THE IMPACT OF ACADEMIC PROCRASTINATION ON PSYCHOLOGICAL WELLBEING AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Abstract

Objective: To determine the relationship between academic procrastination and psychological well-being among university students, assessed whether academic procrastination predicts psychological well-being, and explored gender differences in procrastination.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 400 undergraduate students (aged 18–24 years) at the University of Sindh, Jamshoro. All the responses were summed to obtain a total score ranging from 12 to 60, with higher scores indicating greater procrastination, while the mean item score was calculated, ranging from 1 to 5 alternatively. Furthermore the Psychological well-being was measured by using Ryff’s Scales of Psychological Well-being (PWB). All the relevant data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 26. .

Results: Of the 400 participants, 27.0% were aged 18–20 years, 49.0% were aged 21–23 years, and 24.0% were older than 23 years. Males and females were equally represented (50.0% each). Academic procrastination was negatively correlated with overall psychological wellbeing (r = −0.18, p < 0.001), most strongly with purpose in life (r = −0.27, p < 0.001) and environmental mastery (r = −0.26, p = 0.001). After adjusting for demographic and academic factors, procrastination remained a significant predictor of lower wellbeing (β = −0.18, p = 0.001) and explained an additional 3.2% of the variance (ΔR² = 0.032). Students with high wellbeing had the lowest procrastination scores (p =0.001).
Conclusion: Overall, academic procrastination observed highly prevalent among university students regardless of their background, and associated with lower psychological wellbeing, specifically a weak sense of control over daily life and a weak sense of purpose.