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Will they or won't they make it in time? The role of contextual and behavioral predictors in reaching deadlines of mandatory assignments
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We have investigated the temporal patterns of algebra (N=606) and calculus (N=507) introductory physics students practicing multiple basic physics topics several times throughout the semester using an online mastery homework application called science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fluency aimed at improving basic physics skills. For all skill practice categories, we observed an increase in measures of student accuracy, such as a decrease in the number of questions attempted to reach mastery, and a decrease in response time per question, resulting in an overall decrease in the total time spent on the assignments. The findings in this study show that there are several factors that impact a student’s performance and evolution on the mastery assignments throughout the semester. For example, using linear mixed modeling, we report that students with lower math preparation for the physics class start with lower accuracy and slower response times on the mastery assignments than students with higher math preparation. However, by the end of the semester, the less prepared students reach similar performance levels to their more prepared classmates on the mastery assignments. This suggests that STEM fluency is a useful tool for instructors to implement to refresh student’s basic math skills. Additionally, gender and procrastination habits impact the effectiveness and progression of the student’s response time and accuracy on the STEM fluency assignments throughout the semester. We find that women initially answer more questions in the same amount of time as men before reaching mastery. As the semester progresses and students practice the categories more, this performance gap diminishes between males and females. In addition, we find that students who procrastinate (those who wait until the final few hours to complete the assignments) are spending more time on the assignments despite answering a similar number of questions as compared to students who do not procrastinate. We also find that student mindset (growth vs fixed mindset) was not related to a student’s progress on the online mastery assignments. Finally, we find that STEM fluency practice improves performance beyond the effects of other components of instruction, such as lectures, group-work recitations, and homework assignments.
Procrastination, the irrational delay of tasks, is a common occurrence in online learning. Potential negative consequences include a higher risk of drop-outs, increased stress, and reduced mood. Due to the rise of learning management systems and learning analytics, indicators of such behavior can be detected, enabling predictions of future procrastination and other dilatory behavior. However, research focusing on such predictions is scarce. Moreover, studies involving different types of predictors and comparisons between the predictive performance of various methods are virtually nonexistent. In this study, we aim to fill these research gaps by analyzing the performance of multiple machine learning algorithms when predicting the delayed or timely submission of online assignments in a higher education setting with two categories of predictors: 1) subjective, questionnaire-based variables and 2) objective, log-data-based indicators extracted from a learning management system. The results show that models with objective predictors consistently outperform models with subjective predictors, and a combination of both variable types performs slightly better with an accuracy of 70%. For each of these three options, a different approach prevailed (gradient boosting machines for the subjective, Bayesian multilevel models for the objective, and Random Forest for the combined predictors). We conclude that careful attention should be paid to the selection of predictors and algorithms before implementing such models in learning management systems.
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.
Objectives
Procrastination is typically assessed via self‐report questionnaires. So far, only very few studies have examined actual procrastination behavior, providing inconclusive results regarding the real‐life validity of self‐reports in this domain. The present study aimed to examine for the first time whether participants' self‐reported procrastination can predict their actual behavior on a real‐life task.
Methods
For that purpose, we assessed self‐reported levels of procrastination [via the Pure Procrastination Scale, PPS] and actual procrastination behavior on a naturalistic task [i.e., having to send in an attendance sheet before a deadline] in 93 participants.
Results
Results show that self‐reports significantly predicted procrastination behavior. Analyses of underlying dimensions suggest that real‐life procrastination can be the result of “voluntarily delaying planned actions,” but can also have more passive causes such as “running out of time.”
Conclusions
Comparing our results with the available literature suggests that PPS self‐reports reflect a particularly valid tool to assess real‐life procrastination behavior. Findings are discussed in the context of strategies and mechanisms that potential interventions may target in order to reduce procrastination.
Abstract Effect size reporting is crucial for interpretation of applied research results and for conducting meta-analysis. However, clear guidelines for reporting effect size in multilevel models have not been provided. This report suggests and demonstrates appropriate effect size measures including the ICC for random effects and standardized regression coefficients or f 2 for fixed effects. Following this, complexities associated with reporting R 2 as an effect size measure are explored, as well as appropriate effect size measures for more complex models including the three-level model and the random slopes model. An example using TIMSS data is provided.
