POR QUE DEIXAMOS PARA DEPOIS? EXPLICANDO A PROCRASTINAÇÃO ACADÊMICA EM UNIVERSITÁRIOS A PARTIR DA PERSONALIDADE E DAS VARIÁVEIS SOCIODEMOGRÁFICAS

Abstract

Academic procrastination refers to the purposeful postponement of demands related to the university context, which fail to be fulfilled in a timely manner or are carried out at the last minute. The present study aimed to verify the influence of personality traits and sociodemographic variables on academic procrastination among university students. For that, it had a sample of 251 university students, being 80.1% public institutions and 19.9% private from the states of Paraíba, Piauí, Ceará, Maranhão, Bahia and Pernambuco, aged between 18 and 52 years old (M=age = 21.79; SD= 4.24). Results indicated negative relationships between extraversion (r = -0.39; p < 0.01) and conscientiousness ( r = -0.25; p < 0.001) personality traits. Furthermore, it was found that neuroticism was positively related (r = 0.30; p < 0.001) with academic procrastination. Among the sociodemographic variables, age was the only one that contributed significantly ( β = -0.14, t = -2.603, p < 0.01). Thus, it is concluded that more conscientious and extroverted people show less procrastination behaviors, while individuals with higher levels of neuroticism show more. As for the age sociodemographic factor, younger people tend to procrastinate more. From these findings on personality factors and academic procrastination, it is possible to think of intervention proposals with groups of university students considering the role of personality in relation to academic procrastination, thus favoring the child with measures that aim to promote health and the well-being of students.