The Effects of Social Self-Efficacy, Perfectionism, and Achievement Emotions on Predicting Academic Procrastination in Male Students

According to the evidence, academic procrastination is defined as postponing academic goals until the desired performance becomes very difficult and unpleasant. Academic procrastination is associated with negative functions, like obtaining low grades in courses as well as extensive anxiety and stress related to education, such as academic stress, test anxiety, and social anxiety. Such deficits not only hinder academic achievement but also adversely affect the quality of life of the learners. It is important to pay attention to it and examine the variables that affect it, including self–efficacy, perfectionism, and achievement emotions. Therefore, the present study aimed at investigating the role of social self–efficacy, perfectionism, and achievement emotions in predicting academic procrastination among 12th–grade male students.

This study was descriptive and correlational. The statistical population of the research included all 12th–grade male students in Mashhad City, Iran, in the academic year of 2018–2019. In total, 290 participants were selected among 1200 individuals, based on the formula proposed by Pedhazur and Schmelkin (2013) for sample size estimation in regression and multi–stage cluster sampling methods. The students were selected in three stages, using district, high school, and classroom sampling units. Initially, three boyschr('39') high schools were randomly selected from each education district. Then, two 12th grade students were randomly selected per high school. Accordingly, the selected students responded to the measurement scales in groups in classrooms. The inclusion criteria of the present study were having 15 to 18 years of age, no diagnosable physical and mental illnesses, and having the necessary knowledge to answer the questions. The exclusion criterion included having acute mental and physical problems effective in answering the questionnaire. The research instruments consisted of 4 questionnaires, as follows: the Academic Procrastination Scale–Student Form (Solomon & Rothblum, 1984), the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire (Pekrun et al., 2007), the Multidimensional Perfectionism Cognitions Inventory (Kobori & Tanno, 2005), and the Self–Efficacy Dimensions Questionnaires (Muris, 2001). Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple linear regression analysis were used in SPSS to analyze the collected data. The significance level for the tests was considered to be 0.05.

The present study results indicated a negative and significant relationship between social self–efficacy (r=–0.227, p<0.05), individual standards (r=–0.150, p<0.05), and positive achievement emotions (r=–0.456, p<0.05), and academic procrastination. There was also a positive relationship between excessive concern over mistakes (r=0.358, p<0.05), negative achievement emotions (r= 0.502, p<0.05), and academic procrastination. Furthermore, positive achievement emotions (ß=–0.256, p<0.001), negative achievement emotions (ß=0.277, p<0.001), and concern over mistakes (ß=0.188, p<0.001) predicted 0.31 of the variance of procrastination.

The present study findings indicated a significant relationship between social self–efficacy, perfectionism, achievement emotions, and academic procrastination. The obtained results also highlighted the role of significant predictors of positive and negative achievement emotions and concern over mistakes on academic procrastination.