Academic Stress, Procrastination, and Internet Uses Among College Students During the covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: The covid-19 pandemic has affected educational practices, turning the information and communication technologies and the Internet into essential means to continue academic activities while increasing the risk of students misusing these tools, favoring phenomena such as procrastination. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between academic stress, problematic Internet use, social media addiction, and academic procrastination. Materials and methods: In this quantitative, non-experimen-tal, and cross-sectional study, the sisco inventory for academic stress, cupi for problematic Internet use, smas-sf for addiction to social networks, and academic procrastination scale were used. The sample was made up of 448 Mexican university students aged 17–34 years. Results: Significant differences were found by sex in terms of reactions to academic stress and in the category of self-regulation, where men indicated low self-regulation. Moreover, a positive and significant relationship was found between the use of social networks and academic procrastination in women and the problems due to the use of social networks and psychological reactions to stress in men. Conclusion: The change from face-to-face to virtual modality has led to consequences such as academic stress, procrastination, and inappropriate use of the Internet among university students.