The Relation of Depression and Procrastination in the Students of ICSM-SHS 2019 1

RATIONALE OF THE STUDY

Back in the year 2017, an estimated number of 300 million people all over the world suffer
with depression in which around 800,000 people die every year because of suicide as per the World
Health Organization (WHO). In the present year, a total of 3.3 Million Filipinos are diagnosed
with depressive disorder according to the Department of Health (DOH).

The American Psychiatric Association (2017) describes depression as a mental illness that
negatively affects how an individual feel, the way a person thinks and how he/she acts as well. In
this mental illness, the chances of acquiring different types of emotional and physical problems is
high due to the loss of interest in the things that a person usually do that may also affect the person’s
ability to function in work or at home.

According to Legg (2018), there are several possible causes of depression. They can range
from biological to circumstantial. One of these is family problems. According to Sylvia Brafman
(2016), family problems may lead to depression in a way that family relationships can substantially
affect mental health, behavior and even physical health. Numerous studies have shown that social
relationships, particularly family relationships, can have both long- and short-term effects on one's
mental health. Depending on the nature of these relationships, mental health can be enhanced or
impacted negatively.

Early childhood trauma is also one of the causes of depression. Clinical and survey studies
show in general a significantly higher prevalence of childhood trauma in mental disorders
emphasizing a non specificity of traumatic experiences as risk factors for the vulnerability to
different forms of psychopathology. Nonetheless, the relationship of childhood trauma and an
increased risk of depression in adulthood has been confirmed in several cross-sectional 26]) and
longitudinal studies. This is according to Alexa Negele et. al (2015)

Another causes of depression is medical illness. Patients with mood disorders show
abnormalities of morphology or morphometry in many visceromotor network structures (Drevets
and Price 2005). The extent or prevalence of these abnormalities depends partly on clinical
characteristics such as age-at illness-onset, capacity for developing mania or psychosis, and
evidence for familial aggregation of illness. For example, elderly subjects with late-onset
The Relation of Depression and Procrastination in the Students of ICSM-SHS 2019 2

depression show an increased prevalence of neuroimaging correlates of cerebrovascular disease,

relative both to age-matched, healthy controls and to elderly depressives with an early age-at
depression-onset (Drevets et al. 2004).

Usage of drugs may also relate to depression. According to Bhandari (2019), certain
medications prescribed for various medical conditions do cause such feelings as sadness, despair,
and discouragement and those are feelings that are often associated with depression. Other
medicines prescribed for medical problems can trigger mania (excessive elation and energy) that's
usually associated with bipolar disorder. Medications that cause mania or depression appear to
alter brain chemicals in some way. And even though the drugs may be necessary to treat the
condition, the side effect is hardly acceptable. As an example, isotretinoin (Absorica, Amnesteem,
Claravis, Myorisan, Zenatane), which is prescribed for the treatment of acne, has been found to
also sometimes cause depression. So have oral contraceptives, high blood pressure drugs, and even
statins that treat high cholesterol.

The previous studies cite some causes of depression. One of the causes that the previous
studies failed to mention is procrastination. This study will give focus on how this behavior affects
the mental stability of a person. According to Clear (2016) procrastination is the act of delaying or
postponing something. People usually procrastinate since a person thinks that a task seems too
difficult. Hidden in our knowledge, Procrastination has been present now for centuries. Prominent
people like Victor Hugo, Leonardo da Vinci, and many more are also known procrastinators. In
fact, Aristotle, a Greek philosopher even came up with a word describing this behavior—Akrasia.
As stated by Aristotle, Akrasia is the state of acting against your better judgement in which a
person tends to do something else, setting aside something he/she must do.

According to Psych Today (2018), procrastination has been part in the cultures of
students. It is a common issue that continually goes on like a cycle in the lives of students.
According to some studies, around 25% to 75% of college students procrastinate in the academic
workload given to them. Students usually procrastinate because they mistakenly underestimate the
time of submission given to them. In terms of psychological aspect, students may tend to lack
motivation, have low energy levels, and have the thought in fearing failure.

The behavior of academic procrastination is quite common among students. Students can
not show their real performances in learning processes and they fail because of procrastination
The Relation of Depression and Procrastination in the Students of ICSM-SHS 2019 3

behaviors. According to Kandemir (2014), determining the reasons of this behavior can lessen
students’ behaviors and help them show their performances. Students often procrastinate because
they do not see how a project is relevant or important to them, do not understand the material, or
just do not know how to get started. When you boil it down, procrastination is a combination of
motivation, confidence, and comprehension issues.

