Objectives The purpose of this study is to verify the mediating effect of the desire for recognition through fear of failure in the relationship between perfectionist self-presentation and academic delay behavior in college students. Methods For this purpose, an online survey was conducted on 252 four-year college students nationwide from December 20, 2023, to January 20, 2024, and Process Macro Model 4 of the SPSS 28.0 program was applied to verify the mediating effect of fear of failure in the relationship between perfectionist self-presentation and academic delay behavior, and Model 14 was applied to verify the controlled mediating effect of the need for recognition. Results The main results of analyzing the collected data are as follows. First, it was found that there was a significant positive correlation between perfectionist self-presentation, fear of failure, academic delay behavior, and desire for recognition. Second, as a result of analyzing the mediating effect of fear of failure in the path of perfectionist self-presentation to academic delay behavior, it was found that fear of failure completely mediated perfectionist self-presentation and academic delay behavior. Third, it was found that the desire for recognition had a moderating effect in the relationship between fear of failure and academic delay behavior. Conclusions Perfectionism self-presentation affects academic delay behavior through fear of failure, and this effect can be controlled through the desire for recognition. In other words, in the case of clients with high perfectionism self-presentation, it suggests that the intervention using the desire for recognition along with the intervention for fear of failure can be effective in alleviating academic delay behavior.
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