Ghazi Tashman1
Department of teacher education, Faculty of educational science, Isra University.
HNSJ, 2023, 4(4); https://doi.org/10.53796/hnsj4415
Published at 01/04/2023 Accepted at 20/03/2023
Abstract
The current study examined the academic procrastination and its relationship to academic achievement among university students, Sample of study consisting of 300 participants (150 male and 150 females) aged 18 to 25 years. Findings of the study indicated that that there is relationship between academic procrastination and academic achievement in (excellent, very good, good, and pass), as the value of the correlation coefficient was negative between academic procrastination and all dimensions of the academic achievement, The excellent score was the most influential in academic procrastination, followed by the score of good and the lowest influential among the participants was the score of pass achievement. With regard to the total value of the correlation coefficient between academic procrastination and total academic achievement = ( – 0.33), which indicates the strength of the negative correlation that confirms the higher level of academic procrastination leads to the lower the academic achievement and vice versa. Moreover, findings no statistically significant differences at (α≤0.05) between the university students in the level of academic procrastination and academic achievement based on participants gender. Also, no statistically significant differences at (α≤0.05) between the university students in the level of academic procrastination and academic achievement based on specialization and academic level variables.
Key Words: Academic procrastination, academic achievement, university, students.
Introduction
Life events are witnessing many tensions, crises, and rapid developments, which have affected all areas of life, which led to an increase in the burdens and difficulties facing the individual, which prompted this individual to perform some tasks, and this procrastination may be acceptable when it is against his will, or for things required by the task, but when the individual resorts to procrastination in all his matters until the last minute, then procrastination becomes a negative phenomenon because it is associated with failure and the consequences of all this Negative (Al-Rabie, Shawashra, and Taghreed, 2013). Many individuals have a weakness to tolerate any negative feeling, frustration or boredom when they face any obstacle while doing an action, and then they give up directly and resort to procrastination in implementing the required without justification and making a decision to delay an action or decide on something deliberately. When an individual procrastinates, he either postpones work until sometime in the future or the predetermined time comes without completing the work. This is called procrastination and means postponing work and tasks until later (Kelleher, 1992).
Some psychologists argue that a person may resort to procrastination to escape the anxiety that usually accompanies the beginning or completion of tasks or what accompanies decision-making. Procrastination can result in tension, guilt and some crisis. Also, a person’s productivity may decrease and society may not be satisfied with the proclaimed individual because he has not fulfilled his responsibilities and has not fulfilled his obligations. When these feelings come together on an individual, they can lead to further procrastination. Procrastination affects reasonable degrees and is considered normal, but it can become a problem when it hinders what humans are used to doing (Da Capo, 2008). There is also what is called chronic procrastination that may be a sign of underlying psychological disorders within the individual’s personality. Some scholars have suggested that action is considered procrastination only when it meets three diagnostic criteria: that postponement is counterproductive, that postponement is unnecessary in the sense that there is no purpose of postponement, and that postponement results in not completing tasks and not making decisions on time (Steele, 1996).
Academic procrastination is particularly prevalent in academia, where students are required to meet deadlines for assignments and tests in an environment full of events and activities in which students compete for time and attention. More specifically, 52% of students suffer from procrastination. It is estimated that 80% to 95% of college students suffer from procrastination, and approximately 75% of them consider themselves procrastinating. One of the sources of procrastination is the lack of appreciation of the time required to complete the required academic work. Many students devote weeks to collecting the academic work required to complete them simultaneously, but they are unable to finish them, because they must review many contradictory opinions before they can complete their work (Abu-Ghazal, 2012).
Abu Ghazal (2012) aimed at identifying the prevalence of academic procrastination and its causes from the point of view of university students. The study sample consisted of (751) male and female students from all faculties of Yarmouk University in Jordan. The results of the study indicated that there are statistically significant differences in the prevalence of academic procrastination due to the variable of academic level, and in favor of fourth-year students, and the study did not reveal statistically significant differences due to the variables of gender and academic specialization.
Özer-Bilge (2011) studied high school students, undergraduate university students and graduate students in Turkey to find out the extent of the phenomenon of procrastination. The study sample consisted of (448) male and female students (149 females and 83 males) from high school, (150) undergraduate students (80 females and 70 males) and (148) from postgraduate studies (84 females and 64 males). The results of the study indicated that there were statistically significant differences for different educational levels with regard to the phenomenon of procrastination, as university students for the undergraduate stage were more procrastinating than graduate students and high school students.
Arkan’s study (2011) on Turkish students at Siluk University aimed to study procrastination in general, academic incentives and self-control as factors through which we can predict academic procrastination among undergraduate students. The study sample consisted of (774) students (276 female and 498 male male). The results of the study indicated a positive relationship between general procrastination and academic procrastination, and there is no statistically significant relationship between academic procrastination and academic incentives and self-control. There were also no statistically significant differences between males and females in terms of academic procrastination.
