Abstract
Academic procrastination is understood as the postponement of academic tasks despite the possibility of negative consequences, with an estimated 46% of undergraduate students and 60% of graduate students regularly engaging in this behavior. The purpose of the present study was to contrast procrastination behavior on specific academic tasks (writing term papers, studying for exams, keeping up with weekly readings) between undergraduate (n = 354) and graduate students (n = 816), as well as examine the perceived reasons for this procrastination behavior. MANOVA results showed that undergraduate students reported greater perceived prevalence of procrastination than graduate students with respect to studying. Principal component analyses further revealed different components for undergraduate and graduate students, including fear of failure and task aversiveness for undergraduate students, and fear of failure and lack of assertiveness for graduate students.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Seven students reported being in a combined master’s/doctoral program or were not clear as to which level they were in and were therefore not included in analyses that examined students’ educational level in terms of masters vs. doctoral students.
References
Ackerman, D. S., & Gross, B. L. (2005). My instructor made me do it: Task characteristics of procrastination. Journal of Marketing Education, 27(1), 5–13. https://doi.org/10.1177/0273475304273842
Ariani, D. W., & Susilo, Y. S. (2018). Why do it later? Goal orientation, self-efficacy, test anxiety, on procrastination. Journal of Educational, Cultural and Psychological Studies, 17, 45–73. https://doi.org/10.7358/ecps-2018-017-wahy
Argiropoulou, M. I. (2014). Academic procrastination in Greek higher education: Shedding light on a darkened yet critical issue. Psychology, 21(2), 150–160.
Azure, J. A. (2011). Correlates of course anxiety and academic procrastination in higher education. Global Journal of Educational Research, 10(1), 55–65.
Balkis, M., & Duru, E. (2009). Prevalence of academic procrastination behavior among pre-service teachers and its relationships with demographics and individual preferences. Journal of Theory and Practice in Education, 5(1), 18–32.
Ballen, C. J., Wieman, C., Salehi, S., Searle, J. B., & Zamudio, K. R. (2017). Enhancing diversity in undergraduate science: Self-efficacy drives performance gains with active learning. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 16(4), ar56. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.16-12-0344
Bäulke, L., Eckerlein, N., & Dresel, M. (2018). Interrelations between motivational regulation, procrastination and college dropout intentions. Unterrichtswissenschaft, 46(4), 461–479.
Baumeister, R. F., & Heatherton, T. F. (1996). Self-regulation failure: An overview. Psychological Inquiry, 7(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327965pli0701_1
Baumeister, R. F., Campbell, J. D., Krueger, J. I., & Vohs, K. D. (2003). Does high self-esteem cause better performance, interpersonal success, happiness, or healthier lifestyles? Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 4, 1–44. https://doi.org/10.1111/1529-1006.01431
Blunt, A. K., & Pychyl, T. A. (2000). Task aversiveness and procrastination: A multi-dimensional approach to task aversiveness across stages of personal projects. Personality and Individual Differences, 28(1), 153–167. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(99)00091-4
Carden, R., Bryant, C., & Moss, R. (2004). Locus of control, test anxiety, academic procrastination, and achievement among college students. Psychological Reports, 95(2), 581–582. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.95.2.581-582
Cattell, R. B. (1966). The scree test for the number of components. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 1, 245–276.
Cerino, E. S. (2014). Relationships between academic motivation, self-efficacy, and academic procrastination. Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research, 19(4), 156–163.
Choi, J. N., & Moran, S. V. (2009). Why not procrastinate? Development and validation of a new active procrastination scale. The Journal of Social Psychology, 149(2), 195–212. https://doi.org/10.3200/SOCP.149.2.195-212
Chu, A. H. C., & Choi, J. N. (2005). Rethinking procrastination: Positive effects of “active” procrastination behavior on attitudes and performance. The Journal of Social Psychology, 145(3), 245–264. https://doi.org/10.3200/SOCP.145.3.245-264
Clark, J. L., & Hill, O. W., Jr. (1994). Academic procrastination among African-American college students. Psychological Reports, 75(2), 931–936.
Constantin, K., English, M. M., & Mazmanian, D. (2018). Anxiety, depression, and procrastination among students: Rumination plays a larger mediating role than worry. Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 36(1), 15–27. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-017-0271-5
Cornelius, V., Wood, L., & Lai, J. (2016). Implementation and evaluation of a formal academic peer-mentoring programme in higher education. Active Learning in Higher Education, 17(3), 193–205. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469787416654796
Eckert, M., Ebert, D. D., Lehr, D., Sieland, B., & Berking, M. (2016). Overcome procrastination: Enhancing emotion regulation skills reduce procrastination. Learning and Individual Differences, 52, 10–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2016.10.001
Fee, R. L., & Tangney, J. P. (2000). Procrastination: A means of avoiding shame or guilt? Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 15(5), 167–184.
