Demographic, academic and personal traits associated with three types of procrastination in university students

INTRODUCTION. Procrastination involves a self-regulatory deficit, defined by the voluntary and irrational delay on the course of an action, that in turn generates negative consequences for an individual. It is reported in the literature that between 40 and 80% of students present procrastination conducts which negatively impact their performance, as well as their physical and mental health. There are various causes for procrastination that affect students differently in accordance to certain personal and social characteristics. For this study, three students' profiles are categorised, according to the main reason to procrastinate: rebellion, fear of being assessed and laziness. The paper analyzed which traits characterize each reason: demographic traits (gender, age), academic traits (daily routine, semester, dedication, time planning, procrastination frequency, academic performance) and personal traits (good habits, psychological stability and self-regulation - goals, perseverance, decision making and learning from mistakes). METHOD. The sample was of 457 universtity students from different programs and semesters. The relation between the reasons to procrastinate and the demographic, academic and personal traits was explored through bivariate and punctual biserial correlations; and the relative weight of each variable on the three considered types of procrastination was assessed through multiple linear regression. RESULTS. It was found that the profile characterized by "rebellion" is associated with young men with low perseverance and decision making; "fear of being assessed" is associated to younger students, with less psychological stability and low capacity to make decisions; the "laziness" profile is associated to men with low general self-regulation. DISCUSSION. The implications for the design of preventive academic interventions for the management of procrastination, in accordance to the specific needs of each type of procrastination is discussed.