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Patterns of Academic
Procrastination
Victor Day, David Mensink & Michael O'Sullivan
Published online: 08 Jul 2014.

To cite this article: Victor Day, David Mensink & Michael O'Sullivan (2000) Patterns of
Academic Procrastination, Journal of College Reading and Learning, 30:2, 120-134,
DOI: 10.1080/10790195.2000.10850090

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 Victor Day,
David Mensink,
Michael O'Sullivan
Patterns of
Academic
Procrastination
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The Academic Procrastination Oueetionruure, measuring procrastination

and six possible patterns underlying it, was completed by 248 university
students plus 17 counseling clients who sought help for procrastination.
Thirty-two percent of the general sample were severe procrastinators, with
the most common patterns being Socially-focused and Optimistic, or being
Ambivalent and Independent-minded. The most common patterns for cli-
ents involved Evaluation Anxiety or being Discouraged/Depressed, or De-
pendent. However, all six patterns occurred for some students in each sam-
ple. The results are discussed as supporting individualized assessment and
solutions for academic procrastination.

Ecrastination on academic work is a

common problem for university students. Most students procrastinate
on some academic tasks to some degree, and about a quarter of stu-
dents report that they frequently procrastinate to a degree that causes
them stress and/or lower academic performance (Ferrari, Johnson &
McCown, 1995; Hill, Hill, Chalot & Barrall, 1978; Solomon & Rothblum,
1984). Gallagher, Golin and Kelleher (1992) found that 52 % of surveyed
students indicated having a moderate to high need for help concerning
procrastination, making it the most frequently cited personal concern
for which they needed help. Procrastination is a pervasive problem at
all levels of university study (Hill et al., 1978; Muszynski & Akamatsu,
1991) and occurs about equally in men and women (Ferrari et al., 1995;
Solomon & Rothblum, 1984; McCown, Johnson & Petzel, 1989).
Early conceptualizations of and treatments for procrastination fo-
cused on study skills and behavioral self-control (Richards, 1975; Ziesat,

120 Academic Procrastination

 Academic Procrastination 121

Rosenthal & White, 1978). However, as indicated by Ferrari et al.s (1995)

meta-analysis of studies evaluating treatment effectiveness, procrasti-
nation treatment programs have achieved only marginal overall effec-
tiveness. A cognitive-behavioral program focusing primarily on chang-
ing negative thoughts and feelings also achieved only modest overall
effectiveness (Binder & Pychyl, 1999).
There is also a great mystery in procrastination research. That is,
although many students indicate needing help for overcoming procras-
tination (Gallagher et al., 1992), and there are case descriptions of stu-
dents whose performance has been hurt by procrastination (Burka &
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Yuen, 1983), analysis of the overall relationship of procrastination and

academic performance have indicated usually either only very low
negative correlations (Hill et al., 1978; Rothblum, Solomon & Murakami,
1986) or no correlation (Lay, 1986; Solomon & Rothblum, 1984). This
means that there must be a sizable proportion of students whose per-
formance is good despite procrastination. Procrastination thus must
be more complicated than just poor study habits or an effect of disrup-
tive feelings.
It may be better to conceptualize and treat procrastination as a form
of behavior that can have many different underlying processes. Vari-
ous researchers have attempted to identify the patterns underlying
procrastination. However, integration of their results is difficult be-
cause of the differences in methods and measures.
Solomon and Rothblum (1984) conducted a factor analysis of stu-
dents' self-rated reasons for procrastination and identified two signifi-
cant factors: fear of failure (which also included evaluation anxiety,
perfectionism and low confidence) and task aversion. However, many
procrastinators in their study were not well described by these factors.
Ferrari (1992) analyzed severe procrastinators' responses to various
questionnaires and identified two factors, one mainly involving evalu-
ation anxiety and another characterized by a high focus on oneself and
one's own thoughts.