Ferrari, J. R., Keane, S. M., Wolfe, R. N., & Beck, B. L. (1998). The antecedents and consequences of academic excuse-making: Examining individual differences on procrastination. Research in Higher Education, 39(2), 199–215. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018768715586
Ferrari, J. R., & Scher, S. J. (2000). Toward an understanding of academic and nonacademic tasks procrastinated by students: The use of daily logs. Psychology in the Schools, 37(4), 359–366. https://doi.org/10.1002/1520-6807(200007)37:4%3c367::AID-PITS7%3e3.0.CO;2-Y
Field, A. (2013). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS (4th ed.). SAGE.
Fritzsche, B. A., Young, B. R., & Hickson, K. C. (2003). Individual differences in academic procrastination tendency and writing success. Personality and Individual Differences, 35(7), 1549–1557. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(02)00369-0
Glick, D. M., Millstein, D. J., & Orsillo, S. M. (2014). A preliminary investigation of the role of psychological inflexibility in academic procrastination. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 3(2), 81–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2014.04.002
Grunschel, C., Patrzek, J., & Fries, F. (2013). Exploring different types of academic delayers: A latent profile analysis. Learning and Individual Differences, 23, 225–233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2012.09.014
Häfner, A., Oberst, V., & Stock, A. (2014). Avoiding procrastination through time management: An experimental intervention study. Educational Studies, 40(3), 352–360. https://doi.org/10.1080/03055698.2014.899487.
Haghbin, M., McCaffrey, A., & Pychyl, T. A. (2012). The complexity of the relation between fear of failure and procrastination. Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 30, 249–263. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-012-0153-9
Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2010). Multivariate data analysis: International version. Pearson.
Harrington, N. (2005). It’s too difficult! Frustration intolerance beliefs and procrastination. Personality and Individual Differences, 39(5), 873–883.
Harriott, J., & Ferrari, J. R. (1996). Prevalence of procrastination among samples of adults. Psychological Reports, 78(2), 611–616. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1996.78.2.611
Haycock, L. A., McCarthy, P., & Skay, C. L. (1998). Procrastination in college students: The role of self-efficacy and anxiety. Journal of Counseling and Development, 76(3), 317–324. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-6676.1998.tb02548.x
Hensley, L. C. (2014). Reconsidering active procrastination: Relations to motivation and achievement in college anatomy. Learning and Individual Differences, 36, 157–164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2014.10.012
Horn, J. L. (1965). A rationale and test for the number of components in component analysis. Psychometrika, 30, 179–185.
Howell, A. J., & Watson, D. C. (2007). Procrastination: Associations with achievement goal orientation and learning strategies. Personality and Individual Differences, 43(1), 167–178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2006.11.017
Janssen, T., & Carton, J. S. (1999). The effects of locus of control and task difficulty on procrastination. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 160(4), 436–442. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221329909595557
Kachgal, M. M., Hansen, L. S., & Nutter, K. J. (2001). Academic procrastination prevention/intervention: Strategies and recommendations. Journal of Developmental Education, 25(1), 14–24.
Kim, K. R., & Seo, E. H. (2015). The relationship between procrastination and academic performance: A meta-analysis. Personality and Individual Differences, 82, 26–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.02.038
Klassen, R. M., Krawchuk, L. L., & Rajani, S. (2008). Academic procrastination of undergraduates: Low self-efficacy to self-regulate predicts higher levels of procrastination. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 33, 915–931. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2007.07.001
Klingsieck, K. B., Grund, A., Schmid, S., & Fries, S. (2013). Why students procrastinate: A qualitative approach. Journal of College Student Development, 54(4), 397–412. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2013.0060
Lay, C. H. (1992). Trait procrastination and the perception of person-task characteristics. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 7(3), 483–494.
Lay, C. H., & Schouwenburg, H. C. (1993). Trait procrastination, time management, and academic behavior. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 8(4), 647–662.
Macher, D., Paechter, M., Papousek, I., & Ruggeri, K. (2012). Statistics anxiety, trait anxiety, learning behavior, and academic performance. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 27(4), 483–498. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-011-0090-5
Moon, S. M., & Illingworth, A. J. (2005). Exploring the dynamic nature of procrastination: A latent growth curve analysis of academic procrastination. Personality and Individual Differences, 38(2), 297–309. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2004.04.009
Mortazavi, F., Mortazavi, S. S., & Khosrorad, R. (2015). Psychometric properties of the procrastination assessment scale-student (PASS) in a student sample of sabzevar university of medical sciences. Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal, 17(9), 1–8.
O’Connor, B. P. (2000). SPSS and SAS programs for determining the number of components using parallel analysis and Velicer’s MAP test. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 32, 396–402.
Onwuegbuzie, A. J. (2004). Academic procrastination and statistics anxiety. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 29(1), 3–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/0260293042000160384
Onwuegbuzie, A. J., & Collins, K. M. (2001). Writing apprehension and academic procrastination among graduate students. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 92(2), 560–562. https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.2001.92.2.560
Onwuegbuzie, A. J., & Jiao, Q. G. (2000). I’ll go to the library later: The relationship between academic procrastination and library anxiety. College & Research Libraries, 61(1), 45–54.
Özer, B. U., Demir, A., & Ferrari, J. R. (2009). Exploring academic procrastination among Turkish students: Possible gender differences in prevalence and reasons. The Journal of Social Psychology, 149(2), 241–257. https://doi.org/10.3200/SOCP.149.2.241-257
Patrzek, J., Grunschel, C., & Fries, S. (2012). Academic procrastination: The perspective of university counsellors. International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling, 34(3), 185–201. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10447-012-9150-z.
Pychyl T. A. (2013). Solving the procrastination puzzle: A concise guide to strategies for change. New York, NY: Tarcher/Penguin.
Pychyl, T. A., Lee, J. M., Thibodeau, R., & Blunt, A. (2000). Five days of emotion: An experience sampling study of undergraduate student procrastination. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 15(5), 239–245.
Pychyl, T. A., & Sirois, F. M. (2016). Procrastination, emotion regulation, and well-being. In F. M. Sirois & T. Pychyl (Eds.), Procrastination, health, and well-being (pp. 163–188). London, UK: Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-802862-9.00008-6
Rahimi, S., Hall, N. C., & Pychyl, T. A. (2016). Attributions of responsibility and blame for procrastination behavior. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1179. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01179
Saddler, C. D., & Buley, J. (1999). Predictors of academic procrastination in college students. Psychological Reports, 84(2), 686–688. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1999.84.2.686
Schraw, G., Wadkins, T., & Olafson, L. (2007). Doing the things we do: A grounded theory of academic procrastination. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99(1), 12–25. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.99.1.12
Senécal, C., Julien, E., & Guay, F. (2003). Role conflict and academic procrastination: A self-determination perspective. European Journal of Social Psychology, 33(1), 135–145. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.144
Sims, C. M. (2014). Self-regulation coaching to alleviate student procrastination: Addressing the likeability of studying behaviours. International Coaching Psychology Review, 9(2), 147–164.
Solomon, L. J., & Rothblum, E. D. (1984). Academic procrastination: Frequency and cognitive-behavioral correlates. Journal of Counselling Psychology, 31(4), 503–509. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.31.4.503
Steel, P. (2007). The nature of procrastination: A meta-analytic and theoretical review of quintessential self-regulatory failure. Psychological Bulletin, 133(1), 65–94. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.133.1.65
Sverdlik, A., Hall, N. C., McAlpine, L., & Hubbard, K. (2018). The PhD experience: A review of the components influencing doctoral students’ completion, achievement, and well-being. International Journal of Doctoral Studies, 13, 361–388. https://doi.org/10.28945/4113
Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2007). Using Multivariate Statistics (5th ed.). . Pearson.
Tice, D. M., & Baumeister, R. F. (1997). Longitudinal study of procrastination, performance, stress, and health: The costs and benefits of dawdling. Psychological Science, 454-458. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.1997.tb00460.x
Tuckman, B. W. (1991). The development and concurrent validity of the procrastination scale. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 51(2), 473–480. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164491512022
Yockey, R. D., & Kralowec, C. J. (2015). Confirmatory component analysis of the procrastination assessment scale for students. SAGE Open, 5(4), 2158244015611456.
Young, E. (1858). Poetical works of Edward Young (Vol. II). London: Bell and Daldy.
Funding
This study was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC, Partnership Development Grant, grant number: 890–2012-0038).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Both authors contributed to all aspects of this manuscript (writing, analyses, etc.)
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflicts of Interest
We have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rahimi, S., Hall, N.C. Why Are You Waiting? Procrastination on Academic Tasks Among Undergraduate and Graduate Students. Innov High Educ 46, 759–776 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-021-09563-9
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-021-09563-9