Why Do College Students Procrastinate Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Why Do College Students Procrastinate - Essay Example This paper will take a look into the non-technological reasons that college students often fall prey to and cause them to procrastinate. Procrastination is an activity that is most seen in the undergraduate level of college students. Some of the reasons that professionals have found to cause procrastination include lack of motivation, deficiencies in self-regulation, external locus of control, perfectionism, trait and state anxiety, fear of failure, low self-efficacy, and low self-confidence (Welmer, Maryellen, PhD. â€Å"Why Students Procrastinate and What You Can Do About It†). Since these reasons have been identified as the most common reasons for procrastination, psychological studies have been done in order to identify the extent that these reasons cover procrastination. Known in the psychological community as the â€Å"avoidant coping styles†, 374 undergraduate students explained that their tendency to neglect school work causes them anxiety that they refuse to de al with. (qtd. in Glenn). Therefore procrastination can be seem more as a coping mechanism for the students who lack ample adjustment abilities when it comes to their college classes. These avoidant lifestyles then translate into late term papers and other class requirements. Although not a trivial problem, it is not considered a very serious problem in most circles. But that is not to say that professors ignore these problems when it arises in their class. In reference to this problem, Dr. Joseph Ferrari, associate professor of psychology at De Paul University in Chicago and Dr. Timothy Pychyl, associate professor of psychology at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, (Lenker, Caitlin & MacAndrew, Dan â€Å"The Procrastination Epidemic: An Investigative Report†) report that; â€Å"... Twenty percent of people identify themselves as chronic procrastinators.† These people view procrastination as the result of their exra curricular activities that, as mentioned earlier, distract them from completing their college duties. However, some of them also indicated that they tend to procrastinate simply because they wish to have more time to sleep (Lenker, Caitlin and MacAndrew, Dan â€Å"The Procrastination Epidemic: An Investigative Report†). Undergraduates come up with the most creative reasons for procrastinating their way through a semester of college. Whatever their reasons, the truth is that the most important reason they tend to procrastinate is sheer laziness. What these students do not realize is that the procrastination causes stress in their lives and causes a number of negative outcomes for them during their academic career (Todd, Daniel â€Å"Overcoming Procrastination†). We have all been through the college adjustment phase at least once in our lives. While some end up adjusting and getting on quite with their academic careers, the others who allow procrastination to take over their lives end up dropping out of college altoget her. However, procrastination should not be associated merely with undergraduate slackers and underperformers. There are also some procrastinators who are excellent academic students. But they prefer to slack off and procrastinate because of the sense of accomplishment and the rush of having beaten a deadline when it comes to the submission of their class requirements (Lenker, Caitlin & MacAndrew, Dan â€Å"The Procrastination Epidemic: An Investigative Report†). Students such as Paul Rakszwaski say that the rush one gets from completing class requirements before a deadline cannot be beaten. He relates that (qtd. in Lenker & MacAndrew); Procrastinating is really great! I tend to work better when I have a very pressing deadline