Academic Procrastination in Undergraduate Students: Understanding the Role of Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration and Academic Motivation

Abstract

Procrastination is particularly prevalent in the post-secondary student population, with prevalence rates ranging between 70–95%. Students have consistently cited motivation, or a lack thereof, as one of the main sources of their procrastination. One of the most prominent theories explaining motivation is self-determination theory (SDT). Despite the direct links between motivation and procrastination, procrastination has been scarcely examined through the lens of SDT. The current study examined the relationship between basic psychological need (BPN), satisfaction and frustration, academic motivation, and academic procrastination. A sample of 617 undergraduate students completed an online questionnaire about their university experience. Data were analyzed using mediational structural equation models. Results suggested that academic motivation significantly mediated the relationship between BPN satisfaction and procrastination, but not the relationship between BPN frustration and procrastination. These results demonstrate the importance of satisfying the BPN of undergraduate students, as it may increase their academic motivation and, subsequently, reduce their procrastination.

Travesías educativas multidisciplinarias: Un enfoque científico en temáticas variadas para una educación transformadora

“…La procrastinación no siempre afecta el éxito académico, donde los procrastinadores pueden deliberadamente usarla como estrategias de aprendizaje productivas para lograr mejores resultados, es decir los procrastinadores pueden autogestionar sus aprendizajes y tener rendimientos óptimos (Alenazi, 2023). Cuando el estudiante percibe que sus necesidades psicológicas básicas son satisfechas presentan menos probabilidades de procrastinar; sin embargo, si perciben sus necesidades frustradas tienden a la procrastinación afectando en la motivación académica evitando participar en clase (Oram & Rogers, 2022).…”

The Mediating Role of Intrinsic Motivation in the Effect of Rational Decision-Making on Academic Procrastination

“…In the literature, personality traits (Arıöz, 2022;Blunt & Pychyl, 2000;Grund & Fries, 2018), academic motivation (Arslankoç & Koçak, 2023;Artan et al, 2024;Bagheri & Yoosefi, 2023;Güdül et al, 2021;Naz et al, 2021;Oram & Rogers, 2022;Serdar et al, 2021;Tisocco & Liporace, 2023;Yeşiltaş, 2020;Yurtseven & Doğan, 2019), learning motivation (Abidin et al, 2023;Xhakolli & Hamzallari, 2023;Kemal et al, 2023), academic self-efficacy (Syahrina & Mutya, 2022), attention , skill (Çakmak-Tolan, 2023), etc. It can be seen that there are studies that examine students' academic procrastination behavior in the context of psychosocial factors.…”

“…It can be seen that there are studies that examine students' academic procrastination behavior in the context of psychosocial factors. In addition to these studies, some studies in the last five years (Adeel et al, 2023;Lina et al, 2023;Oram & Rogers, 2022;Syahrina & Mutya, 2023;Zhao et al, 2022) have questioned the mediating role of intrinsic motivation in the relationship between the above-mentioned psychosocial factors and academic procrastination behavior. However, there is no study in the literature that investigates the mediating role of intrinsic motivation in the effect of rational decision-making on academic procrastination behavior.…”