STUDY SKILLS

"If at first I don't succeed, there is always next year"(the procrastinator's creed)

Perhaps the most prevalent or at least the most researched form of procrastination is academic procrastination. Over 70% of college students may procrastinate (Ellis and Knaus 1977). Students tend to procrastinate more in writing tasks than in examination study, and least in administrative tasks (Solomon and Rothblum 1984).

Why do students procrastinate? It may be because they are afraid of failure(Solomon and Rothblum 1984,Schouwenberg 1992). They want to protect their self esteem by claiming that I'm not a failure I just didn't try . It may be the way they cope with the stresses of academic life (Covington & Omelich 1991). Some students may become addicted to completing their tasks at the last minute. They get a "rush" from stress and sleep deprivation as well as an ego boost from last minute task completion. Often this is followed by post-completion relief; partying, disinhibitory behavior and alcohol or drugs. This becomes a vicious cycle of concommitant substance abuse(Ferrari 1995). Some students may also dislike the task of studying and prefer competing activities (Silver & Sabini 1981). Some people also just seem to have a bad habit of procrastinating by nature! (Ferrari 1991, Milgram, Sroloff & Rosenbaum 1988) (see causes). In all cases, procrastination causes anxiety and affects their grades and their life.

If your procrastination is specific to the task of studying itself, you may benefit from simple study skill workshops. These can help you manage your time more effectively and improve your study habits. If your procrastination is more deeply rooted however you may feel frustrated because you can't seem to implement these suggestions in your daily life and you may need more help(see clinical). For study skill techniques, you can contact your guidance office or explore some of the web pages below.

References and citations

Covington, M.V., & Omelich, C.L. (1991). Need achievement revisited: verification of Atkinson's original 2x2 model. In C.D. Spielberger, I.G. Sarason, Z. Kulczar, & G.L. Van Heck (eds.), Stress and Emotion: Anxiety, Anger and curiosity(Vol.14, pp.85-105). Washington D.C.: Hemisphere.

Ellis, A. & Knaus, W. J.(1977). Overcoming Procrastination. New York: Institute for Rational Living.

Ferrari, J. R. (1991). Self-handicapping by procrastinators: Protecting self-esteem, social-esteem, or both? Journal of Research in Personality, 25, 245-261.

Ferrari, J.R., Johnson, J.L., & McCown, W.G. (1995). Procrastination and task avoidance. New York, N.Y.: Plenum Press.

Milgram, N. A., Sroloff, B., & Rosenbaum, M. (1988). The procrastination of everyday life. Journal of Research in Personality, 22, 197-212.

Schouwenburg, H. C. (1992). Procrastinators and fear of failure: An exploration of reasons for procrastination. European Journal of Personality, 6, 225-236.

Silver, M., & Sabini, J. (1981). Procrastinating. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 11, 207-221.

Solomon, L. J., & Rothblum, E. D. (1984). Academic procrastination: Frequency and cognitive-behavioral correlates. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 31, 504-510.

For more information:

To Learning services, University of Guelph, To Virginia tech University counseling center, To popular self help guides, To main procrastination research group home page, To interventions page