Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T20:58:04.716Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Academic Procrastination: Associations with Personal, School, and Family Variables

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2013

Pedro Rosário ,
Marta Costa ,
José Carlos Núñez ,
Julio González-Pienda ,
Paula Solano  and
Antonio Valle
Pedro Rosário*
Affiliation:
Universidade do Minho (Portugal)
Marta Costa
Affiliation:
Universidade do Minho (Portugal)
José Carlos Núñez
Affiliation:
Universidad de Oviedo (Spain)
Julio González-Pienda
Affiliation:
Universidad de Oviedo (Spain)
Paula Solano
Affiliation:
Universidad de Oviedo (Spain)
Antonio Valle
Affiliation:
Universidad de A Coruña (Spain)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to: Pedro Rosario. Universidade do Minho, Departamento de Psicología, Campus de Gualtar, P-4710 Braga (Portugal). E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Procrastination is a common behavior, mainly in school settings. Only a few studies have analyzed the associations of academic procrastination with students' personal and family variables. In the present work, we analyzed the impact of socio-personal variables (e.g., parents' education, number of siblings, school grade level, and underachievement) on students' academic procrastination profiles. Two independent samples of 580 and 809 seventh to ninth graders, students attending the last three years of Portuguese Compulsory Education, have been taken. The findings, similar in both studies, reveal that procrastination decreases when the parents' education is higher, but it increases along with the number of siblings, the grade level, and the underachievement. The results are discussed in view of the findings of previous research. The implications for educational practice are also analyzed.

La procrastinación es un comportamiento muy frecuente, sobre todo entre la población escolar. Pocos estudios han analizado las relaciones entre la procrastinación académica y variables personales y familiares. En este trabajo analizamos el impacto de variables socio-personales tales como la escolaridad de la madre y del padre, el número de hermanos, el curso y el fracaso escolar evaluado a través del número de cursos suspensos utilizando ANOVAS en dos muestras independientes de 580 y 809 sujetos de los 3 primeros cursos de Enseñanza Secundaria Obligatoria (ESO). Los datos, similares en los dos estudios, revelan que la procrastinación decrece con el aumento de escolaridad de la madre y del padre, pero incrementa con el número de hermanos, el curso en ESO y el fracaso escolar. Los resultados son discutidos en función de los hallazgos de las investigaciones previas. Se analizan las implicaciones para la práctica educativa.