Victor Day is a Counsellor/Psychologist and Coordinator of Clinical 'Training at

the Counselling and Psychological Services Centre ofDalhousie University, Halifax,
Nova Scotia, B3H 4J2, Canada. E-mail Victor.Day@Dal.Ca. David L. Mensink is a
Counsellor/Psychologist at the Counselling and Psychological Services Centre at
Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 4J2, Canada. E-mail
David.Mensink@Dal.Ca. Michael O'Sullivan is a senior Research Officer with
Henson College Institute ofPublic Affairs and with the Office ofInstitutional Affairs,
Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. E-mail
Michael. OSullivan@Dal.Ca. Part of this study was presented at the Canadian
Association of College and University Student Services conference, July 1997.
 122 Journal of CollegeReading and Learning, 30 (2), Spring 2000

McCown et al. (1989), analyzing the principal components of vari-

ous personality and procrastination measures, identified three princi-
pal components similar to the three Eysenckian personality dimen-
sions: neuroticism, extraversion and psychoticism (at a subclinical level,
related to characteristics like relative preoccupation with one's inner
world and relative unconcern with social expectations). McCown and
Johnson (1991) subsequently found that the "neuroticism" component
was the only one correlated with exam anxiety and low academic con-
fidence, the "psychoticism" component was the only one correlated
with course dissatisfaction (clarifying its similarity to both Solomon
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and Rothblum's and Ferrari's second factors), and the extraversion com-
ponent correlated with spending time in social and impulsive activi-
ties as well as with confidence about exam preparation.
Lay (1987), using a model profile analysis of a variety of measures
from both university students and nonstudents, identified four differ-
ent groups of procrastinators. The groups shared some characteristics
(such as disorganization), but each also had some relatively distinctive
characteristics. One "self-engaged but independent" group was high on
private self-consciousness and low in concern for what others thought
(apparently similar to McCown et al.s (1989) "psychoticism" factor).
One group was high on "other-directed self-consciousness" and low on
sensitivity to rejection (which could be similar to McCown et al.s extra-
verted, socially focused factor). One group was high on "rebellious-
ness." A fourth was distinguished by low energy level, low self-esteem
and high cognitive failures (which are all symptoms of depression, al-
though Lay did not include a measure of depression).
Considered together, this research suggests at least five different pat-
terns underlying procrastination: evaluation anxiety, depression, re-
belliousness, an inner psychological focus coupled with disinterest in
the task, and a social focus combined with academic confidence. The
latter two appear, on the basis of percentage of variance accounted for
or percentage of individuals exhibiting them, to be relatively large or
common. Rebelliousness, identified only by Lay (1987) and then only
for a few individuals, appears to be relatively uncommon, although it
is the pattern that most closely fits the classical psychodynamic inter-
pretation of procrastination in terms of passive-aggressiveness
(MacIntyre, 1964).
The best way of conceptualizing each of these patterns in relation to
procrastination has yet to be determined. However, "evaluation anxi-
ety" may be the key element of the pattern associated with fear of
failure, evaluation anxiety, perfectionism, neuroticism. High overall
anxiety or perfectionism can be related to either high or low levels of
 Academic Procrastination 123

procrastination (Flett, Hewitt & Martin, 1995), whereas it is specifi-

cally socially-prescribed perfectionism (overconcern with meeting per-
ceived high standards of others) and not other types of perfectionism
that are related to procrastination (Sadler & Sacks, 1993).
"Discouragement/Depression" may be an appropriate way of con-
ceptualizing emotional states that could include a range from simple
discouragement about academic work to severe depression. Measures
of depression correlate with measures of procrastination (Sadler &
Sacks, 1993; Solomon & Rothblum, 19S4). Solomon and Rothblum found
that their "fear of failure" factor and depression correlated positively,
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and indeed there is considerable co-occurrence of anxiety and depres-

