EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ACADEMIC PROCRASTINATION, ACADEMIC STRESS AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS STUDYING IN BS (HONS.) FINAL SEMESTER AT A PUBLIC UNIVERSITY IN GILGIT-CITY

Academic procrastination and academic stress leaves decisive impact on the productivity and academic output of students. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between academic procrastination, academic stress and academic performance of students at university level in the context of Gilgit-Baltistan. By using stratified random sampling technique, 299 BS (Hons.) final year students were surveyed. Results indicated strong positive correlation between student’s level of stress and procrastination (r=.654**, p= .000). Results further indicated that students' final score has a moderate negative correlation with student’s level of procrastination (r = -.30, p= .000) and a weak negative correlation with students' level of stress (r= -.26, p=.000). These results reveal that increase in stress causes increases in procrastination among students and vice versa. Furthermore, increase in academic stress and procrastination among students decrease their academic performance (student’s final score). Future researchers can replicate this research study in the initial semesters, so the findings of the study would help the university management to gear their programs towards remedial strategies for reducing stress and procrastination in students. Keywords: Academic procrastination, Academic stress, Academic performance, Correlation, Procrastination