Abstract
PurposeThe COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2019 has had a significant impact on people’s learning and their lives, including a significant increase in the incidence of academic procrastination and negative emotions. The topic of how negative emotions influences academic procrastination has been long debated, and previous research has revealed a significant relationship between the two. The purpose of this study was to further investigate the mediating and buffering effects of online-shopping addiction on academic procrastination and negative emotions.MethodsThe researchers conducted a correlation analysis followed by a mediation analysis and developed a mediation model. The study used stratified sampling and an online questionnaire as the data collection method. In this study, first, five freshmen students at vocational and technical colleges in Guangdong Province, China, were called to distribute the questionnaire. Second, after communicating with them individually, first-year students of Guangdong origin were selected as participants. Finally, 423 freshman students participated by completing the questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of 4 parts: demographic information, an online-shopping-addiction scale, an academic-procrastination scale and a negative-emotions scale. A total of 423 students, 118 males (27.9%) and 305 females (72.1%) from 10 vocational and technical colleges in Guangdong were surveyed. SPSS 25.0 was used to process and analyze the data. The data collected were self-reported.ResultsThe results showed that: first, academic procrastination was significantly and positively associated with online-shopping addiction (r = 0.176, p < 0.01). Second, academic procrastination was significantly and positively associated with negative emotions (r = 0.250, p < 0.01). Third, online-shopping addiction was significantly and positively associated with negative emotions (r = 0.358, p < 0.01). In addition, academic procrastination had a significant positive predictive effect on online-shopping addiction (β = 0.1955, t = 3.6622, p < 0.001). Online-shopping addiction had a significant positive predictive effect on negative emotions (β = 0.4324, t = 7.1437, p < 0.001).ConclusionThis study explored the relationship between students’ academic procrastination, negative emotions, and online-shopping addiction during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results indicated that students’ level of academic procrastination positively influenced their level of online-shopping addiction and negative emotions, and their level of online-shopping addiction increased their negative emotions. In addition, there was a mediating effect between the degree of participants’ online-shopping addiction and their degree of academic procrastination and negative emotions during the pandemic. In other words, with the mediating effect of online-shopping addiction, the higher the level of a participant’s academic procrastination, the more likely that the participant would have a high score for negative emotions.
Highlights
The COVID-19 epidemic has posed a serious threat to people’s health and to their lives (Zhang and Ma, 2020)
The assumptions were made: (a) a positive relationship existed between students’ academic procrastination and negative emotions; (b) a positive relationship existed between academic procrastination and online-shopping addiction; (c) a positive relationship existed between online-shopping addiction and negative emotions
It was found that (a) a positive relationship existed between students’ academic procrastination and negative emotions; (b) a positive relationship existed between academic procrastination and online-shopping addiction; (c) a positive relationship existed between online-shopping addiction and negative emotions; and (d) the online-shopping addiction mediated and buffered the relationship between academic procrastination and negative emotions
Summary
The COVID-19 epidemic has posed a serious threat to people’s health and to their lives (Zhang and Ma, 2020). As a result of the pandemic, the social networks that many people rely on have been disrupted. Many others have not had the luxury of social isolation while facing the threat of losing their jobs and even the loss of loved ones. Depression and anxiety have been on the rise (Hofmann, 2021). In China, the characterization of novel coronavirus pneumonia by the National Health Commission has led to increased negative emotions such as anxiety and anger, decreased well-being, and increased sensitivity to social risks in the overall mindset of society (Yang et al, 2021). The negative effects of COVID-19 have received widespread attention from the academic community
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