sion as clinical problems (Sartorius, Uston, Lecrubier & Wittchen, 1996).
However, worries and anxiety about meeting high expectations may
lead to procrastination in a somewhat different way than do discour-
agement and low energy level, and when planning solutions for pro-
crastinators it may be useful to distinguish the degree to which a stu-
dent is anxious and/or depressed.
Lay (19S7) labelled one pattern "rebelliousness." However, this term
has connotations of overt acting out, and so seems inappropriate for a
pattern of indirect resistance by refraining from doing what is asked or
expected. The psychodynamic term would be "passive-aggression," but
that is a pejorative term referring to psychodynamic processes that
have yet to be demonstrated. "Oppositional" may be a better way of
conceptualizing procrastination that occurs in opposition to external
directives.
The factor labelled "task aversion" by Solomon and Rothblum is ap-
parently included in the more broadly conceived self-engaged, inde-
pendent-minded factor identified by McCown et al. (19S9) and by Lay
(19S7). It is a factor that is difficult to descriptively label. "Task aver-
sion" is not a problem unless the person also has reasons to get the task
done, so in this circumstance the term "ambivalent" is more accurate.
Of the various characteristics apparently associated with this ambiva-
lence when it leads to procrastination, the relative lack of concern about.
doing things to please others could be the characteristic (if coupled
with low intrinsic motivation) producing procrastination. Thus, "Am-
bivalent, Independent-Minded" may be an appropriate label.
The students identified most clearly by McGown et al. (19S9) as
extraverted, socially active students who are confident about being able
to postpone academic work until later may indeed be just "Socially
Focused Optimists." This pattern is distinct in being the only procrasti-
nation pattern associated with positive emotions. It needs to be clari-
fied whether the optimism is realistic. If it is, then it solves the great
 124 Journal of CollegeReading and Learning, 30 (2), Spring 2000

mystery of procrastination research. That is, if optimistic procrastina-

tors do well academically, then they might mathematically counter-
balance the effect of students procrastinating for reasons likely to lower
performance, such as depression or ambivalence. Thus, the overall cor-
relation of procrastination and performance would be lowered.
Of course the patterns identified by previous research have depended
upon the measures which were included. Although a great variety of
questionnaires and personality tests have been used by prior research-
ers, not all possibilities have been exhausted. Another pattern suggested
by the authors' experience counseling procrastinating students is ex-
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cessive "dependency" on structure and direction by others. That is,

some students seem to work well in structured situations under spe-
cific direction, but not when left on their own, even though not nota-
bly experiencing the disruptive emotions of many other procrastina-
tors. Such students may not have developed independent self-manage-
ment and study skills yet, but otherwise may have no distinctive per-
sonality traits or psychological problems that would have made them
identifiable in previous research. The existence of such students would
explain the fact that programs focused on study skills or time manage-
ment, although not effective with all procrastinators, do apparently
help some students even though such programs do not address the
psychological and emotional issues of the five patterns already identi-
fied (Ferrari et al., 1995).
Clarifying the patterns underlying a student's procrastination can be
important for identifying solutions. The patterns summarized above
were identified by various researchers using different measures and
different student populations. The relative pervasiveness ofthe differ-
ent patterns among university students in general, and among clients
seeking help for procrastination, remains to be clarified. It is also pos-
sible that the different patterns have different academic and other ef-
fects. Replicating the many different measures used by researchers to
identify the different patterns would require many hours oftesting for
each student, which is not practical within the context of a single study
or the typically brief counseling or programs provided by college and
university counseling centers. Therefore, the Academic Procrastina-
tion Questionnaire (APQ) was developed as a screening instrument to
identify the apparent patterns underlying a student's procrastination,
at the beginning of individual or group counseling for procrastination.
The objective was not only to measure the severity of procrastination
(as do pre-existing questionnaires such as Solomon and Rothblum's
(1984) Procrastination Assessment Scale-Students), but also to meas-
ure the thoughts, actions and feelings representative of the six pat-
terns previously discussed.
 Academic Procrastination 125

Method
Participants
Participants were 242 university undergraduate students enrolled in
one ofthree introductory psychology courses at a mid-sized Canadian
university during the 1996-1997 academic year who completed the
questionnaire and research consent form. The courses were of a tradi-
tionallecture and exam design, and at the beginning of a regular lec-
ture, students in attendance were requested to complete voluntarily
the questionnaire and consent form for release of information about
their academic grades. 'TWo hundred and forty-eight students, repre-
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senting 97% of the students attending those lectures, completed the

questionnaire and consent form. 'TWo of the classes were sampled in
November, and one in January. However, data from six students were
eliminated from the final analysis because of omitted items, leaving
242.
In addition, 17 students who came to the university Counselling and
Psychological Services Centre during 1997 or 1998 seeking help for
procrastination completed the APQ as part of their assessment. Data
from this client group were not included in the main analysis, but tabu-
lated group data were available for comparison with the main study
participants.