Young (2010) aimed to uncover the phenomenon of procrastination among students of a private university in Malaysia in light of some other variables. The study sample consisted of (171) students from different majors. The results of the study indicated that business students do more than engineering students in their college assignments, that males do more than females, and that older students do more than younger ones. Ahmed’s study (2008) aimed to study academic procrastination and prediction and its relationship to achievement motivation and study satisfaction among students of King Khalid University in Saudi Arabia. The study sample consisted of (200) students from the College of Arabic Language and the College of Sharia. The results of the study indicated that students of the Faculty of Arabic Language have higher procrastination than students of the Faculty of Sharia, and that there is a statistically significant negative relationship between procrastination and satisfaction with study, and between procrastination and academic achievement regardless of academic specialization.
Moselhi and Al-Husseini (2004) conducted a study aimed at studying academic procrastination and its relationship to some variables (job satisfaction, anxiety, and academic control). The study sample consisted of (240) male and female students from Al-Azhar University in the Arab Republic of Egypt. The results of the study indicated that students with low lag were more satisfied with the study compared to their high-lag peers. The results also indicated that procrastination has a statistically significant relationship with anxiety as a trait or anxiety as a condition, as students with high procrastination have high trait or condition anxiety compared to their peers with low procrastination.
Study Problem
Procrastination in the performance of tasks and duties is common among university students, and therefore the repetition of this behaviour is a self-defeating behaviour and a phenomenon that we can consider a thorny problem for these students, because of its negative consequences for university students themselves and society. Procrastination can lead to self-blame, regret, and poor academic achievement. It is noted that procrastination among university students causes a lot of their time or daily work to be lost through an increase in sleep, play, watching TV or the like. It is noted that the prevalence of this phenomenon among university students is statistically unknown. Psychologists believe that procrastination has negative effects on students in terms of academic and family life, career advancement and satisfaction, and life satisfaction in general. Psychologists also believe that there may be low self-esteem, time management, lack of motivation, and cognitive-emotional interactions in students. From the above, the problem of the current study was identified in identifying academic procrastination and its relationship to academic achievement among university students.
Study Important
The importance of the study is that there is an urgent need for a comprehensive study to find out the causes of procrastination, how it occurs and its negative effects on university students and in society. This knowledge helps students and individuals in general to get rid of, or reduce procrastination behaviour. Since the study deals with an important segment of society, and a very influential age group, and it is known that university students constitute the basic building block in the progress of any society and its paper, so it was necessary to study this category, and the factors that can affect it negatively. It may also help develop recommendations and methods that help students and individuals in general to get rid of the phenomenon of procrastination, because it is costly at the individual and collective levels. In addition, this study may provide psychologists and academic counsellors with counselling programs that help university students alleviate the phenomenon of procrastination.
Aims
This study aims to:
1. Identify the association between academic procrastination and academic achievement among university students.
2. Detect the possibility of statistically significant differences between the university students in the level of academic procrastination and academic achievement based on their gender, specialization, and academic level.
Questions
- what is the relationship between academic procrastination and academic achievement among university students?
- Are there a statistically significant differences at (α≤0.05) between the university students in the level of academic procrastination and academic achievement based on their gender, specialization, and academic level?
Method
This research relied on the descriptive approach, which includes reference to references and sources to build the theoretical framework of research as a secondary source of study, where a questionnaire was relied on for the purposes of collecting data and information and analysing them statistically to answer research questions as a primary source of study.
Participants
The research community is represented by students of arts and social science faculties in Isra University for the first semester of 2022/2023 and their number is approximately 1000 students. Sample of study consisting of 300 participants (150 male and 150 females) aged 18 to 25 years.
Tools
The researcher relied on the academic procrastination scale (Abu Ghazal, 2012) consisting of 21 items. To determine whether the items on the scales were appropriate for measuring the study’s evaluation, psychologists, mental health experts, and professors in the medical sciences were given access to them. test-retest as a method of examining the coefficient of reliability; Cronbach Alpha has been calculated. The test was administered to 40 participants participants twice at intervals of 14 days. The results presented that the total internal consistency of the scale was 0.81 and 0.78, respectively.
Data collection
To achieve the objective of the study and based on the study questions, the data was unloaded for all questionnaires and entered into the computer and was processed using the statistical analysis program SPSS, where the arithmetic mean, standard deviation and the control centre of the scale were extracted to reveal the nature of the relationship between academic procrastination and academic achievement. In addition to using the t-test to detect statistically significant differences according to the gender variable, and also using the ONE-WAY ANOVA single variance analysis to detect statistically significant differences according to the variables of gender, specialization, and academic level.
Results and discussion
Question one: what is the relationship between academic procrastination and academic achievement among university students?
