Influence of perfectionism and academic motivation on academic procrastination among students

Author(s) : Sobia Naz , Gulfam Hassan , Muhammad Luqman

Abstract:

Academic procrastination is defined as postponing academic duties and abandoning academic tasks in such a way that academic failure, unhappiness, and stress result. Perfectionism is referred to as deciding of purposes and goals that causes an individual to experience negative opinions. Adaptive perfectionism is associated with getting good marks on tests for academic achievement, but maladaptive perfectionism is not correctly associated with academic achievement. In other words, maladaptive perfectionism can cause academic procrastination among students. Individuals who possess perfectionism enforce high standards illogically upon themselves and express procrastination. In academia, motivation is defined as an internal process that used to activate and sustain activities for achieving specific academic targets and goals. Motivation as intrinsic or extrinsic has an impact on procrastination among students. With this background, the present study was conducted to find the influence of perfectionism and academic motivation on academic procrastination among students. The sample was comprised of 250 respondents randomly selected from well reputed and high ranked universities of the province of Punjab. Three well-structured instruments were used for data collection: Frost’s Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, the Procrastination Assessment Scale-Student and Academic Motivation Scale, College 28. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the data collected to derive conclusions and formulate recommendations. Findings of the study showed a strong positive correlation between perfectionism, procrastination, and academic motivation. Items of all the mentioned scales were highly consistent. Procrastination, motivation and its subcategories also depicted no variation on the basis of gender. Motivation had an impact on procrastination, but perfectionism did not reveal any impact on procrastination among students. It was recommended that instructors concentrate on appropriate strategies for lowering the decimal of procrastination. They should develop motivational tools and help students to formulate their future goals in order to cope with academic responsibilities. Conducting seminars and other educational activities could be a better alternative opportunity for improving level of personal development of students.

Keywords: Perfectionism, Procrastination, Academic Motivation