Problematic Internet use and procrastination among students: a meta-analysis

Abstract

Problematic Internet use and procrastination are two frequent phenomena both among the general population and especially among adolescent and young students. Both phenomena are associated with various negative consequences in the educational field. The objective of this work is to examine the relationship between problematic Internet use and procrastination among students using meta-analytic techniques. A bibliographic search was carried out using the PsycInfo, Scopus, PubMed y Web of Science databases, recovering a total of 17 independent effect sizes from 16 papers. The total sample was composed of 8,421 participants. The results revealed a moderate relationship between problematic Internet use and procrastination (r = .40), hence those students who show higher levels of problematic Internet use also have higher scores of procrastination. The variability rate of the studies is high (I2 = 93.94%) and the presence of publication bias is not appreciated. Implications and limitations of the work are discussed. The need to continue investigating the relationship between the two variables is pointed out, especially through longitudinal studies.