Why Do College Students Procrastinate - Essay Example

?Why do College Procrastinate? The life of a college is filled with distractions that unintentionally make them defer doing the proper work on their college requirements. Aside from technological gadgets like tablet PC's, Ipads, and mobile phones, there are also a number of other psychological and physical reasons that tend to provide these students with reasons to procrastinate. 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. “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 “avoidant coping styles”, 374 undergraduate students explained that their tendency to neglect school work causes them anxiety that they refuse to deal 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 “The Procrastination Epidemic: An Investigative Report”) report that; “... 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 “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 “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 altogether. 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 “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 … I work best under very stressful conditions, and it has actually gotten to the point where it is impossible for me to start a major paper or project weeks in advance—I simply can’t do it. People such as Rakszwaski function best under pressure. That is perhaps why there are some people who do not view procrastination as a bad thing. Instead, they view it as an inspiration to achieve and accomplish. In this case, procrastination is worn like a badge of honor by those who accomplish their tasks in photo finish mode and manage to achieve an almost perfect, to a perfect grade upon submission of their class requirements. So maybe procrastination is not so bad after all right? Wrong. The college life of a student is the controlled training atmosphere by which these undergraduates will eventually live their lives off campus. Their transformation from spoiled child to responsible adult is done within the cocoon of the college campus. An unsuccessful transformation, also kown as procrastination, could result in a difficult life and unsuccessful career for the graduate. Successful procrastination in college signals a more serious problem for the students. These students end up with the following statistics (Lenker, Caitlin & MacAndrew, Dan): Students procrastinate more for certain assignments than for others. According to the study, 60 percent of students procrastinate more for papers than for other assignments. It is also interesting to note that students procrastinate more for certain classes than for others. Reasons set aside, procrastination is not a college pandemic. Although it is prevalent among the undergraduates, the work attitude can still be altered by implementing study and lifestyle changes. Some of these suggested changes include (Todd, Dan “Overcoming Procrastination”): Assessing the task - Spend a few minutes thinking through everything that needs to be done, then, if possible, segment the task into various smaller pieces. It’s much easier to tackle smaller chunks than one huge task. “Once begun is half done” - Yes, a cliche inspirational poster quote, but quite true. Don’t shoot for completion in one sitting. This will overwhelm you every time. Just begin. Getting started is the key, and incremental progress will follow. Schedule “Action Sessions.” Progress, even a little bit each day, adds up, and over time increases your confidence that you can, that you will, finish. Schedule 15- to 30-minute “action sessions” with realistic goals in mind, and set your mind to completing these goals. Eliminate Distractions. Find a quiet place, and try to make your “action sessions” count, all 15-30 minutes of them (or whatever amount of time you designate). Reward Yourself. This can help seemingly painful projects become more pleasurable. After completing an “action session,” take a nap, buy a latte, call a friend, round up a game of ultimate Frisbee. The point is to have something to look forward to, so that you begin to associate hard work at school with pleasure. Find a (Good) Study Partner. And not just anyone, either. Find someone that cares about their performance even more than you do. The old adage, “If you want to be a good student, hang out with good students,” is not only true, but imperative. Be Reasonable. Don’t beat yourself up about getting everything perfect. Remember, you will take on—and likely complete—hundreds, possibly thousands, of projects throughout your college career. The goal of making every one of them perfect is not only impossible, but silly. Remember, it’s more important that every project gets finished, not that every project be perfect. In conclusion, it is important to remember that procrastination is not a trivial problem. Reasons will always be found to justify procrastination. Procrastination in some cases is not a bad thing either. However, for those whom procrastination is endangering their academic studies, there are ways and means to deal with and correct the situation. Works Cited Glenn, David. “Procrastination in College Students is a Marker for Unhealthy Behaviors, Study Indicates”. The Chronicle for Higher Education (2002). Web. 6 Mar. 2013. URL: http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~wilkins/writing/Resources/essays/procrastinate.html Lenker, Caitlin & MacAndrew, Dan. “The Procrastination Epidemic: An Investigative Report”. The Minstrel. desales.edu. n.d. Web. 6 Mar. 2013. URL: http://www4.desales.edu/~minstrel/issue-44-2/procrastination.html Todd, Daniel. “Overcoming Procrastination”. Campus Life. CollegeView. n.d. Web. 5 Mar. 2013. URL: http://www.collegeview.com/articles/article/overcoming-procrastination Wellmer, Maryellen Phd. “Why students Procrastinate and What You Can do About It”. Faculty Focus. facultyfocus.com. 7 May 2009. Web. 7 Mar. 2013. URL: http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/instructional-design/why-students-procrastinate-and-what-you-can-do-about-it/ Read More