Abstract:

Procrastination is a common behavior, mainly in university settings. Only a few studies have analyzed the academic procrastination among university students’ with reference to gender. In the present work, we analyzed the academic procrastination of 300 post graduate students who were studying in different fields at University of Sargodha, Punjab, Pakistan. Equal no of girls (n=150) and boys (n=150) having the age range of 21-24 years (M = 22) were part of study. The Lay's (1986) General Procrastination Scale of 20-item scale was used to gather data (α =.82). The analysis of t-test showed that girls (M = 64.93, SD =8.72) exhibited procrastination behavior at large in comparison to boys (M= 60.4, SD= 9.55) at post graduate level studies in university settings. Procrastination behavior significantly differed by gender, with reference to their time preferences for studying courses and exams, and was negatively related to academic achievement. Implications of the findings were also discussed and some suggestions were made for the educator and counselors in relevant field.

Keywords:

academic procrastination, gender, university students.