Academic Procrastination: Frequency and Cognitive-Behavioral Correlates

This study investigated the frequency of college students' procrastination on academic tasks and the reasons for procrastination behavior. A high percentage of students reported problems with procrastination on several specific academic tasks. Self-reported procrastination was positively correlated with the number of self-paced quizzes students took late in the semester and with participation in an experimental session offered late in the semester. A factor analysis of the reasons for procrastination indicated that the factors Fear of Failure and Aversiveness of the Task accounted for most of the variance. A small but very homogeneous group of subjects endorsed items on the Fear of Failure factor that correlated significantly with self-report measures of depression, irrational cognitions, low self-esteem, delayed study behavior, anxiety, and lack of assertion. A larger and relatively heterogeneous group of subjects reported procrastinating as a result of aversiveness of the task. The Aversiveness of the Task factor did not correlate significantly with anxiety or assertion, but it did correlate significantly with'depression, irrational cognitions, low self-esteem, and delayed study behavior. These results indicate that procrastination is not solely a deficit in study habits or time management, but involves a complex interaction of behavioral, cognitive, and affective components;