To answer the question, multiple regression analysis was calculated to find the predictive relationship between academic procrastination and academic achievement in Table (1):
Table 1: results of multiple regression analysis
| Academic achievement | Excellent | Very good | Good | Pass |
| academic procrastination | – 0.92 | – 0.11 | – 0.04 | – 0.12 |
| Score | – 0. 91 | – 0.10 | – 0.7 | – 0.34 |
| Total score | -0.33 | |||
Results in table (1) showed that there is relationship between academic procrastination and academic achievement in (excellent, very good, good, and pass), as the value of the correlation coefficient was negative between academic procrastination and all dimensions of the academic achievement, The excellent score was the most influential in academic procrastination, followed by the score of good and the lowest influential among the participants was the score of pass achievement. With regard to the total value of the correlation coefficient between academic procrastination and total academic achievement = ( – 0.33), which indicates the strength of the negative correlation that confirms the higher level of academic procrastination leads to the lower the academic achievement and vice versa.
Question two: Are there a statistically significant differences at (α≤0.05) between the university students in the level of academic procrastination and academic achievement based on their gender, specialization, and academic level?
To answer the question, t-test have been run to find out whether there is statistically significant differences at (α≤0.05) between the university students in the level of academic procrastination and academic achievement based on their gender as shown in table (2). In addition to ONE WAY ANOVA have been calculated to investigate whether there is statistically significant differences at (α≤0.05) between the university students in the level of academic procrastination and academic achievement based on specialization, and academic level variables as illustrated in table (3 & 4).
Table 2: results of t-test analysis with respect of gender variable.
| Variables | N | Means | Standard deviation | t | Sig |
| Male | 150 | 3.45 | 1.87 | 122 | 0.10 |
| Female | 150 | 3.28 | 1.98 | 99.92 |
Table (2) presented no statistically significant differences at (α≤0.05) between the university students in the level of academic procrastination and academic achievement based on participants gender (α = 0.10).
Table 3: results of ONE-WAY ANOVA analysis according to specialization variable.
| Variable | Variance | Sum of Squares | df | Mean squares | F | Sig |
| Specialization | between group | 3.99 | 4 | 1.49 | 1.57 | 0.27 |
| within group | 141.12 | 115 | 1.48 | |||
| Total | 139.85 | 117 |
*Sig at (α≤0.05)
Table (3) indicated no statistically significant differences at (α≤0.05) between the university students in the level of academic procrastination and academic achievement based on specialization variable (α = 0.27).
Table 3: results of ONE-WAY ANOVA analysis based on academic level variable
| Variable | Variance | Sum of Squares | df | Mean squares | F | Sig |
| academic level | between group | 6.42 | 4 | 1.49 | 2.88 | 0.167 |
| within group | 129.33 | 115 | 1.48 | |||
| Total | 139.85 | 117 |
*Sig at (α≤0.05)
Table (3) indicated no statistically significant differences at (α≤0.05) between the university students in the level of academic procrastination and academic achievement based on academic level variable.
The current study was designed to examine the academic procrastination and its relationship to academic achievement among university students, findings of the study indicated that that there is relationship between academic procrastination and academic achievement in (excellent, very good, good, and pass), as the value of the correlation coefficient was negative between academic procrastination and all dimensions of the academic achievement, The excellent score was the most influential in academic procrastination, followed by the score of good and the lowest influential among the participants was the score of pass achievement. With regard to the total value of the correlation coefficient between academic procrastination and total academic achievement = ( – 0.33), which indicates the strength of the negative correlation that confirms the higher level of academic procrastination leads to the lower the academic achievement and vice versa.
Moreover, findings no statistically significant differences at (α≤0.05) between the university students in the level of academic procrastination and academic achievement based on participants gender. Also, no statistically significant differences at (α≤0.05) between the university students in the level of academic procrastination and academic achievement based on specialization and academic level variables. The personal characteristics of the students play, as stated in their responses, where they described themselves as persona non grata at home, that they are unimportant, that there are no positive attitudes for parents, that they feel dissatisfied with themselves and do not trust them, that they have difficulty getting the grades they deserve, that they form negative attitudes towards the university, that they are useless people, that most teachers do not understand them and form weak relationships with friends, and that they have no desire to achieve a positive self-evaluation by forming Strong relationships with friends.
Students’ personality traits are about a normal personality because their concept or judgment of themselves is characterized by feelings of inferiority, inferiority, self-rejection, and a sense of helplessness in the face of others, and interaction with them. As for the family, which is the most influential area in this negative phenomenon, students who attribute their academic procrastination to fear of failure may be those who receive what Rogers calls conditional positive consideration by parents, which means that an individual’s self-esteem is linked to the appreciation of others, which may raise his level of fear of failure. Academic procrastination plays a role as a defensive ploy for these students, both male and female, in self-protection by reducing stress caused by frustration. Therefore, self-esteem is linked to the psychological and emotional state of the student, and if they do not have the valuable social means to gain the appropriate social image, which leads to their social adaptation to individuals of psychological importance, especially parents, a good relationship with friends, and good performance at university, they will turn to academic procrastination as a result of this frustrating feeling. Therefore, it can be said that those who feel inferior degrade or underestimate themselves and others, and that low self-esteem is a strong indicator of academic procrastination.
References
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