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With the latest Facebook or iphone app, the ease of contacting friends, and the newest YouTube video, it has become easier and more tempting to NOT do work- procrastination, progresses natural assassin. Solomon and Rothblum (1984) defined procrastination as the "act of needlessly delaying tasks to the point of experiencing subjective discomfort" (503). However procrastination strikes deep into every aspect of daily life and spans far wider than this paper can cover, so a focus will be brought on to procrastination in an academic setting. Academic procrastination is the intentional delay of starting, doing, or completing their important academic work in a timely fashion (Rabin, Fogel, & Upham, 2011).

Ellis and Knaus (1977) estimated 95% of American college students procrastinate. Solomon and Rothblum (1984) through self reports discovered 46% of students admit to procrastinating, and 50% of those people reported it as a mild to severe problem. The prevalence of academic procrastination is varied from study to study, but it is unanimous that academic procrastination is a problem that must be addressed. Some of the consequences of academic procrastination are external, decreased progress/learning (Rabin et al., 2011), and increased health risk (Tice & Baumeister, 1997). Some of the consequences are internal such as depression, irrational cognitions, lower self esteem, and anxiety (Solomon & Rothblum, 1984). There are many negative aspects of academic procrastination. As stated earlier procrastination strikes deep into every aspect of daily life, it is a problem that cannot be solved by just looking at the individual. In Van Eerde's (2003) meta-analysis on the networks of procrastination he stressed the importance of examining the social influences on the students. Academic procrastination is a well sought out field of study due to the many factors that produce and maintain it, this paper will look at two; Self-regulation and the socio-personal variables that surround the individual.

One of the more prominent and better researched theories in approaching academic procrastination is seeing it as a failure in self regulation. Self regulation is the system in which individuals use to construe internal and external cues in deciding when to start, maintain, and finish a goal-directed behavior. Senècal, Koestner, and Vallerand (1995) adapted from Deci and Ryan's self determination theory ( as cited from Senècal et al., 1995, p. 605) which differentiates motivations for doing school work out of choice and interest (self-determined) as opposed to internal/external pressures such as guilt and deadlines(non-self-determined), and found a strong correlation between self regulation style and academic procrastination.

The theory proposes there are five types of self regulation that can be arranged on a scale ranging in degree of autonomy; from most autonomous to least autonomous, intrinsic regulation, identified regulation, introjected regulation, external regulation, and amotivation (Senècal et al., 1995). Intrinsic regulation being the most autonomous because it refers to behavior that are engaged in due to their own interest, pleasure, and satisfaction; and on the other side of the scale amotivated behavior are the least autonomous because it refers to behavior with no sense of purpose, no expected reward, and no opportunity for change. The two sides of the scale can be separated in three distinct ways; autonomous self regulation leads to greater initiative & persistence, greater amount of positive emotions, and more consistent behavior. They discovered the more autonomous the self regulation style such as intrinsic motivation and identified regulation, the more enjoyment and feeling of competence is elicited from doing the task as well as increased higher concentration, grades, and time spent on the activity. They concluded that self regulation is a strong predictor academic procrastination, and the more autonomous the motivation to work, the less likely the individual will procrastinate.

Further research from Klassen, Krawchuck, and Rajani (2007) further supported this claim as well as expanded on it. Their findings were similar to Senècal et al.'s (1995), as well as introducing a new variable, self efficacy- belief in one's capability to carry out the necessary actions to succeed. High self efficacy also seemed to be a significant predictor of resisting procrastination. However the biggest predictor they found was self efficacy for self regulation- belief in one's self regulatory power and ability to internalize regulation . Individuals need not only an autonomous style of self regulation, but a belief in their own ability to self regulate. Self regulation is obviously a very essential component of academic procrastination as it delves into what motivates individuals to work.

In another study Senècal, Julien, and Guay (2003) developed a role conflict model of academic procrastination, suggesting that one's non-self determined motivations of school activities and interpersonal relationships create a role conflict which contributes to academic procrastination. Role conflict is defined as the amount of conflict that arises from these two roles. Their result was that students who are motivated through self-determined motivations (choice and interest) toward their education and interpersonal relationships are less conflicted by the conflict created by their two separate roles and therefore less prone to academic procrastination. These students have integrated their roles effectively to feel minimal tension, their behavior is consistent with their core beliefs and values, and are less likely to act according to what other people want. On the other hand students who are motivated through non-self-determined motivations will experience negative feelings, be more conflicted after not having integrated the two roles, and be more prone to academic procrastination. The findings of this study are significant in explaining academic procrastination, and the implications of the results are just as big. When examining academic procrastination one must look beyond the individual and his/her motivations, and look at the social life that he/she is a part of.

A socio-family study was conducted in hopes of ascertaining certain social factors effect on academic procrastination. A positive correlation was found between procrastination and number of siblings and grade level, while a negative correlation was found between procrastination and parent's level of education (Costa, Gonzalaz-Pienda, Nunez, Rosario, Solano, Valle, 2009). It is important to note that this study was conducted on middle school students, as they are more dependent on their family than high school and college students. High school and College is an awkward time as it is when students start to become more independent and