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156 CHAPTER 6What Are the Causes of Procrastination?
Procrastination on academic tasks can lead to low academic per-
formance, including poor grades and course withdrawal (Semb, Glick,
& Spencer, 1979). Although there are different reasons for procrasti-
nation, Ferrari, Johnson, and McCown (1995) identified two patterns
that should be of concern to college students. The first pattern is clas-
sified as a lack of conscientiousness and is associated with such behav-
iors as poor time management, work discipline, self-control, and
responsibility. The second pattern is classified as avoidance and is
associated with fear of failure and anxiety.
Fear of failure was discussed in chapter 2 under Covington’s (1992)
self-worth theory. He believes that academic procrastination serves the
goal of preserving feelings of self-worth by avoiding situations in
which students might fail. Closely related to fear of failure is perfec-
tionism. Several authors have suggested that procrastination and per-
fectionism are related (e.g., Burka & Yuen, 1983). This relation is
explained as follows: An individual procrastinates to gain additional
time to produce the best product. Unfortunately, if the procrastinator
has unrealistic or too high standards, he or she is rarely satisfied with
the product and fails to turn it in on time. Psychologists have traced
perfectionism back to experiences growing up in families where par-
ents tend to be very demanding and critical of their children’s behav-
ior (Flett, Hewitt, & Martin, 1995). Another characteristic in the
second pattern of procrastination is anxiety. If students are anxious,
procrastination is seen as a way of avoiding the anxiety associated
with studying or completing the assigned task.
It is beyond the scope of this book to determine specific diagnoses
of procrastination problems. If you believe procrastination is a serious
problem affecting your behavior and none of the following strategies
identified in this chapter help you deal with your particular problem,
you may want to consider discussing it with a counselor at your coun-
seling center.WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT MY TENDENCY TO PROCRASTINATE?
To begin, developing an effective time management plan is a good
first step. Second, the self-talk strategy discussed in chapter 5 also can
be effective in dealing with procrastination. In chapter 7, I also iden-
tify attention and concentration strategies that can be helpful in deal-
ing with procrastination.
In this chapter, I discuss two additional strategies that you will find
helpful. The first category of strategies involves taking some action to
reduce or eliminate the tendency to procrastinate. The second strategy
is an extension of self-talk procedures whereby you attempt to challenge
and change some of the misperceptions that lead to procrastination.