This paper addresses the problem of a finite set of entities which are required to achieve a goal within a predefined deadline. For example, a group of students is supposed to submit a homework by a specified cutoff. Further, we are interested in predicting which entities will achieve the goal within the deadline. The predictive models are built based only on the data from that population. The predictions are computed at various time instants by taking into account updated data about the entities. The first contribution of the paper is a formal description of the problem. The important characteristic of the proposed method for model building is the use of the properties of entities that have already achieved the goal. We call such an approach “Self-Learning”. Since typically only a few entities have achieved the goal at the beginning and their number gradually grows, the problem is inherently imbalanced. To mitigate the curse of imbalance, we improved the Self-Learning method by tackling information loss and by several sampling techniques. The original Self-Learning and the modifications have been evaluated in a case study for predicting submission of the first assessment in distance higher education courses. The results show that the proposed improvements outperform the specified two base-line models and the original Self-Learner, and also that the best results are achieved if domain-driven techniques are utilised to tackle the imbalance problem. We also showed that these improvements are statistically significant using Wilcoxon signed rank test.
Introduction: Research about student performance has traditionally considered academic procrastination as a behavior that has negative effects on academic achievement. Although there is much evidence for this in class-based environments, there is a lack of research on Computer-Based Learning Environments (CBLEs). Therefore, the purpose of this study is to evaluate student behavior in a blended learning program and specifically procrastination behavior in relation to performance through Data Mining techniques.
Materials and Methods: A sample of 140 undergraduate students participated in a blended learning experience implemented in a Moodle (Modular Object Oriented Developmental Learning Environment) Management System. Relevant interaction variables were selected for the study, taking into account student achievement and analyzing data by means of association rules, a mining technique. The association rules were arrived at and filtered through two selection criteria: 1, rules must have an accuracy over 0.8 and 2, they must be present in both sub-samples.
Results: The findings of our study highlight the influence of time management in online learning environments, particularly on academic achievement, as there is an association between procrastination variables and student performance.
Conclusion: Negative impact of procrastination in learning outcomes has been observed again but in virtual learning environments where practical implications, prevention of, and intervention in, are different from class-based learning. These aspects are discussed to help resolve student difficulties at various ages.
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.
Procrastinating with popular online media such as Facebook has been suggested to impair users' well-being, particularly among students. Building on recent procrastination, self-control, and communication literature, we conducted two studies (total N = 699) that examined the predictors of procrastination with Facebook as well as its effects on students' academic and overall well-being. Results from both studies consistently indicate that low trait self-control, habitual Facebook checking, and high enjoyment of Facebook use predict almost 40 percent of the variance of using Facebook for procrastination. Moreover, results from Study 2 underline that using Facebook for the irrational delay of important tasks increases students' academic stress levels and contributes to the negative well-being effects of Facebook use beyond the academic domain. The implications of investigating procrastination as a specific pattern of uncontrolled and dysfunctional media use are discussed with regard to research on the uses and effects of ubiquitous online media.
No systematic study has examined the global prevalence of chronic procrastination-the purposive delay in starting or completing tasks. In the present study, adult samples from the United States (122 women, 85 men), United Kingdom (143 women, 96 men), and Australia (124 women, 90 men) completed reliable and valid self-report measures of arousal procrastination (delays motivated by a "last-minute" thrill experience) and avoidant procrastination (delays related to fears of failure or success). Both men and women from the United Kingdom reported higher rates of arousal and avoidance procrastination compared to adults from the United States and Australia. However, when both procrastination types were separated statistically into "pure types" there were no significant differences across countries: 11.5% of adults self-identified as arousal procrastinators, and 9.9% of adults as avoidant procrastinators. Results indicated that chronic procrastination prevalence is common among westernized, individualistic, English-speaking countries; further epidemiological cross-cultural studies are needed. It has been estimated that procrastination (i.e., frequent delays in starting and/or completing tasks to deadline: Ferrari, Johnson, & McCown, 1995) is common by around 70% of college students for academic-specific tasks (Ellis & Knaus, 1977), yet as high as 20% among normal adult men and women for everyday, daily life events such as paying bills and planning for personal health issues (Harriott & Ferrari, 1996). While it seems that procrastination rates decrease with age, Ferrari et al. (1995) proposed that these rates reflect different forms of procrastination, with the former an exanqjle of situational-specific task delays and the latter indicative of chronic, dispositional delay behavior patterns. That is, college students may engage in delay of studying but
Several techniques have been identified that can help students of all ages and abilities learn, understand, and retain materials across a wide variety of classes. Although these techniques are not the panacea for all the learning hurdles that students must overcome, they do offer an easy and low-cost solution to boosting student achievement in many classes. Thus, in this teacher-ready research review, we provide some pointers about how to use two particularly potent techniques—practice testing and spaced practice—to improve student learning in the classroom and on how another technique—successive relearning—can be used by your students to guide their learning outside of the classroom.
