills workshops to promote effective study habits and positive attitudes toward Chemistry. The study concludes that study habits may be more directly associated with students’ affective orientation toward Chemistry than with achievement scores when other school and environmental conditions are not addressed.
References
1. Abulude, F. O. (2016). Students’ poor performance in Chemistry: Causes and remedies. Journal of Education and Human Development, 5(1), 1–10.
2. Ajai, J. T., Shiaki, B. O., & Bulus, T. C. (2020). Study habits and academic achievement: A case study of secondary school science students in the Jalingo metropolis, Taraba State, Nigeria. American Journal of Educational Research, 8(5), 282–285. [https://doi.org/10.12691/education-8-5-9](https://doi.org/10.12691/education-8-5-9)
3. Bashir, I., & Mattoo, N. H. (2022). A study on study habits and academic performance among adolescents (14–19 years). International Journal of Social Science Tomorrow, 5(1), 1–5.
4. Crede, M., & Kuncel, N. R. (2018). Study habits, skills, and attitudes: The third pillar supporting collegiate academic performance. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3(6), 425–453.
5. Ebele, K., & Olofu, G. (2017). Study habit and its impact on secondary school students’ academic performance in Biology in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Journal of Education Research and Reviews, 12(10), 583–588.
6. Egbujuo, C. J., & Ajagun, G. (2019). Measures of students’ study habit as predictors of academic achievement in chemistry. Benue State University Journal of Educational Management (BSUJEM), 1(2), 190–201.
7. Enyi, N. C. (2023). Impact of secondary school students’ study habits as correlates of their achievement in Chemistry in Udi LGA of Enugu State. Journal of Education and Social Sciences, 6(2), 44–56.
8. Iyiola, B. F., & Ezeh, D. N. (2024). Students’ attitudes and gender as determinants of colleges of education students’ academic achievement in Chemistry. Lafia Journal of Science and Innovative Research, 8(1), 112–126.
9. Jamilu, U., Chado, A. M., & Shittu, K. O. (2020). Study habits and gender as a determinant of Chemistry performance among senior secondary school students in Minna Metropolis, Niger State. Journal of Science, Technology, Mathematics and Education, 16(1), 180–185.
10. Murphy, P., & Whitelegg, E. (2016). Gender and science education: A review of the literature. International Journal of Science Education, 38(1), 1–23.
11. National Policy on Education. (2014). Federal Republic of Nigeria.
12. Ogbodo, R. O. (2020). Effective study habits in the educational sector: Counselling implications. Edo Journal of Counselling, 3(2), 229–239.
13. Osuafor, A., & Ijenwa, O. (2017). Influence of family background on academic achievement of secondary school science subjects. Journal for Cross-disciplinary Subject in Education, 5(4), 2649–2655.
14. Twoli, N. W. (2016). Teaching and learning Chemistry in secondary schools: A review of methods and strategies. Journal of Education and Human Development, 5(1), 1–12.
15. Uche, K. (2020). Relationship between study habits and academic achievement of secondary school II students in Chemistry in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State. SSRN Electronic Journal. [https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3712855](https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3712855)
16. West African Examinations Council. (2016, 2018, 2020, 2022). Senior School Certificate Examination statistics.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Author(s)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Articles published in the Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Studies (JAMS) are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), unless otherwise stated. Authors retain copyright of their work and grant JAMS the right of first publication.