Materials
The questionnaire was explicitly entitled the "Academic Procrastina-
tion Questionnaire." At the beginning of the questionnaire appeared
this statement: "This questionnaire is about procrastination on aca-
demic work. By 'procrastination' we mean unnecessarily putting off
doing tasks even at the risk of negative effects." The first section had
four questions, in which respondents rated the degree they procrasti-
nated and the degree they experienced effects of such procrastination,
on a five-point scale with the points labelled "Not at all," "Slightly",
"Moderately," "Much" or "Very Much." Respondents rated their procras-
tination on four types ofacademic tasks (regular assigned reading, study-
ing for quizzes/tests/exams, writing papers, other assignments) as well
as academic work in general. They also rated the degree such procras-
tination led to lower marks, less learning, feelings of stress, conflict
with someone, and better efficiency.
A second section of the questionnaire contained 77 statements that
respondents rated according to the degree to which the statements ac-
curately described their beliefs, actions or feelings, on a five-point scale
ranging from "not at all" to "definitely." 'TWenty-six statements con-
cerned thoughts and beliefs about academic work (e.g., "I have to do
 126 Journal of CollegeReading and Learning, 30 (2), Spring 2000

very well," "As long as it doesn't affect your mark, it doesn't matter
what a professor thinks of you."); 28 concerned actions (e.g., "I spend a
lot of time in social activities," "Sometimes I start to do some academic
work but soon give up when I discover I can't do it."), and 23 con-
cerned feelings (e.g., "I often feel depressed," "Sometimes I get a sort
of pleasure out of/acting contrary' "). Each statement was constructed
to represent a cognition, action or feeling associated with one of the
six causes of procrastination discussed above. However, it is important
to note that students were rating general descriptive statements, not
their reasons for procrastinating.
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Statements from the six subscales occurred in a variable, approxi-

mately counterbalanced order within each of the three subsections on
thoughts, actions and feelings. Through analysis of item
intercorrelations, six shorter subscales were selected, each of which
contained three intercorrelated items about relevant thoughts and be-
liefs, three intercorrelated items about relevant actions and three
intercorrelated items about relevant feelings. The selection preserved
the same pattern of correlations between subscales and self-descrip-
tions, and between subscales and grades, that occurred with the full
and unabbreviated subscales.
The final section of the questionnaire asked respondents to rate, on
a five-point scale (from "not at all" to "very"), how well each of six
statements described the reasons for their procrastination on academic
work. Each statement was constructed to represent the main essence,
phenomenologically, of one of the six causes of procrastination dis-
cussed above. For example, for evaluation anxiety the statement was,
"I get so apprehensive about doing it well, that it's difficult to actually
do it."

Results
Procrastination and its effects
Table 1 gives the means and standard deviations for each item of the
first question, on which students rated (0-4) the degree to which they
procrastinated on various academic tasks. It also provides the mean
and standard deviation for the composite procrastination measure. A
rating of2 corresponded to the descriptor "moderately," so on average
students were reporting moderate procrastination. Seventy-eight (32 %)
of the students could be considered severe, general procrastinators, on
the basis of their composite score being 12.5 or greater, which means
their self-ratings were in the "much" or "very much" range. Only three
students, representing 1 % of the sample, indicated that they procrasti-
nated "not at all" with respect to their academic work in general. Thus,
some degree of procrastination appears almost universal.
 Academic Procrastination 127

'Iable 1
Self-Ratings of Procrastination on Academic Tasks

M SD

Regular assigned reading 2.6 1.2

Studying for tests/exams 1.9 1.1
Writing papers 2.2 1.0
Other assignments 2.0 1.1
Academic work in general 2.0 0.9
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Composite (total) score 10.6 4.0

N=242

The second and third questions asked students to rate, on the same
(0-4) scale, how much they procrastinated after they had begun work-
ing on a paper or other assignment, and after they had begun studying
for a test or exam. The mean ratings were 1.1 and 1.2, respectively,
indicating procrastinating "slightly"; and only 2.9% and 5.8% indicated
procrastinating "much" after beginning those respective tasks. Thus,
procrastination is largely about "getting started."