Procrastination is a common form of self-regulatory failure with substantive connections to lower levels of health, wealth and well-being. Conducting an epidemiological study, we determined the characteristics of prototypical procrastinators from a global sample based on several relevant self-reported demographic variables. Using an internet sampling strategy, we surveyed 16 413 English-speaking adults (58.3% women; 41.7% men: M age = 38.3 years, SD = 14), specifically on the variables of sex, age, marital status, family size, education, community location, and national origin. Almost all the results were statistically significant because of our large sample size. However, procrastination tendencies were most prominently associated with sex, age, marital status, education and nationality. Procrastinators tended to be young, single men with less education, residing in countries with lower levels of self-discipline. Notably, procrastination mediated the relationship between sex and education, providing further support that men are lagging behind women academically because of lower self-regulatory skills. Given procrastination's connection with a variety of societal ailments (e.g. excessive debt, delayed medical treatment), identifying risk factors and at risk populations should be helpful for directing preventative public policy. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The topic of how students become self-regulated as learners has attracted researchers for decades. Initial attempts to measure self-regulated learning (SRL) using questionnaires and interviews were successful in demonstrating significant predictions of students’ academic outcomes. The present article describes the second wave of research, which has involved the development of online measures of self-regulatory processes and motivational feelings or beliefs regarding learning in authentic contexts. These innovative methods include computer traces, think-aloud protocols, diaries of studying, direct observation, and microanalyses. Although still in the formative stage of development, these online measures are providing valuable new information regarding the causal impact of SRL processes as well as raising new questions for future study.
Procrastination is variously described as harmful, innocuous, or even beneficial. Two longitudinal studies examined procrastination among students. Procrastinators reported lower stress and less illness than nonprocrastinators early in the semester, but they reported higher stress and more illness late in the term, and overall they were sicker. Procrastinators also received lower grades on all assignments. Procrastination thus appears to be a self-defeating behavior pattern marked by short-term benefits and long-term costs.
The authors conducted a grounded theory study of academic procrastination to explore adaptive and maladaptive aspects of procrastination and to help guide future empirical research. They discuss previous research on the definition and dimensionality of procrastination and describe the study in which interview data were collected in 4 stages, identifying 33 initial categories and 29 macrothemes. Findings were validated by member checks. The authors describe in detail informants' perceptions of procrastination, which were used to construct a 5-component paradigm model that includes adaptive (i.e., cognitive efficiency, peak experience) and maladaptive (i.e., fear of failure, postponement) dimensions of procrastination. These dimensions, in turn, are related to conditions that affect the amount and type of procrastination, as well as cognitive (i.e., prioritizing, optimization) and affective (i.e., reframing, self-handicapping) coping mechanisms. The authors propose 6 general principles and relate them and the paradigm model to previous research. Limitations of the research are discussed, as well as implications for future theory development and validation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Academic procrastination includes failing to perform an activity within the desired time frame or postponing until the last minute activities one ultimately intends to complete. As such, high levels of procrastination appear inconsistent with the behaviors typically attributed to self-regulated learners, However, research exploring the relation between these 2 constructs is lacking. Two studies (N = 168 and N = 152) examining procrastination and its relation to several key components of self-regulated learning using self-report surveys are reported here. Results indicate that procrastination was related to college students' self-efficacy and work-avoidant goal orientation and, to a lesser extent, their use of metacognitive strategies. Findings are discussed with regard to prior research on self-regulated learning and procrastination and to future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The present study sought to extend previous research suggesting a relationship between trait procrastination and health behaviors by examining the behavioral intentions of procrastinators. Two cognitive variables (self-efficacy and the consideration of future consequences) were proposed to mediate the procrastination–intentions relationship. Students (n=182) were administered personality and health-related questionnaires and then asked to recall a past illness episode along with health behaviors that may have improved or prevented this experience. Intentions to actually perform one of the listed behaviors in the near future were then rated. A negative relation between trait procrastination and intentions to engage in health behaviors was found. Further, the weak intentions of procrastinators were mediated by a lower health-specific self-efficacy. The consideration of future consequences did not play a role in the procrastination–intentions relationship although it was moderately and negatively related to trait procrastination. These findings were consistent with the role of self-efficacy in intentions as theoretically proposed, and with previous work suggesting that procrastination is associated with low perceived behavioral control.
