Perspectives on Academic Procrastination

Procrastination of academic tasks is a commonly

observed phenomenon amongst undergraduate students.

There are various propositions to explain this

procrastinatory behaviour amongst some students which

in turn depend on the proponent's perceptions of

procrastination. Some of the proposed definitions of are:

"the act of needlessly delaying tasks to the point of

experiencing subjective discomfort" by Solomon and

Rothblum (1984), "frequent failure at doing what ought

to be done to reach goals" by Lay (1986) and "the desire

to avoid an activity, the promise to get it late, and the

use of excuse making to justify the delay and avoid

blame" according to Ellis and Knaus (2002). Due to the

differences in these definitions, the origins of

procrastination are also differently understood. While

Popoola (2005) considers procrastination a dispositional

trait, Schouwenberg (1995) regards it as arising jointly

from such personality traits and a general discounting

mechanism (definition discussed in later sections)

arising from social temptations. Similarly, reported rates

of procrastination in college students also varies

between 46% (Solomon and Rothblum, 1984) to 95%

(Ellis and Knaus, 1977).

Due to the disparity in the definitions available in

existing literature, we opted to construct a definition of

academic procrastination by asking the participants in

the study about what they felt constituted academic

procrastination. Based on the definition and constitution

proposed, further questions were asked. The aim of such

semi-structured interviews was to understand the

common perception of what academic procrastination is

and its various causes and affects spanning both personal

and social contexts. Further we tried to gauge whether

students felt that their college life is a compromise

between studying and social interactions as proposed by

Schouwenberg and Groenewoud (2001). We also tried to

understand whether procrastination is a self-worth

preservation mechanism to provide another plausible

reason for imminent failure (Covington, 1992;

Rhodewalt & Vohs, 2005).

TABLE I

INTERVIEW SCHEDULE

What is academic procrastination?

1. Describe academic procrastination in your own

words.

2. What activities constitute academic

procrastination?

prompt: and what would you not include

3. What are the different ways of procrastinating

that you use?

prompt: specific examples

Effect of procrastination on academic

performance

1. When do you indulge in such activities the most?

prompt: w r. t. exams and project deadlines

2. Do you think these activities have significantly

affected your academic performance?

3. Do you often feel bad about procrastination

affecting your performance?

Other effects of procrastination

1. Do you think it always affects you negatively?

a. If yes, examples

b. If no, examples, specifically about

personality development

2. How does it make you feel?

prompt: happy, low on self-esteem, makes you

more efficient

3. Does it affect other spheres of your life?

Origins of and resistance to academic

procrastination

1. Does the interest in the subject have a role to

play?

2. How does it start?

prompt: because of you or do you join in

3. Do you start/join such activities as an impulsive

act or is it planned?

4. Are you forced into joining an activity leading to

procrastination by your peers?

5. How often do you say no to such attempts?

6. When do you stop procrastinating?

prompt: when do you realise you can no longer

handle it

7. Are your evaluations about when to stop correct?

8. If you have performed poorly initially, what do

you