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Abstract
I administered two procrastination tests to determine how academic procrastination is associated with the academic performances and academic behaviors of developmental education students. The Tuckman Procrastination Scale distinguished only the highest-performing students. However, a questionnaire specific for academic procrastination more effectively discriminated students' academic performances. Students having the highest procrastination scores (i.e., the highest levels of academic procrastination) earned the lowest grades, were least likely to attend class, and were least likely to attend "last minute" help-sessions held the evening before exams. These results indicate that procrastination scales (a) can distinguish academic performances and academic behaviors of developmental education students, and (b) may be useful for identifying students who will benefit from academic interventions.
Procrastination occurs when someone neglects a necessary responsibility, often despite good intentions or certain negative consequences (Tuckman, 1991). One type of procrastination is academic procrastination, which is the tendency to delay or avoid studying or work on school assignments (Milgram, Batori, & Mowrer, 1993). Students' lives are characterized by many deadlines, and academic procrastinators often wait until the last minute to address their tasks (e.g., by "cramming" for an exam). More than 70% of college students frequently procrastinate, and this procrastination is an ongoing problem for more than half of the students (Ellis & Knaus, 2002; Hill, Hill, Chabot, & Barrall, 1978; Solomon & Rothblum, 1984). Indeed, academic procrastination is often associated with high levels of personal stress (Tice & Baumeister, 1997).
There are many causes of procrastination, ranging from fear of failure (Ferrari & Emmons, 1993; Owens & Newbegin, 1997; Solmon & Rothblum, 1984) and protection of individuals' self-worth (Owens & Newbegin, 1997) to poor timemanagement (Lay, 1988) and external motivation (Deci & Ryan, 1991; Senecal, Koestner, & Vallerand, 1995). Regardless of the cause, procrastination often produces academic problems for students (Beck, Koons, & Milgram, 2000; Beswick, Rothblum, & Mann, 1988; Clark & Hill, 1994; Lay & Burns, 1991; Tuckman, 2002a, 2002b; Wesley, 1994; Wolfe & Hohnson, 1995).
Because developmental education students typically have had academic problems prior to coming to college (Higbee, Lundell, & Arendale, 2005), I hypothesized that the academic performances of developmental education students would be distinguishable by their scores on procrastination questionnaires. I also hypothesized that because academic procrastinators often wait until the...