During the past two decades, volition, defined as the ability to stay task-focused and ward off distractions, has become of special relevance for educational research and practice. It describes how decreased motivation or negative emotions can be dealt with by applying action control strategies. However, despite its potential, an important area of education has neglected volitional considerations: distance education (DE). This seems paradoxical because by its very nature distance education requires a great deal of persistence and effort that is volitional. Consequently, the present paper introduces a conceptual framework built on volitional theories; it aims to augment traditional perspectives and to analyse major challenges to DE, such as dropout rates.The paper reports results from a longitudinal study (September 2007-July 2009) that was conducted to determine the factorial structure of the Volitional Persona Test (VPT), an online instrument to assess volitional competence, and to obtain detailed information on students’ volitional competence at a large DE university and at numerous traditional universities in German-speaking countries. It was demonstrated that the construct of volition can be subdivided into distinct factors, volitional self-efficacy, consequence control, emotion control, and meta-cognition, which may enable the development of support systems that are tailored to learners’ individual needs. Implications for future research are discussed.
The authors examined the prevalence of and reasons, or excuses, for academic procrastination as a function of gender and academic grade level. In Study 1, a factor analysis of responses by 203 Turkish undergraduate students to an academic procrastination measure provided evidence of reliability and validity for the revised scale. In Study 2,784 students (363 women, 421 men; M age = 20.6 years, SD age = 1.74 years) completed the validated Turkish Procrastination Assessment Scale-Students. The results were that 52% of students self-reported frequent academic procrastination, with male students reporting more frequent procrastination on academic tasks than female students. Significantly more female students than male students reported greater academic procrastination because of fear of failure and laziness; male students reported more academic procrastination as a result of risk taking and rebellion against control than did female students.
Procrastination is a prevalent and pernicious form of self-regulatory failure that is not entirely understood. Hence, the relevant conceptual, theoretical, and empirical work is reviewed, drawing upon correlational, experimental, and qualitative findings. A meta-analysis of procrastination's possible causes and effects, based on 691 correlations, reveals that neuroticism, rebelliousness, and sensation seeking show only a weak connection. Strong and consistent predictors of procrastination were task aversiveness, task delay, self-efficacy, and impulsiveness, as well as conscientiousness and its facets of self-control, distractibility, organization, and achievement motivation. These effects prove consistent with temporal motivation theory, an integrative hybrid of expectancy theory and hyperbolic discounting. Continued research into procrastination should not be delayed, especially because its prevalence appears to be growing.
Procrastination has been increasing since the proliferation of online learning. While traditionally assessed with self-report instruments, online learning offers the possibility to measure objective indicators (log data). In the present study, we aim to find out whether the combination of short scales on procrastination-related traits and log data predict the extent of dilatory behaviour in online tasks and performance (assignment scores). The log data models (which include the number of clicks on the assignment, the interval between thematic block start and first click, and the number of clicks on course activities as predictors) have a better fit and explain more variance than the questionnaire models when predicting delay; and the predictions barely improve when combined. The prediction of performance did not yield any noteworthy effects. Future studies need to diversify predictors by incorporating contextual factors to improve early and/or late predictions and allow classification of dilatory behaviour (e.g. procrastination vs purposeful delay).
Massive online open courses (MOOCs) are a booming phenomenon in the digital era. However, the online nature of educational delivery via MOOCs creates every opportunity for digital distraction and procrastination, resulting in difficulties for students and instructors. According to a new study in Information Systems Research, the authors Ni Huang (University of Houston), Jiayin Zhang (Tsinghua University), Gordon Burtch (University of Minnesota), Xitong Li (HEC Paris), and Peiyu Chen (Arizona State University) report a randomized field experiment on a large MOOC platform to examine several calls to action (CTAs) pertaining to the completion and submission of course assignments with an eye toward combating student procrastination on MOOCs. Their results show that descriptive norms (i.e., informing the completion rates of the assignments) lead to higher probabilities of assignment completion and a shorter time to completion. In contrast, a deadline reminder in the form of a planning prompt (i.e., informing the target deadline for assignment submission and the importance of planning ahead) has a surprisingly counterproductive effect, in particular, if students’ active course load is low. One possible explanation is that the students with low course loads may perceive the deadline to be distant, which reduces their sense of urgency and leads to complacency.
