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The purpose in this study was to examine whether or not the effect of active procrastination on academic achievement is significantly different according to how long before the examination students begin cramming and whether or not active procrastinators get a better grade than passive procrastinators when they begin to cram the day before an examination. The data were collected from 172 Korean undergraduates. The results show that there was no significant difference in academic achievement among the 3 groups of active procrastinators in terms of how much cramming they did, but there was a significant difference in academic achievement between active procrastinators and passive procrastinators in the group who began cramming only 1 day or less before the examination. The implications of this study are discussed.
Keywords: active procrastination, academic achievement, cramming.
Until now, most studies have been focused on the negative impact of procrastination on learning and achievement. Researchers have reported that procrastination is related to lower grades and course withdrawals (e.g., Beswick, Rothblum, & Mann, 1988; Tice & Baumeister, 1997). In spite of the negative effect of procrastination, both cramming and staying up all night to finish assignments that are due or overdue are fairly commonplace occurrences among students (Conti, 2000; Saddler & Buley, 1999). Even successful students have reported at least some cramming for examinations (Sommer, 1990).
In recent studies, researchers have suggested an alternative perspective of procrastination, namely, that not all procrastination behaviors are harmful and also that there is such a person as an adaptive type of procrastinator (Alexander & Onwuegbuzie, 2007; Choi & Moran, 2009; Chu & Choi, 2005; Howell & Watson, 2007). Indeed, researchers have found that there is no significant relationship between procrastination and academic achievement (Ferrari, 1992; Lay & Schouwenburg, 1993; Solomon & Rothblum, 1984) and some researchers have reported that adaptive procrastination has a positive effect on academic achievement (Brinthaupt & Shin, 2001; Lay, Edwards, Parker, & Endler, 1989; Schraw, Wadkins, & Olafson, 2007; Sommer, 1990; Vacha & McBride, 1993). According to Ferrari (1991), students of greater ability procrastinate more than those with lower ability. Ferrari also found that procrastination tended to increase as students advanced in their academic careers and became more self-regulated.
How can procrastination have a positive effect on academic achievement?...