The investigation of procrastination of high school students

The first aim of this study was to investigate how high school students' procrastination levels show distribution and whether the procrastination levels of those students with different genders vary significantly by class levels and type of school they study. The second aim of the study was to examine the contributions of variables related to trait anxiety, irrational beliefs, self-regulation, age and general average for the prediction of academic procrastination of high school students. The third and last aim was to examine the contributions of variables related to trait anxiety, irrational beliefs, self-regulation, age and general average for the prediction of academic procrastination of high school students in both genders separately. In this study, Academic Procrastination Scale, Trait Anxiety Scale, Irrational Beliefs – Adolescent Form, Self-Regulation Scale for Adolescent and Demographic Information Form were all used as data collection tools. In the process of data analysis collected from 1607 high school students, descriptive statistics, Pearson Correlation Analysis, Two Way ANOVA and Multiple Hierarchical Regression Analysis were employed. In the study, results indicated that academic procrastination is in a medium level among high school students. It was also found that academic procrastination levels of male high school students are significantly higher than female students. Furthermore, it was found that academic procrastination levels of students vary by the level of class and procrastination level of students in 12nd grade is significantly higher than both 9th and 10th grade students. Additionally, it was revealed that male students studying in higher class levels show higher levels of procrastination than both male and female students studying in lower class levels. However, there is not a significant difference between gender and school type interaction. The results of regression analysis for the total sample revealed that self-regulation, general average, age and irrational beliefs were respectively significant predictors of academic procrastination. However, trait anxiety does not have any significant contribution to the prediction of academic procrastination. When it was considered whether there are differences between females and males in terms of pattern, similarly in total sample, it was found that self-regulation is the strongest predictor of academic procrastination in females. On the other hand, it was determined that general average and age are significant predictors of academic procrastination but not trait anxiety and irrational beliefs in female sample. Similarly, in male sample it was found that the strongest predictor of academic procrastination is self-regulation, following this, age, general average and irrational beliefs are significant predictors of academic procrastination but not trait anxiety. Results and implications were discussed in the light of relevant literature and research findings and suggestions were made accordingly. Key Words: Academic procrastination, Trait anxiety, Irrational beliefs, Self-regulation, High school students.