To understand the relationship between smartphone addiction and academic procrastination and the mechanisms at work within this relationship, this study constructs a mediation model to examine the impact of college students’ smartphone addiction on their academic procrastination and the mediation effect of academic self-efficacy. A total of 483 college students were surveyed using the Smartphone Addiction Scale—Short Version, College Academic Self-Efficacy Scale and Tuckman Academic Procrastination Scale. Correlation analysis showed that smartphone addiction was positively related to academic procrastination while being negatively related to academic self-efficacy. At the same time, academic self-efficacy and academic procrastination were negatively related. Further, mediation analysis using the PROCESS plugin in SPSS showed that smartphone addiction has a direct predictive effect on students’ academic procrastination and an indirect predictive effect via academic self-efficacy after controlling for age, gender, and academic year. Specifically, academic self-efficacy was found to be a partial mediator and play a buffering role between smartphone addiction and academic procrastination.
Standard approaches for identifying task-completion strategies, such as precrastination and procrastination, reduce behavior to single markers that oversimplify the process of task completion. To illustrate this point, we consider three task-completion strategies and introduce a new method to identify their use. This approach was tested using an archival data set (N = 8,655) of the available electronic records of research participation at Kansas State University. The approach outperformed standard diagnostic approaches and yielded an interesting finding: Several strategies were associated with negative outcomes. Specifically, both procrastinators and precrastinators struggled to finish tasks on time. Together, these findings underscore the importance of using holistic approaches to determine the relationship among task characteristics, individual differences, and task completion.
Contrary to the common belief that having more time facilitates goal pursuit by allowing for more flexibility and fewer restrictions, the current work argues that long deadlines may produce unintended detrimental consequences on goal pursuit. In particular, this research identifies a mere deadline effect, showing that longer versus shorter deadlines, once imposed, lead consumers to infer that the focal goal is more difficult, even when the deadline length results from incidental factors that cannot be meaningfully used to make any other diagnostic inferences about the task itself besides completion frame. Further, these difficulty inferences consequently lead consumers to commit more resources (e.g., time and money). Thus, while long incidental deadlines might be beneficial for essential yet often underestimated aspects of long-term well-being (e.g., when consumers exert more effort to save for college and plan for retirement), the unintended difficulty perception arising from deadline length will sometimes sabotage goal pursuit (e.g., when consumers commit more resources that are beyond their capability, and when elevated resource estimates lead to increased procrastination and higher likelihood of quitting). © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Journal of Consumer Research, Inc. All rights reserved
This study aimed to investigate the effect of academic procrastination on e-learning course achievement. Because all of the interactions among students, instructors, and contents in an e-learning environment were automatically recorded in a learning management system (LMS), procrastination such as the delays in weekly scheduled learning and late submission of assignments could be identified from log data. Among 569 college students who enrolled in an e-learning course in Korea, the absence and late submission of assignments were chosen to measure academic procrastination in e-learning. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between academic procrastination and course achievement. The results showed that the absence and late submission of assignments were negatively significant in predicting course achievement. Furthermore, the study explored the predictability of academic procrastination on course achievement at four points of the 15-week course to test its potential for early prediction. The results showed that the regression model at each time point significantly predicted course achievement, and the predictability increased as time passed. Based on the findings, practical implications for facilitating a successful e-learning environment were suggested, and the potential of analyzing LMS data was discussed.
Previous findings on the relationship between procrastination and academic performance are inconsistent. We conducted a meta-analysis of 33 relevant studies involving a total of 38,529 participants to synthesize these findings. This analysis revealed that procrastination was negatively correlated with academic performance; this relationship was influenced by the choice of measures or indicators. The use of self-report scales interfered with detection of a significant relationship between procrastination and academic performance. The demographic characteristics of participants in individual studies also affected the observed relationship. Implications of this meta-analysis are discussed.
