Exploring academic procrastination among Turkish students: possible gender differences in prevalence and reasons

Abstract

The authors examined the prevalence of and reasons, or excuses, for academic procrastination as a function of gender and academic grade level. In Study 1, a factor analysis of responses by 203 Turkish undergraduate students to an academic procrastination measure provided evidence of reliability and validity for the revised scale. In Study 2,784 students (363 women, 421 men; M age = 20.6 years, SD age = 1.74 years) completed the validated Turkish Procrastination Assessment Scale-Students. The results were that 52% of students self-reported frequent academic procrastination, with male students reporting more frequent procrastination on academic tasks than female students. Significantly more female students than male students reported greater academic procrastination because of fear of failure and laziness; male students reported more academic procrastination as a result of risk taking and rebellion against control than did female students.