The ABC of academic procrastination: Functional analysis of a detrimental habit

Abstract

Academic procrastination – habitually delaying work with academic tasks to the extent that the delays become detrimental to performance, wellbeing, and health – represents a substantial personal, systemic, and societal problem. Still, efforts to prevent and reduce it are surprisingly scarce and often offered as treatment regimens rather than preventive efforts. Based on the principles of functional analysis and a broad examination of factors that are important for academic procrastinatory behaviors, this paper aims to describe a strategy for analyzing individual controlling conditions for procrastination and give parallel advice on how to change those controlling conditions. Both are ideographic, allowing for individual and dynamic analyses of factors responsible for instigating and maintaining procrastination, as well as tailor-made remedies that address controlling conditions in preventive and curative efforts to reduce procrastination. Although functional analysis integrates well with important research findings in the procrastination field, this approach suggests new criteria for identifying procrastinatory behaviors and an alternative model for analyzing their control conditions. We conclude that a functional approach may supplement procrastination research and efforts to prevent and alleviate this detrimental habit.

Social media addiction mediates the relationship between basic psychological needs satisfaction and academic procrastination

“…Poorer executive functioning, such as impulsivity, is also a reason for procrastination (Rinaldi et al, 2021). Furthermore, the behavioral consequences of procrastination can strengthen impulsivity (Svartdal & Løkke, 2022). All these indicate that there may be a positive relationship between social media addiction and academic procrastination.…”

Untitled

“…Et ytterligere innspill fra atferdspsykologien kan vaere at fenomenet vi beskriver og forsøker å forklare, kan sees på som prokrastinering (Svartdal & Løkke, 2022). Prokrastinering, eller utsetting av noe som skal gjennomføres til tross for at negative følger av utsettingen er kjent, kan sees på som et sammenbrudd i selvreguleringen.…”

“…En ytterligere mekanisme omhandler manglende ferdigheter i forebygging (Svartdal & Løkke, 2022). Dette gjelder en generell manglende kompetanse i å vaere i forkant med ønskede atferder i stedet for uønskede atferder.…”

Diagnostic criteria to differentiate pathological procrastinators from common delayers: a re-analysis

“…Some authors suggest reserving the term "procrastination" explicitly for severe dysfunctional, irrational and detrimental delay of intended actions in contrast to everyday less pronounced forms and strategic variants of delay that are reasonable (e.g., Steel, 2007;Klingsieck, 2013). Svartdal and Løkke (2022) point out the difficulties of such a distinction in the absence of differentiating criteria and notice that the mentioned variants appear mixed in self-report scales at the expense of their validity.…”