In this study, we explored whether there are different types of academic delayers (i.e., types of students who delay academic tasks). Latent profile analysis based on 554 university students' reasons for academic delay revealed four distinct types: inconspicuous, successful pressure-seeking, worried/anxious, and discontent with studies. The types were validated with respect to variables associated with dilatory behavior (e.g., academic procrastination and academic performance). The inconspicuous and successful pressure-seeking types showed low academic procrastination and were not negatively affected by academic delay, whereas the worried/anxious and discontent with studies types showed high academic procrastination and were under psychological pressure. Thus, two types appeared to be purposeful delayers and two types appeared to be academic procrastinators. The deficiencies in self-regulation skills observed in the worried/anxious and discontent with studies types underpin the notion of academic procrastination as a failure in self-regulation. Interventions designed to overcome academic procrastination should address these skills and should be tailored to the type-specific reasons. (c) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
In this study we adopted an impartial view on academic procrastination in order to gain new insights for the development of intervention programs. Following a qualitative approach, we thereby explored antecedents of procrastination by attending to the actual voices and experiences of 29 students. Students’ subjective theories were in line with some antecedents that previous research had addressed (lack of motivation or volitional control), but also revealed relatively new aspects of academic procrastination that concern students’ social relatedness and task competence. Considering these findings, we suggest ideas on how to assist students and how to design intervention programs.
The study explores the effect of trait reactance on procrastination and delay in students of two study programmes differing in the structuring of academic tasks and the role they play in course assessment. Both subsamples (n = 97 and 139) completed measures of trait reactance, chronic academic procrastination, self-reported task procrastination and actual task delay. The data were analyzed using path analysis and SEM. As hypothesized, psychological reactance positively predicted procrastination, especially the ‘chronic delay’ component underlying all three procrastination-related measures. However, some of the effect of reactance on this delay-dependent component of procrastination was apparently suppressed by what might have been a subjective (delay-independent) component of self-reported task procrastination. Furthermore, reactance was significantly related to delay only when good performance on the task was of relatively high importance. Apart from providing evidence for a possible link between reactance and procrastination, the results also demonstrate that it is important to distinguish between the experiential and objective (temporal) components of procrastination, as the two might be represented by completely different nomological networks.
Procrastination shares many features with the Dark Triad of personality, such as high impulsivity and low conscientiousness. We investigated the Dark Triad of personality (i.e., narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy) in relation to two types of procrastination styles (i.e., arousal and avoidance procrastination) in an on-line survey with 369 participants. We found that avoidance procrastination had a positive relationship with secondary psychopathy and the Entitlement/Exploitativeness facet of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory. Arousal procrastination, in turn, had a negative relationship with the Leadership/Authority facet. Possible reasons for the findings are discussed with a reference to fast and slow Life History strategies.
As a preface to the papers in this special issue on the role of procrastination in maladjustment, we provide an overview of the topics covered. To our knowledge, this is the first special issue that focuses specifically on the role of this form of self-regulatory failure in understanding maladjustment. We begin with a discussion of the complex array of motivational, affective, cognitive, and behavioural factors that operate in chronic procrastination. These complexities are illustrated with case studies that highlight the role of negative self-views and associated deficits in self-regulation. Themes explored in the papers include the role of cognitive factors in dysfunctional beliefs and automatic thoughts in procrastination, as well as the role of procrastination and deficits in self-regulation related to stress, psychological distress, and physical illness. Another key theme addressed is the usefulness of REBT and cognitive techniques such as mindfulness training in reducing the tendency to procrastinate.
In the present study, we broadly investigated reasons and consequences of academic procrastination. Additionally, we explored whether students seeking help from student counselling services to overcome academic procrastination (counselling group) report more serious reasons and consequences of academic procrastination than students who procrastinate but seek no counselling support (non-counselling group). We conducted standardized interviews with university students (N = 36, of which 16 belonged to the counselling group) and analysed these using qualitative content analysis and frequency analysis. The reasons and consequences of academic procrastination, each summarized in a separate category system, were manifold. The category systems consisted of 20 main categories in total, subsuming 81 subcategories, of which 32 were inductively developed. The counselling group reported more serious reasons and consequences of academic procrastination than the non-counselling group. Our results suggest considering academic procrastination as a self-regulation failure and contribute to constructing interventions tailored to students’ specific needs.
This article proposes an individual-level theoretical framework of self-management failure. First, the authors introduce six self-defeating behaviors (SDBs) to the organizational literature. Second, they explain how personality may predispose employees to engage in these SDBs. Third, they define self-management failure and analyze how each SDB can undermine standard setting, operating, and monitoring. Throughout their presentation of the framework, the authors offer several research propositions. Finally, they discuss both the practical and theoretical implications of the framework.
