Predicting Academic Procrastination Among Undergraduate Students: The Role of Study Habits and Gender Through Hierarchical Regression Modelling
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31305/rrjss.2025.v05.n01.039Keywords:
Academic procrastination, study habits, gender, hierarchical regression, self-regulation, Indian undergraduate studentsAbstract
Academic procrastination affects 35-95% of undergraduate students with significant consequences for achievement and well-being. This study examined study habits and gender as predictors of academic procrastination among 450 Indian undergraduate students (M age = 20.1; 48.9% female). Hierarchical regression analysis revealed three key findings. First, study habits significantly predicted procrastination, β = -0.520, p < .001, explaining 27.1% of variance. Second, gender contributed additional variance (11.9%, p < .001), with males reporting higher procrastination than females, β = 0.352. Third, the Study Habits × Gender interaction was non-significant, β = -0.057, p = .304, indicating gender does not moderate the study habits-procrastination relationship. The final model explained 39.0% of procrastination variance. Results support self-regulation and temporal motivation theories, demonstrating that study habits function as a universal protective factor with equivalent effectiveness across genders. Implications include prioritizing universal study habit interventions in university settings while addressing complementary factors (emotion regulation, anxiety, and perfectionism) to address the remaining 61% of unexplained variance. Findings extend international procrastination research to the underexamined Indian educational context.
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