Quando coisas boas não vem para aqueles que esperam: sofrimento psicológico e procrastinação acadêmica

Abstract

Procrastination consists on unnecessary, irrational and dysfunctional task delay, which produces social, financial and health-related consequences. Academic procrastination happens when this phenomenon is directed towards schoolwork and is connected to high levels of mental distress. The aim of the present study was to identify the perception of academic procrastination consequences (such as self-contempt and mental breakdown) and the correlation between academic procrastination and stress, anxiety and depression symptoms in a group of Brazilian university students as well as to identify the characteristics of most affected students. A total of 1.426 brazilian graduation and post-graduation students, with ages ranging from 18 to 67 (M = 26,06; DP = 6,5) participated in the study. Participants answered to the Psychological Consequences Scale from the Academic Procrastination Questionnaire – Negative Consequences and to Depression Anxiety Stress Scales - 21 (reduced version) - DASS-21. Descriptive statistics were performed to characterize the sample and Pearson correlation was used to identify the relation between investigated variables in order to observe its magnitude and significance and between the two dimensions of the Psychological Consequences Scale using the variable age and every variable of the three DASS-21 subscales. Student T tests were conducted to verify differences, between different groups, concerning mean scores produced by the Psychological Consequences Scale. Results showed that procrastination of academic tasks was frequently associated with psychological and subjective negative experiences such as psychological breakdown and self-contempt being the last one more prevalent. Women were more affected than men and first generation students were more affected than they peers. Students who had received previous psychiatric diagnosis also presented higher levels of distress regarding both consequences. Students who experienced such consequences were at higher risk of presenting anxiety, stress and depression symptoms. Finally, younger students seem to experience more anxiety, stress and depression symptoms. After statistical analysis, it was possible to identify correlation between perceived negative psychological consequences and mental suffering symptoms.