Procrastination is a common and pervasive problem associated with a range of negative outcomes across a variety of life domains that often occurs when people are faced with tasks that are seen as aversive. In this paper, we argue that as a form of self-regulation failure, procrastination has a great deal to do with short-term mood repair and emotion regulation.
Moreover, we contend that a temporal understanding of self and the mood-regulating processes involved in goal pursuit is particularly important in understanding procrastination, because the consequences of procrastination are typically borne by the future self. After summarizing the research on the priority of short-term mood regulation in procrastination, we then draw the connection between the focus on short-term mood repair and the temporal disjunction between present and future selves. We present research that exemplifies these intra-personal processes in understanding temporal notions of self characterized by procrastination, and then link these processes to the negative consequences of procrastination for health and well-being. We conclude with a discussion of possible avenues for future research to provide further insights into how temporal views of the self are linked to the dynamics of mood regulation over time in the context of procrastination.
Affective correlates of procrastination were examined through experience-sampling. 45 undergraduate students carried electronic pagers for 5 days preceding an academic deadline. Students were paged 8 times daily. At each signal, the participants indicated what they were doing, extent of procrastination and affective state. Contrary to previous research, procrastination was not found to be correlated with either positive or negative affect. Participants' appraisals of their tasks when paged revealed that they procrastinated on unpleasant, stressful and difficult tasks, while engaging in activities that were significantly more pleasant. Specious rewards, self-regulation and the apparent short-term benefits of procrastination are discussed in relation to these findings and as a basis for counseling intervention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The current study examined four factors affecting retention in Web-based community college courses. Analyses were conducted on student demographics, student learning styles, course communication and external factors. The results suggest that Web-based courses are more attractive to busy students who are also more likely to fail or drop the course. The combined results from the four factors provided evidence that time management and procrastination are the primary reasons that community college students fail or drop a Web-based course. The study also found evidence that inability to get feedback from instructors may contribute to student dropout and failure in Web-based community college courses.
The purpose of this research was to explore the Personal Project Systems (e.g., Little, 1983) of state-oriented and action-oriented individuals. Eighty-four female and 57 male undergraduates enrolled in an introductory psychology class completed Little’s Personal Projects Analysis (e.g., 1983) and Kuhl’s Action Control Scale (Kuhl, 1994). The results from the present study revealed that the project systems of state-oriented individuals are higher in procrastination, frustration, boredom, uncertainty, and guilt, and lower in absorption, control, outcome, progress and self-identity. These findings are discussed in terms of previous research in the area of procrastination, project-analytic theory (e.g., Little, 1983) and Kuhl’s theory of action (e.g., Kuhl, 1994).
Conceptualizations of procrastination as self-regulation failure have received considerable empirical support. However, procrastination has only occasionally been examined in relation to variables emphasized in models of self-regulated learning. We examined relations between procrastination, achievement goal orientations, and learning strategies. One hundred and seventy undergraduates completed measures of procrastination, goal orientation, and learning strategies usage. Bivariate correlations revealed that procrastination related negatively to a mastery-approach goal orientation and positively to a mastery-avoidance goal orientation. Procrastination was also related to greater disorganization and less use of cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies. Multiple regression analyses revealed that disorganization and cognitive strategies usage were most predictive of procrastination. Results are interpreted within a self-regulation perspective.
There is evidence of disciplinary variation in students' approaches to learning. Furthermore, previous research has shown that students' approaches are related to their perceptions of the learning environment.
The overall objective of the study was to analyse combinations of approaches to learning among undergraduates in different disciplines. More precisely, the aim was to cluster students on the basis of their scores on different items measuring approaches to learning, and to explore the relationship between the clusters and both the disciplines of the students and their perceptions of the teaching-learning environment.
A total of 2,509 students participated in the study.
The students were asked to complete an on-line questionnaire, which was a revised version of the Experience of Teaching and Learning Questionnaire. It included items covering approaches to learning and perceptions of the teaching-learning environment.
The students were classified in four clusters. There were significant differences in how the respondents from the 10 faculties were represented in these clusters. There were also differences in their perceptions of the teaching-learning environment in the different faculties.
It appears that there is disciplinary variation in approaches to learning. Furthermore, the results indicate that both approaches to learning and the discipline have an effect on students' experiences of the teaching-learning environment.