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We used mindfulness as a mediating variable and self-efficacy as a moderator to examine the relationship between academic procrastination and subjective well-being. Participants comprised 512 college students from Hangzhou, Xiamen, and Huizhou in China. Results show that academic procrastination had a negative impact on subjective well-being, and that mindfulness was a mediator in this relationship. In addition, self-efficacy played a moderating role in the academic procrastination-mindfulness relationship, and, to a certain extent, regulated the relationship between academic procrastination and subjective well-being. Thus, the stronger the self-efficacy of college students, the weaker was the negative predictive effect of academic procrastination on mindfulness. The significance of mindfulness and self-efficacy regarding subjective well-being among procrastinators is discussed.
Keywords
academic procrastination; subjective well-being; mindfulness; self-efficacy; self-regulation
Positive psychology has received greater interest than has psychopathology in recent research (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). A central concept of positive psychology is subjective well-being (SWB), which describes an overall assessment of an individual's quality of life according to self-determined criteria (Diener, 1984). SWB comprises two dimensions: cognitive (e.g., life satisfaction) and emotional (positive and negative). Many factors affect SWB, including social, familial, and psychological factors; demographic variables; and individual behavior. Among college students, academic procrastination is an essential factor in determining SWB as it contributes to high stress and sleep deprivation, which negatively affect SWB (Kandemir, 2014). In contrast, mindfulness is considered to reduce stress, enhance task persistence, and improve health; thus, it has been found to be positively associated with SWB (Sirois & Tosti, 2012). Self-efficacy, which is said to increase stress coping and improve self-esteem and physical condition, has also been positively linked to SWB (Karademas, 2006). There is a gap in the literature regarding the relationship of these variables; thus, we investigated the mechanisms by which academic procrastination affects SWB, and examined the roles of mindfulness and self-efficacy as a mediator and a moderator, respectively, in this process.
Literature Review and Hypothesis Development
Academic Procrastination and Subjective Well-Being
Academic procrastination (AP), which involves purposefully delaying learning tasks that must be completed (Schraw et al., 2007), is common among college students. It is estimated that 80-95% of college students exhibit procrastination habits (Ellis & Knaus, 1977; O'Brien, 2002). AP leads to behavioral outcomes such as a lower sense of...