Academic Procrastination and Self-Regulated Learning Among Undergraduate Students: A Framework for Testing the Mediating Role of Perceived Task Aversiveness
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Academic procrastination — the voluntary delay of intended academic work despite anticipating negative consequences — affects a substantial majority of undergraduate students and is associated with lower attainment, elevated stress and reduced course satisfaction. Research on the phenomenon has established a robust negative association with self-regulated learning, the set of metacognitive, motivational and behavioural processes through which learners direct their own study. The mechanism connecting the two, however, remains underspecified. Self-regulation is typically treated as a stable individual difference that predicts procrastination directly, an account with limited practical implication since it identifies the deficit without identifying an intervention point. This paper proposes an alternative specification in which perceived task aversiveness mediates the relationship: learners with weaker self-regulatory capability experience academic tasks as more aversive, and aversiveness rather than regulatory capacity is the proximal driver of delay. The distinction matters because aversiveness is substantially task-dependent and therefore modifiable by task design, whereas regulatory capability is comparatively stable. The paper reviews temporal motivation theory, self-regulated learning models and the procrastination literature; advances six hypotheses concerning mediation, moderation by task characteristics, and the differential prediction of academic outcomes; and specifies a cross-sectional survey design with validated instrumentation for testing them in an Indian undergraduate population. Attention is given to the cultural transferability of instruments developed in Western samples, to the distinction between adaptive delay and procrastination proper, and to the interpretive limits of cross-sectional mediation. Implications for course design and student support are discussed.
Author: Kushwah, Rahul
Institution: Vikrant University
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7220068671