Table 2
Self-Ratings of Experienced Effects of Procrastination

M SD

Lower Marks 1.8 1.0

Less Learning 1.6 1.0
Feeling Stressed 2.4 1.2
Conflict with Someone 0.9 1.0
Better Efficiency 1.1 1.1

Table 2 provides the results for students' ratings (0-4) ofthe degree to
which their procrastination had led to each of five listed possible ef-
fects. Students perceived their procrastination to have caused moder-
ate to much stress, and slight to moderate degrees of other effects,
including lower grades. The actual correlation between composite pro-
crastination scores and grade point average at the end of the academic
year was r = -0.08, P = .21.
 128 Journal of CollegeReading and Learning, 30 (2), Spring 2000

Subscales
Thble 3 gives the descriptive statistics for the six subscales. (Note that
students did not rate their reasons for procrastinating in this section,
they rated the degree to which certain statements ofbeliefs about aca-
demic work were "true from my perspective" or how accurately state-
ments described their actions or feelings). Table 3 also provides the
percentage of students who scored high on each subscale (i.e., 23 or
greater, which means the students mostly were rating the relevant nine
statements "mostly" or "definitely" true of themselves).
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Thble 3
Descriptive Statistics for Subscales

M SD %Higha

Evaluation Anxiety 13.5 4.6 3.0

Discouraged/Depressed 11.1 5.8 3.4
Ambivalent, Independent-minded 16.4 6.1 15.4
Socially-Focused, Optimistic 18.0 5.9 23.2
Oppositional 14.1 6.2 11.5
Dependent 15.8 4.6 7.8

a High = 23 or greater

Table 4 gives the Pearson product-moment correlations of each

subscale with the corresponding self-ratings, composite procrastina-
tion score, reported effects of procrastination, and actual GPA. Correla-
tions were calculated between all subscales and self-ratings of all rea-
sons for procrastination. Each subscale correlated most highly with
the corresponding self-rated reason, and all correlations between
subscales and corresponding reason were significant beyond the .01
level. Overall there was a moderately strong correspondence between
self-rated reasons and relevant patterns of thoughts, actions and feel-
ings; but there was also enough difference to indicate that simply ask-
ing students why they procrastinate does not provide the same infor-
mation as a more specific set of questions.
The pattern of correlations in Table 4 is complex yet logical. Stu-
dents higher on the Socially-Focused, Optimistic subscale singularly
do not perceive any negative effects of their procrastination, and in-
deed this subscale is not associated with any negative effects on actual
marks. Students scoring higher on the Ambivalent, Independent-
minded subscale perceive their procrastination to be causing lower
marks and less learning, and apparently their perceptions are correct,
 Academic Procrastination 129

since the subscale has a negative correlation with GPA. However, these
relatively "ambivalent" students are not stressed by this, and they show
greater tendency to procrastinate.

Table A
Correlations" of Subscale Scores with Self-Ratings of Reasons for
Procrastination, Composite Procrastination Scores, Perceived Effects
ofProcrastination, and GPA
Evaluation Discouraged! Ambivalent ~ Qp.positional Dependent
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Anxiety D!:pressed Independent- Active

Minded Qptimistic

Self..rating of Alb 041' .60" Alb .54b .46"

corresponding reason
Composite .07 .19" A6b .31' .22b .21b
procrastination
Lower marks .22b .21b .25b -.03 .22b .22b
LessLearning .18b .16 .23b .13 .11' .22b
Feeling Stressed .21' .30" .11 -.15 .03 .19"
Conflict with someone .22b .26b .15 -.04 .22b .09
Betterefficiency -.08 -.07 -.03 .10 .10 .01
GPA -.18b -.30" _.23b -.06 -.28b -.16

a Pearson product-moment correlations

b p<.01

Students scoring higher on the Oppositional subscale tend to per-

ceive negative academic effects of procrastination and indeed tend to
have lower marks as well as interpersonal conflict.
Students higher on the Discouragement/Depression subscale per-
ceive all negative effects, and this subscale has the strongest negative
correlation with GPA.
Students higher on the Evaluation Anxiety subscale also tend to per-
ceive procrastination as having all negative effects but do not neces-
sarily procrastinate more, and this subscale is only weakly associated
with lower marks.
The Dependent subscale is anomalous in that there is not a corre-
spondence between perceived lower marks and actual lower marks.
However, the correlations actually are not so different, since the corre-
lation with perceived lower marks is only .22 and with GPA is -.16
(which would be significant at the .02 level).
 130 Journal of CollegeReading and Learning, 30 (2), Spring 2000

