Academic Procrastination and Evaluation of Predicting Factors in University Students

Abstract

Objectives: Procrastination can be described as the delay of a task despite being aware of the potential negative consequences this behaviour can create. Procrastination behavior can cause anxiety and discomfort, therefore it can disturb the life quality. Academic procrastination which is a subtype of procrastination, is common among students. Our aim is to evaluate the mean score of procrastination among students of Marmara University Faculty of Medicine, its effects on the grade point average (GPA) of the students and its relationships with personality factors. Materials and Methods: In our study a sociodemographic questionnaire including 12 questions, Tuckman academic procrastination scale (TAPS), Roseberg Self-esteem scale and the Hewitt and Flett Multidimensional Perfectionism scale (HFPS) were completed by the participants online. Results: Two hundred twenty-seven students from all classes from 1 to 6th grade participated in the study. 62.1% of the participants are women. Academic procrastination was less common in those with physical activity habits (p=0.012). Socially prescribed perfectionism was observed more in those with insufficient income (p=0.033). A statistically significant relationship was found between psychiatric illness and TAPS, HFPS (p<0.05). Conclusion: As a result, it has been revealed that participants with high socially focused perfectionism exhibit more academic procrastination behavior. Students with low self-esteem levels exhibit more academic procrastination and their socially prescribed perfectionism levels are high. It was observed that the relationship between the socially prescribed perfectionism and academic procrastination of the participants diagnosed with psychiatric illness was statistically significant. There was no statistically significant relationship between GPA and academic procrastination behavior, self-esteem and socially prescribed perfectionism.