Effects of Problems to the Students` Academic Performance

In the study made by Santos, (cited by Mamaed, 1996), it showed that poor academic
achievement is due to problems such as irregural class attendance, indigent parents, pupils` poor health,
poor foundation in skill subjects like English, laziness and irresponsibility.
Another study by Natriello, (cited by Lambojon, 1996), revealed that the main reasons why
students dropped out of school are poor grades, family and amount and money problems. Lack of time
spent in school, content of curriculum, and amount of homework, which further compound the
students` problems and cause more of them to drop out.
Related Studies
Problems Encountered by College Students
Lopez, (1998), made a study on the problems encountered by college students of Zamboanga
Del Norte Agricultural College which revealed that the problems encountered by the college students of
ZNAC were generally personal and academic. Financial problems were considered the number one
personal problem while problems related to school facilities/services were considered as the number
one academic problem. These problems were seldom encountered and considered as slightly serious.
Furthermore, in the study of Roque, (1996), were she identified the problems of students in
Bataan Polytechnic State College in terms of health, school, family, emotional, social and moral and
personal problems, results revealed that lack of sleep and often feeling of nervousness are the top
problems under health while the students` inability to finish work on time and the lack of money school
contribution as the highest school problem. Likewise, in the area of family problem, their failure to save
money for personal use and their want to earn some amount to buy tools ranked as serious. For
emotional problem the two highest ranked items were afraid to make mistakes and want to be
understood by others. As to social and moral problems, want to have fun with friend and often hear and
say bad words were the top problems. Lastly, for personal relation problems, feel shy with admirers and
feel shy with new friends were identified as the top problem in this area.
Problems Encountered by College Students and Their Effect to Their Academic Performance
Transfiguration, (1995), made a study conducted by the American College Health Association
entitled Health Impacting the Academic Performance of Cal Poly Pomona students, has results which
revealed that Mental Health Issues such as stress, sleep difficultness, relationship difficulties, and
depression have the most significant impact on the students academic performance.
Another internal article, a study made by Johnston, (1987), entitled why do first year students
fail to progress to their second year? An academic staff perspective, results revealed that financial
problem is one of the few factors influencing the non-progression of the college students.
Coping Strategies and Their Effects on College Students` Academic Performance
As the study made by fisher, (2003), which entitled The Correlation between Grade Point
Average and Coping Strategies, results revealed that students who were involved in activities such as
clubs and community service (positive coping strategies) had higher GPAs than those students who were
not involved. On the other hand, the use of some negative coping strategies such as drinking was not
associated with lower GPA.
However, in the study conducted by Presley, (as cited by Fisher, 2003), results revealed that the
use of negative coping strategies such as drugs, and alcohol, 33% of the college student missed classes,
29% experienced memory loss, and 28% performed poorly in a test. Likewise, with excessive drinking as
one form of coping styles to many factors, are college students admitted that he had received a lower
grade as a consequence of drinking too much.
Mooney Problem Checklist
Bulalacao, (1993), identified the problems of Grantees coming from different colleges and
universities. Utilizing a researcher-made questionnaire patterned from the Mooney Problem Checklist. It
revealed that
(1) Problems on Finance, Living and Employment (FLE) and Social Recreational Activities (SRA) are
the problems that bother most male and female grantees.
(2) With regards to the least problems the respondents encountered, male grantees bother least on
Home and Family (HF), Courtship, Sex and Marriage (CSM) and Moral and Religion (MR) while
those of the female grantees bother lease of Curriculum, Teaching Procedure (CTP) and Future
Vocational and Education (FVE).
In the study of Alcantara, (1991), on the problems identified by the freshmen students utilizing
the Mooney Problem Checklist, it revealed that adjustment to school work is the biggest problem of the
students. On the other hand, problems identified in Courtship, Sex and Marriage (CSM) and Future
Vocational Education (FVE) areas bother only a small group of respondents.
In the study of Picart, (1996), although she focused on the problems of secondary students,
results found were similar to the present study because both researchers made use of the same
instrument, which is the Mooney Problem Checklist. It revealed that problems on finances create
serious same instrument, which is the Mooney Problem Checklist. It revealed that problems on finances
create serious problems to the students. These serve as the main root of problem in the other areas of
their life such as health and physical development, adjustment to college work, finance, living and
employment, personal psychological relation and social recreational activities. Similarly, the students
find it hard to cope with the demands of their teachers and subjects, which eventually affect their
grades.
This is for the reasons that respondents parent have poor educational background and the
nature of occupation their parents engaged into, which made them fall in guiding their sons and
daughters in the accomplishment of their everyday activities.
Huang, (1991), conducted a study on personal problems, coping behavior and mental status of
college freshmen in Fu Jen Catholic University, Taipei. Using the Mooney Problems Checklist (MPG) and
Coping Mechanism Inventory (CMI), she was able to come up with the following findings
The first three (3) serious problems of the subject per area of the MPG were:
HPD: Feeling tired, weak eyes, not getting enough exercise.
FLE: Needing a job during vacation, managing finances poorly and eating of the same meal all
the time.
SRA: Wanting to improve culturally, not using ones leisure time well wanting more discussions
with others.
SPR: Worrying how to impress people, being too easily embarrassed wanting to be more
popular.
PPR: Lacking self-confidence, daydreaming, afraid to make mistakes.
CSM: Wondering about finding a suitable mate, not having someone to date, too few dates.
HF: Parents sacrificing too much; unable to discuss certain problems at home; parents expecting
too much of their children.
ACW: Easily disturbed from work, not having a well-planned college program, not spending
enough time to study.
FVE: wanting part-time work experience in the field, wondering if one will be successful in life,
needing to plan ahead for the future.
CTP: Dull classes, unfair grades, and teacher difficult to understand.
Moreover, in the study conducted by Navarro, (2005), on the problems of the freshman college
students, results revealed that the number one problem that bothers most of the freshmen students of
San Sebastian College is in the area of Personal psychological Relation like shyness, thoughts of suicide,
personal problem, fear of committing mistakes, decision making and lack of leadership abilities.















Related Studies
Planta, (1988), conducted a study on the study habits of the freshmen students of the Academy
of St. Joseph of Claveria, Cagayan. His study attempts to determine the respondents study habits with
the goal of helping them acquire desirable study habits. His findings were: a) general habits of the
students that are always and often practiced by the students if they feel tired they dont listen to their
classmates reciting, b) they seldom study previous lessons before proceeding to new one. They also
confessed that they cannot study with disturbances around and they are lazy to use encyclopedia and
dictionaries as their references.
In 1991, Amano attempted to establish the relationship between the study habits and attitudes
of sophomore students and their achievement in certain subjects. She also sought to determine the
level of achievement in specific subjects in terms of the following aspects: 1. Comprehension
2.Application 3.Analysis. Likewise, she established the relationship between their achievement in
specified subjects and the two sets of factors namely: a) study habits and attitudes, and b) socio-
demographic variables. Finally Amano also investigated when there is a significant differences between
the achievements of those compared respondents.
In a wide variety of ways, learner differs physically, intellectually, psychologically, and
sociologically. How they respond to and benefit from a given instructional strategy.
While individual differences were taken into consideration in the teaching-learning process, the
concept usually referred to intelligence motivation, emotion and personality. (Reisman, 1972).