Severe general procrastinators

As mentioned previously, 78 students (32% ofthe sample) scored high
on the composite procrastination measure. Table 5 provides the per-
centages of this group who scored high on each ofthe subscales. These
individuals scored high on a mean of 1.1 subscales each. The percent-
ages in Table 5 are of course higher than those for the general sample
(Table 3), because students who are severe, general procrastinators will
be more likely to have some pattern of thoughts, feelings and actions
that leads to academic procrastination. However, the relative positions
of the subscales are the same.
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Table 5
Percentages of Severe Procrastinators and of Clients Scoring High" on
Each Subscale

Severe Procrastinators

Subscale In Study Sample" Counseling Clients"

Evaluation Anxiety 5.3 47.1

Discouraged/Depressed 5.1 29.4
Ambivalent, Independent-Minded 25.6 17.6
Socially-Focused, Optimistic 37.2 23.5
Oppositional 19.7 23.5
Dependent 14.9 29.4

a High = 23 or greater
bN=78
CN=17

Client group
Seventeen students who came to the Counselling and Psychological
Services Centre seeking help for procrastination also completed the
APQ Their mean score on the composite procrastination measure was
15.2, indicating severe and general procrastination. They scored high
on an average of 1.7 subscales. (However, one client scored 23 or higher
on all 6 subscales, though very high on only two. Without this anoma-
lous individual's scores included in the calculations, the other 16 cli-
ents scored high on a mean of 1.4 subscales.)
Table 5 also provides the percentages of the clients who scored high
on each subscale. The distribution is strikingly different from the se-
vere general procrastinators in the general sample. Indeed, the three
 Academic Procrastination 131

patterns least common in the general sample (evaluation anxiety, dis-

couragement/depression, dependent) are the most common for cli-
ents. This difference in distribution was statistically significant (XZ
=20.2, df =5,p<.0l).

Discussion
The results have implications for the conceptualization of academic
procrastination. They also suggest some possible uses for the APO"
The most common patterns underlying academic procrastination
appear to be a confident postponement of work while pursuing other,
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mainly social, activities (Socially-Focused, Optimistic), or a low inter-

est in academic work along with disinclination to do it to please others
(Ambivalent, Independent-Minded). This is evident from both self-rat-
ings and the relative frequencies of high scores on these two subscales
in the general sample, as well as for just severe, general procrastina-
tors. The relative commonality of these factors is congruent with the
previous research literature. However, all five patterns identified from
the previous literature, as well as the "Dependent" pattern suggested
by the present authors, appear to be relevant for some students.
Self-ratings of causes of procrastination and corresponding subscale
scores indicative of underlying patterns correlate moderately well.
However, they do not correlate so highly as to be redundant, and it
does not appear that simply asking students why they procrastinate
can provide a sufficient description.
The differences in subscale scores between the general sample of
severe procrastinators and the client sample are striking: the three most
frequent patterns in the general sample are the three least frequent for
clients, and vice versa. The difference is largest for evaluation anxiety.
The samples were not matched on any particular characteristics, other
than being about equally severe procrastinators at the same univer-
sity, so no definitive conclusions about these differences can be drawn.
However, the difference could be related to the selective effect of seek-
ing help. Clients were more likely to be distressed (high on Evaluation
Anxiety or Discouraged/Depressed) or to be people who have a pat-
tern of relying on others for direction (high on Dependent). Students
who are not stressed by their procrastination (high on Ambivalent,
Independent-Minded; Socially-Focused, Optimistic), would be less likely
to seek help.
This simple contrast has important implications. Almost all research
on academic procrastination has been done with general samples of
students. This is legitimate research, since procrastination in the gen-
eral student population is itself a pervasive natural phenomenon. How-
 132 Journal of CollegeReading and Learning, 30 (2), Spring 2000