As a parent, it can be frustrating to struggle with your child not completing his or her
homework and assignments. It can leave many parents feeling as though their child is lazy or
simply does not care about school.

However, much of the time procrastination has very little to do with laziness or a lack of
caring. In many cases, there are deeper issues that lead students to develop a procrastination
problem. (Oxford Learning, 2017).

The low motivation felt by a person may also greatly affect an individual's behavioural
patterns in which he/she finds various excuses not to cope up with life, as well as the decisions and
tasks to be done.

According to O'Keefe (2019), biologically depressed people have low serotonin that may
result for a person to experience low motivation. As a result, an individual procrastinate about the
decisions he/ she make in life and at the same time may feel incapable and may lack confidence in
the decisions he/ she makes.

According to Steel (2016), author of the book, "The Procrastination Equation" aside from
that fact that students are impulsive, in the early 20s, a person is in the process of developing the
frontal cortex, commonly known as the home of the will power.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The researchers are going to tackle how depression and procrastination are linked to each
other. Specifically, the study will answer the following questions:

(1) Why do students procrastinate?

(2) What do the students feel whenever they procrastinate?
(3) What is the effect of procrastination in the students?
The Relation of Depression and Procrastination in the Students of ICSM-SHS 2019 4

METHODOLOGY

Research Design
The researchers will use correlational research as the research design. They
choose this deign because because the main function of this design is to explain how
two different topics can end up into one common denominator. This design will also
help them to explain how does procrastination and depression are linked to each
other. The researchers believe that correlational research is the most appropriate
research design so that they will be able to know insights and experience s of the
respondents about thetopic.

Participants
The study will include approximately 150 senior highschool students of the
Immaculate Conception School of Malolos Senior Highschool (ICSM SHS). The
researchers choose them as the participants because the said school applies higher
quality of education to its students.

Instruments
The researchers would like to use self-administered questionnaires because
they believe that this is the most effective instrument to gather all the data that is
needed for their research. They think that this will help them to know the experiences
and thoughts of the respondents about their topic.

Procedure
The researchers will first be making a self-administered questions that will
be written and provided containing 5-10 questions. After the researchers make the
self-administered questionnaires, it will then be distributed to the participants of the
The Relation of Depression and Procrastination in the Students of ICSM-SHS 2019 5

research which are the students of ICSM-SHS. The type of sampling method that the
researchers will be using is purposive method in which the researchers will choose
specific subjects in obtaining the needed data. After gathering all the data, they will
be analyzing the given data by connecting it to the previous studies. This will help
them to support the idea of the previous studies about this topic.

REFERENCES

Clear, J. (2016). “What Victor Hugo can teach us about Procrastination” October 14, 2019.

https://theweek.com/articles/647298/what-victor-hugo-teach-about-procrastination

Baker, J. (2011). “Procrastination and Morality” October 14,2019

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-love-wisdom/201101/procrastination-and-
morality

Riddle, J. (2019). “Procrastination: Why We Do it and What it Says About Our Psyche.” October
14, 2019

https://www.psycom.net/procrastination-why-we-do-it

Parekh, R (2019). “What is Depression?” October 14,2019

https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/depression/what-is-depression

Unknown (2019). “DOH: It's time to talk about, address depression.” October 14, 2019

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2019/01/17/1885890/doh-its-time-talk-about-address-
depression

Unknown (2018). “Depression.” October 14, 2019

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression

Legg T. (2018). “Depression: Symptoms, Causes, Treatment, and More.” October 14, 2019

https://www.healthline.com/health/depression#causes
The Relation of Depression and Procrastination in the Students of ICSM-SHS 2019 6

Knezevic M. (2012) “Procrastination: A student's worst enemy.” October 14, 2019

https://www.theguardian.com/education/mortarboard/2012/may/09/students-procrastinating-
exams

Cherry K. (2019). “Psychology Behind Why We Wait Until the Last Minute to Do Things.”
October 14, 2019

https://www.verywellmind.com/the-psychology-of-procrastination-2795944

Unknown (2017). “Why Do Students Procrastinate? Causes & Tips.” October 14, 2019

https://www.oxfordlearning.com/why-do-kids-procrastinate/