Academic procrastination by nontraditional students

Academic procrastination was examined within a nontraditional population of commuting students (N = 386, M age = 25.64), who were ethnically, economically, and culturally diverse. Students completed a self-report measure, the PASS (Procrastination Assessment Scale-Students; Solomon & Rothblum, 1984). In comparison to previous results with traditional students, academic procrastination among nontraditional students was higher in reading weekly assignments and school activities in general, but lower in writing a term paper and attendance tasks. In comparison to previous results with African-American students, the present study found lower academic procrastination on attendance tasks and administrative tasks. Older students, women, and students born outside of the United States reported lower academic procrastination tendencies. No differences in reported academic procrastination were observed based on: ethnicity, whether students were the first members of their families to attend college, or whether students possessed a high school diploma. Finally, academic procrastination scores were negatively correlated with cumulative grade point average (GPA).