Abstract
Academic procrastination has often been attributed to a fear or avoidance response and elicits negative connotations with both educators and students. Such negative attitudes toward the act of procrastination may result in increased stress for students who procrastinate. However, is this always an appropriate assumption or is procrastination sometimes used as a tool when completing familiar tasks in an advanced educational setting? The current study examines procrastination behaviors of 123 graduate level students currently enrolled across 11 US universities within 20 fields of study. Data collected via self-report questionnaire showed significant relationships between increased academic procrastination and high grade outcomes, when both high levels of familiarity with the testing medium and low levels of fear were present. These data suggest that for settings where the testing medium no longer elicits an acceptable level of fear required for optimal performance, as per the Yerkes-Dodson Law of Arousal, some students may use procrastination to increase arousal. With greater understanding and acceptance of this possibility, students may avoid additional stress associated with non-acceptance of procrastination, which might result in stress levels that are too high and lead to task failure. Additionally, educators who identify this trait in their students may help by creating strategies to aid in this style of task completion.
Highlights
The struggle to avoid procrastination is likely one felt by all students during their academic career
Researchers have recently identified personality traits (Steel, 2007) and biological factors (Burka & Yuen, 2008) that can influence and perpetuate this common, and potentially self-defeating, academic behavior. Is such a global negative interpretation on procrastination behavior oversimplifying a behavior whose impact may vary by population and environment, resulting in a stunted understanding and ability to appropriately mitigate the negative impact? Within the present study, we have provided an alternative interpretation of the causal factors involved in academic procrastination, regarding a graduate level population
The Procrastination Assessment Scale-Students (PASS) was scored for procrastination frequency and fear of failure, strictly adhering to scoring instructions included with the assessment, and these data were compared to study-created question scores for procrastination frequency and fear of the testing medium
Summary
The struggle to avoid procrastination is likely one felt by all students during their academic career. Researchers have recently identified personality traits (Steel, 2007) and biological factors (Burka & Yuen, 2008) that can influence and perpetuate this common, and potentially self-defeating, academic behavior. Is such a global negative interpretation on procrastination behavior oversimplifying a behavior whose impact may vary by population and environment, resulting in a stunted understanding and ability to appropriately mitigate the negative impact? We have provided an alternative interpretation of the causal factors involved in academic procrastination, regarding a graduate level population. A percentage of student procrastination may be utilitarian, facilitating optimal performance by increasing arousal levels, as outlined in the Yerkes-Dodson Law of arousal and performance (Yerkes & Dodson, 1908), rather than existing as a strictly negative behavior
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