Keywords

academic procrastinationsocio-family variablesadolescentsprocrastinación académicavariables socio-familiaresadolescentes
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , May 2009 , pp. 118 - 127
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aitken, M. (1982). A personality profile of the college student procrastinator. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. University of Pittsburgh.Google Scholar
Alexander, E. S., & Onwuegbuzie, A. J. (2007). Academic procrastination and the role of hope as a coping strategy. Personality and Individual Differences, 42, 1301–1310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blunt, A., & Pylchyl, T. (2005). Project systems of procrastinators: A personal project-analytic and action control perspective. Personality and Individual Differences, 38, 1771–1780.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boice, R. (1993). New faculty involvement of women and minorities. Research in Higher Education, 34, 291–341.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boice, R. (1995). Developing teaching, then writing among new faculty. Research in Higher Education, 36, 415–456.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brownlow, S., & Reasinger, R. (2000). Putting off until tomorrow what is better done today: Academic procrastination as a function of motivation toward college work. Journal of Social Behaviour and Personality, 15, 15–34.Google Scholar
Burka, J., & Yuen, L. (1983). Procrastination: Why you do it, what to do about it. Cambridge: Da Capo.Google Scholar
Costa, M. (2007). Procrastinação, auto-regulação e género. Tese de dissertação de mestrado não publicada. Braga, Portugal: IEP.Google Scholar
Delongis, A., Coyne, J.Dakof, G., Folkman, S., & Lazarus, R. (1982). Relationship of daily hassles, uplifts and major life events on health status. Health Psychology, 1, 119–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dewitte, S., & Lens, W. (2000). Procrastinators lack a broad action perspective. European Journal of Personality, 14, 121–140.3.0.CO;2-#>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dewitte, S., & Schouwenburg, H. (2002). Procrastination, temptation and incentives: The struggle between the present and the future in procrastination and the punctual. European Journal of Personality, 16, 469–489.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Epstein, J. (2001). School, family, and community partnerships: Preparing educators and improving schools. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Ferrari, J.R., & Díaz-Morales, J.F. (2007). Perceptions of self-concept and self-presentation by procastinators: Further evidence. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 10,(1), 91–96.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ferrari, J.R., & Emmons, R. (1995). Methods of procrastination and their relation to self-control and self reinforcement. Journal of Social Behaviour and Personality, 10, 135–142.Google Scholar
Ferrari, J.R., Harriott, J., Evans, L., Lecik-Micnha, D., & Wenger, J. (1997). Exploring the time preferences of procrastinators: Night or day, which is the one? European Journal of Personality, 11, 187–196.3.0.CO;2-6>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferrari, J.R., Harriott, J., & Zimmerman, M. (1999). The social support networks of procrastinators: Friends or family in times of trouble? Personality and Individual Differences, 26, 321–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferrari, J.R., Johnson, J., & McCown, W. (1995). Procrastination and task avoidance: Theory, research and practice. New York: Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferrari, J.R., O'Callaghan, J., & Newbegin, I. (2005). Prevalence of procrastination in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia: Arousal and avoidance delays among adults. North American Journal of Psychology, 7, 1–6.Google Scholar
Ferrari, J.R., & Olivetti, M. (1993). Perceptions of parental control and the development of indecision among late adolescent females. Adolescence, 28, 963–970.Google ScholarPubMed
Ferrari, J.R., & Olivetti, M. (1994). Parental authority influences on the development of female dysfunctional procrastination. Journal of Research in Personality, 28, 87–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferrari, J.R., & Scher, S. (2002). Toward an understanding of academic and nonacademic tasks procrastinated by students: The use of daily logs. Psychology in the Schools, 37, 359–366.3.0.CO;2-Y>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flett, G., Hewitt, P., & Martin, T. (1995). Dimensions of perfectionism and procrastination. In Ferrari, J. R., Johnson, J., & McCown, W., (Eds.), Procrastination and task avoidance: Theory, research and practice, (pp. 113–136). New York: Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grolnick, W., & Ryan, R. (1989). Parent styles associated with children's self-regulation and competence in school. Journal of Educational Psychology, 81, 143–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCown, W., & Johnson, J. (1989, April). Validation of an adult inventory of procrastination. Paper presented at the Society for Personality Assessment, New York.Google Scholar
Milgram, N., Sroloff, B., & Rosenbaum, M. (1988). The procrastination in everyday life. Journal of Research in Personality, 22, 197–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moon, S., & Illingworth, A. (2005). Exploring the dynamic nature of procrastination: A latent growth curve analysis of academic procrastination. Personality and Individual Differences, 38, 297–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Onwuegbuzie, A. (2000). Academic procrastination and perfectionist tendencies among graduate students. Journal of Social Psychology and Personality, 15, 103–110.Google Scholar
Pylchyl, T., Coplan, R., & Reide, P. (2002). Parenting and procrastination: Gender differences in the relations between procrastination, parenting style and self-worth in early adolescence. Personality and Individual Differences, 33, 271–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosário, P., Costa, M., Mourão, R., Núñez, J.C., González-Pienda, J.A. & Valle, A. (in press). Procrastination, SRL and Math achievement. Academic Exchange Quarterly, 11, 4,Google Scholar
Rosário, P., Mourão, R., Núñez, J.C., González-Pienda, J.A., & Solano, P. (2006). Escuela-familia: ¿es posible una relación recíproca y positiva? Papeles del Psicólogo, 27, 171–179.Google Scholar
Rosário, P., Mourão, R., Núñez, J.C., González-Pienda, J.A., & Solano, P. (in press). Storytelling as a promoter of Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) throughout schooling. In Valle, A., Núñez, J.C., Cabanach, R.G., González-Pienda, J.A., & Rodríguez, S. (Eds.), Handbook of instructional resources and their applications in the classroom. NY: Nova Science.Google Scholar
Rosário, P., Mourão, R., Núñez, J. C., González-Pienda, J., & Valle, A. (2006). SRL and EFL homework: gender and grade effects. Academic Exchange Quarterly, 10 (4), 135–140.Google Scholar
Rosário, P., Mourão, R., Núñez, J.C., González-Pienda, J.A., Solano, P., & Valle, A. (2007). Eficacia de un programa instruccional para la mejora de procesos y estrategias de aprendizaje en la enseñanza superior. Psicothema, 19, 353–358.Google Scholar
Rosário, P., Mourão, R., Soares, S., Chaleta, E., Grácio, L., Núñez, J.C., & González-Pienda, J. A. (2005). Trabalho de casa, tarefas escolares, auto-regulação e envolvimento parental. Psicologia em Estudo, 10, 343–351.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosário, P., Soares, S., Núñez, J.C., González-Pienda, J., & Rúbio, M. (2004). Processos de auto-regulação da aprendizagem e realização escolar no ensino básico. Psicologia, Educação e Cultura, 8, 141–157.Google Scholar
Rothblum, E., Solomon, L., & Murakami, J. (1986). Affective, cognitive, and behavioural differences between high and low procrastinators. Journal of Counselling Psychology, 33, 387–394.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scher, S., & Ferrari, J. (2000). The recall of completed and noncompleted tasks through daily logs to measure procrastination. Journal of Social Behaviour and Personality, 15, 255–265.Google Scholar
Scher, S., & Osterman, N. (2002). Procrastination, conscientiousness, anxiety, and goals: Exploring the measurement and correlates of procrastination among school-aged children. Psychology in the Schools, 39, 385–398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schouwenburg, H. C. (2004). Trait procrastination in academic settings: An overview of students who engage in task delays. In Schouwenburg, H.C., Lay, C., Pylchyl, T., & Ferrari, J., (Eds.), Counselling the procrastinator in academic settings (pp. 3–18). Washington: American Psychological Association.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Senécal, C., Koestner, R., & Vallerand, R. (1995). Self-regulation and academic procrastination. The Journal of Social Psychology 135, 607–619.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tice, D., & Baumeister, R. (1997). Longitudinal study of procrastination, performance, stress, and health: The costs and benefits of dawdling. Psychological Science, 8, 454–458.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Eerde, W. (2003). A meta-analytically derived nomological network of procrastination. Personality and Individual Differences, 35, 1401–1418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vohs, K.D, & Baumeister, R.F. (2004). Understanding self-regulation: An introduction. In Baumeister, R.F. & Vohs, K.D. (Eds.), Handbook of self-regulation (pp. 1–12). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Walker, L. (2004). Overcoming the patterns of powerlessness that lead to procrastination. In Schouwenburg, H., Lay, C., Pylchyl, T., & Ferrari, J., (Eds.), Counselling the procrastinator in academic settings (pp. 91–103). Washington: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Wolters, C.A. (2003). Understanding procrastination from a self-regulated learning perspective. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95, 179–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar