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Do procrastination-friendly environments make students delay unnecessarily?

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Abstract

Research on procrastination emphasizes trait explanations for unwanted delay, yet environmental factors are most probably significant contributors to the problem. In this paper, we review literature related to the influence of environmental factors on academic procrastination and investigate how such factors may be assessed in facilitating academic procrastination in students. Study 1 asked students to evaluate three different fields of study—natural sciences, medicine, and humanities—on environmental variables assumed to be relevant for academic procrastination (e.g., structured course progression, freedom in the study situation). Distinct differences between the academic fields were observed. In Study 2, participants from these three fields of study rated their own academic procrastination as well as peer procrastination and peer influence. Dispositional (trait) procrastination was also measured. The results demonstrated that environmental factors have a negligible impact on low-procrastinating students, whereas procrastination-friendly environments seem to facilitate and augment academic procrastination in students at medium-level dispositional procrastination, i.e., the majority of students. We conclude that social and environmental factors should receive increased attention in measures taken to reduce and prevent academic procrastination.

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Notes

  1. The relatively low alphas reported here are probably due to low number of items (e.g., Streiner 2003) as well as relatively heterogeneous subsamples. Hence, we supplement alphas with estimates of measurement fits using CFA.

  2. In an aggregated sample of 1015 Norwegian students, the mean IPS score was 3.20 (Svartdal 2015).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, UiT the Arctic University of Norway, 9037, Tromsø, Norway

    Kent Nordby & Frode Svartdal

  2. Department of Psychology, Universität Paderborn, Paderborn, Germany

    Katrin B. Klingsieck

Authors
  1. Kent Nordby
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  2. Katrin B. Klingsieck
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  3. Frode Svartdal
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Correspondence to Frode Svartdal.

Appendix

Appendix

1.1 Peer procrastination

  • There is a culture among my fellow students to delay exams-reading and starting writing assignments/Det er en kultur blant mine medstudenter for å utsette eksamenslesing og oppgaveskriving

  • My fellow students rarely delay schoolwork/Mine medstudenter utsetter sjelden skolearbeid

  • Many of my fellow students are relaxed about their schoolwork/Mange av mine medstudenter er avslappet til skolearbeid

  • There is a culture among my fellow students to get started early and finish early with schoolwork/Det er en kultur blant mine medstudenter for å komme tidlig i gang og bli ferdig med skolearbeid

1.2 Peer influence

  • When I am late with my schoolwork, I find it reassuring that other students are also behind on their work/Når jeg er sent ute med skolearbeid, opplever jeg det betryggende at andre studenter også henger etter

  • When other students around me delay working on their schoolwork, it gets easier for me to delay as well/Når jeg opplever at andre studenter rundt meg utsetter skolearbeid, blir det lettere for meg å utsette

  • I work more on my schoolwork when I know my fellow students are working as well/Jeg jobber mer med skolearbeid når jeg vet andre medstudenter også jobber med det

  • I envy those students who get started early on their exams-reading and written assignments/Jeg misunner de studenter som kommer tidlig i gang med eksamenslesing eller oppgaveskriving

  • I work harder when I know I am behind my fellow students on schoolwork/Jeg jobber mer når jeg vet at jeg ligger etter mine medstudenter

  • I try to work as much as my fellow students with schoolwork/Jeg prøver å jobbe omtrent like mye som mine medstudenter med skolearbeid

1.3 Exposure

  • I spend a lot of time on the university/Jeg tilbringer mye tid på universitetet

  • I work a lot with schoolwork together with my fellow students/Jeg jobber mye med skolearbeid sammen med mine medstudenter

  • I am often social with my fellow students/Jeg er ofte sosial med mine medstudenter

1.4 Socially-induced academic procrastination (SIAP)

  • When I am at the university to work, I often get distracted by activities with my fellow students/Når jeg er på universitetet for å jobbe, blir jeg ofte distrahert av aktiviteter med mine medstudenter

  • If I have to choose between schoolwork and being together with friends, I usually choose to be with friends/Hvis jeg må velge mellom skolearbeid og være sammen med venner, velger jeg som oftest å være med sammen med venner

  • When I am with other students to do schoolwork, we often end up doing other things instead/Når jeg er sammen med andre studenter for å jobbe med skolearbeidet, ender det ofte opp med at vi gjøre andre ting i stedet

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Nordby, K., Klingsieck, K.B. & Svartdal, F. Do procrastination-friendly environments make students delay unnecessarily?. Soc Psychol Educ 20, 491–512 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-017-9386-x

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