ever, the results from such research cannot be simply extrapolated to a

client population. Controlling for severity of procrastination is not a
solution, since equally severe procrastinators may have very different
underlying patterns. There also is a heterogeneous variety of patterns
underlying procrastination in clients. It may not be possible to research
procrastination in general and directly apply this general knowledge
to designing individual or group programs. Some individualized assess-
ment of the habitual patterns underlying procrastination may be nec-
essary, which suggests the need for instruments like the APQ
Of course, identifying the patterns underlying procrastination is nec-
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essary only if different patterns require different solutions. There has

been no research yet demonstrating differential effectiveness of differ-
ent treatments for different patterns, although being able to measure
the different patterns in a practical way at least makes such research
possible. The general axiom in applied psychology that different prob-
lems require different solutions (Paul, 1967) may turn out to be true
for problems with procrastination.
A variety of strategies are available already and can be applied selec-
tively or in various combinations to fit an individual's patterrus), For
students with evaluation anxiety, cognitive reinterpretation or other
anxiety management techniques may be appropriate. Discouragement
by task magnitude may be overcome by task analysis into task compo-
nents (small sequential steps) and graduated goal-setting; tutoring or
other remedial academic help may be useful when discouragement is
related to task difficulty; and cognitive or other therapy may be advis-
able for the severely depressed students. Ambivalent, independent-
minded students may benefit from personal goal analysis or goal-set-
ting, self-rewards, and maybe career counseling. Students with an
oppositional pattern probably need to develop insight into their moti-
vation and the self-defeating nature of their behavior, and may need
assertiveness skills to handle interpersonal conflicts more directly.
Instruction in task analysis, time estimation, time planning and other
study skills could help someone overcome excessive dependence on
others for structure; assertiveness skills also may be relevant, if "de-
pendent" procrastinators are being "led astray" from work by peers.
Students whose procrastination is related to a socially-focused, opti-
mistic pattern may not need any help, if their confidence is accurate.
However, shorter deadlines, contracts and working in teams might get
them to complete work earlier.
Socially-focused, optimistic students procrastinate more but do not
do less well academically (as indicated by their GPA). This phenom-
enon, along with the prevalence of this pattern among students, low-
 Academic Procrastination 133

ers the overall correlation between procrastination and academic per-

formance. This may explain the "mystery" of the low correlation be-
tween procrasitnation and academic performance. However, this is
another example of how what maybe true for students in general may
not apply to most students seeking help for procrastination.
In using the APQwith clients, the presumption is that the one or two
high scores, indicating patterns ofitems the students report as "mostly"
or "definitely" true for them, identify the main current processes re-
lated to procrastination. In the authors' experience using the APQwith
clients (in group and individual counseling), there generally is good
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congruence between their self-reported reasons and subscale scores.

When there have been differences, explicit discussion ofsubscale scores
has led to apparent beneficial clarification, in the sense of getting the
client beyond superficial attributions and to identifying more underly-
ing patterns. It is important to describe the subscale scores in a tenta-
tive way and to present the APQ not as a personality test but rather a
description ofapparent habitual patterns. Even "Oppositional" patterns
are readily acknowledged, if discussed as possible habits developed in
defense from a (usually) controlling parent, but which may no longer
be relevant in adulthood and, in fact, may be retarding full independ-
ence. In addition to identifying patterns related to procrastination, some
subscale scores, especially those on the discouragement/depression
subscales, can flag a possible need for therapy beyond just help for
procrastination.
The most important future research for the APQ would be construct
validation, especially with respect to whether there is correspondence
between subscale scores and differential responsiveness to treatments.
At present, the APQ is best considered a brief screening instrument, a
suggestive guide highlighting patterns which merit further discussion
with the client.
A general implication of this study is its support for considering pro-
crastination as a behavioral effect, not a homogeneous trait. Indeed,
there appear to be at least six identifiable patterns, each varying in
degree, which may underlie procrastination.

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