Learners’ Religious Affiliation Commitment and Academic Performance

Abstract

The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between religious affiliation commitment and the academic performance of learners at Junior High School through a descriptive-correlational design involving 136 learners. The results suggested that learners continued to show very high levels of commitment in their religious practices—mainly worship services, prayer meetings, and service to the community—that suggest commitment to spiritual practices, a faith-driven life, and civic engagement is very important in their daily lives. Likewise, learners' academic performances were very good under all demographic variables. This means that age, sex, grade levels, and religious involvement did not meaningfully affect the academic outcomes. Moreover, deeper analysis showed that worship commitments did not vary between different groups; prayer meetings varied only by grade level, whereby younger learners were the most interested group; and outreach commitments varied greatly among age, grade level, and religious activity areas—with younger and more religiously active learners having an increased commitment. The most significant results indicated a strong correlation—as well as a positive and statistically significant correlation—between religious commitment on one side and academic performance on the other. Thus, more religious learners tend to perform better academically. This line of thought is in light of the fact that religious involvement may essentially provide a basis for many virtues such as discipline, responsibility, motivation, and emotional stability that would benefit their academic functioning.