Correlation Between Academic Procrastination Patterns and Academic Performance in First-Semester Psychopedagogy Students

Abstract

In higher education, academic procrastination is a behavior that frequently affects the learning processes and time management of university students. Its high prevalence and consequences on academic performance warrant further investigation. For this reason, the present study, entitled "Correlation between Academic Procrastination Patterns and Academic Performance in University Students," aims to analyze the levels of academic procrastination and its relationship to academic performance in first-semester students of the Psychopedagogy program at the Quevedo State Technical University. The study employed a quantitative approach, with a non-experimental, cross-sectional, and correlational design, and a sample of 27 students. Data was collected using a 10-item Likert-type questionnaire, developed by the researcher, designed to measure academic procrastination. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics software, employing descriptive statistics, graphical analysis, and Pearson's correlation test. The results showed that 81.5% of students exhibited moderate to high levels of academic procrastination, confirming the high prevalence of this behavior in the university context. However, the inferential analysis revealed a weak and statistically insignificant negative correlation between academic procrastination and academic performance (r = −0.172; p > 0.05), thus insufficient evidence to establish a significant relationship between the two variables in the studied sample. In conclusion, this study provides empirical evidence on the high frequency of academic procrastination among university students and highlights the need to implement psychoeducational strategies aimed at strengthening self-regulation and study habits, as well as to develop future research with larger samples and different methodological designs.