Understanding Procrastination in First-Year Undergraduates: An Application of Attribution Theory
Despite findings showing first-year undergraduates persistently engage in academic procrastination, research exploring students’ perceived reasons for their procrastination and procrastination-related emotions is lacking. The present exploratory study utilized Weiner’s (2010) attribution theory to e...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-07-01
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| Series: | Social Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/9/8/136 |
| _version_ | 1797560864043171840 |
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| author | So Yeon Lee Nathan C. Hall |
| author_facet | So Yeon Lee Nathan C. Hall |
| author_sort | So Yeon Lee |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Despite findings showing first-year undergraduates persistently engage in academic procrastination, research exploring students’ perceived reasons for their procrastination and procrastination-related emotions is lacking. The present exploratory study utilized Weiner’s (2010) attribution theory to examine the relationships between procrastination as well as students’ causal explanations and emotions specific to procrastination. Findings of 429 first-year Canadian undergraduates showed students to attribute procrastination mainly to internal and stable factors, and less so to personally controllable factors. Students who attributed procrastination to reasons within themselves reported higher levels of negative emotions, with strong direct effects of procrastination on negative emotions also observed. These findings demonstrate the importance of considering students’ causal attributions as potential contributors to their emotional experiences surrounding procrastination and encourage future longitudinal research on relations between academic procrastination, attributions, and emotional outcomes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T18:06:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-89218af70c0740a7a5bc9c5effcdd12a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-0760 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T18:06:16Z |
| publishDate | 2020-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Social Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-89218af70c0740a7a5bc9c5effcdd12a2023-11-20T08:29:40ZengMDPI AGSocial Sciences2076-07602020-07-019813610.3390/socsci9080136Understanding Procrastination in First-Year Undergraduates: An Application of Attribution TheorySo Yeon Lee0Nathan C. Hall1Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A1Y2, CanadaDepartment of Educational and Counselling Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A1Y2, CanadaDespite findings showing first-year undergraduates persistently engage in academic procrastination, research exploring students’ perceived reasons for their procrastination and procrastination-related emotions is lacking. The present exploratory study utilized Weiner’s (2010) attribution theory to examine the relationships between procrastination as well as students’ causal explanations and emotions specific to procrastination. Findings of 429 first-year Canadian undergraduates showed students to attribute procrastination mainly to internal and stable factors, and less so to personally controllable factors. Students who attributed procrastination to reasons within themselves reported higher levels of negative emotions, with strong direct effects of procrastination on negative emotions also observed. These findings demonstrate the importance of considering students’ causal attributions as potential contributors to their emotional experiences surrounding procrastination and encourage future longitudinal research on relations between academic procrastination, attributions, and emotional outcomes.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/9/8/136procrastinationattributionemotionsfirst-year undergraduates |
| spellingShingle | So Yeon Lee Nathan C. Hall Understanding Procrastination in First-Year Undergraduates: An Application of Attribution Theory Social Sciences procrastination attribution emotions first-year undergraduates |
| title | Understanding Procrastination in First-Year Undergraduates: An Application of Attribution Theory |
| title_full | Understanding Procrastination in First-Year Undergraduates: An Application of Attribution Theory |
| title_fullStr | Understanding Procrastination in First-Year Undergraduates: An Application of Attribution Theory |
| title_full_unstemmed | Understanding Procrastination in First-Year Undergraduates: An Application of Attribution Theory |
| title_short | Understanding Procrastination in First-Year Undergraduates: An Application of Attribution Theory |
| title_sort | understanding procrastination in first year undergraduates an application of attribution theory |
| topic | procrastination attribution emotions first-year undergraduates |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/9/8/136 |
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