Explaining Academic Procrastination Based on Attentional Control with the Mediating Role of Emotional Self-Regulation in Students

Abstract

Introduction and Aim: Academic procrastination plays a significant role in the decline of both academic and non-academic performance. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of explaining academic procrastination based on attentional control with the mediating role of emotional self-regulation in students.

Methodology: This research was a descriptive from type of correlation. The study population consisted of all secondary school boy and girl students in the Tabriz city during the 2025-6 academic years; which from this population 600 individuals were selected as a sample using a multistage cluster random sampling method. The research instruments included the Academic Procrastination Questionnaire (Solomon & Rothblum, 1984), Affective Style Questionnaire (Hofman & Kashdan, 2010) and Attentional Biases Scale (Derryberry & Reed, 2002). The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling specifically path analysis in SPSS and AMOS softwares.

Findings: The findings of this research indicated that the model of academic procrastination based on attentional control with the mediating role of emotional self-regulation in students had a good fit. In this model, the direct effects of attentional control on emotional self-regulation and academic procrastination and the direct effect of emotional self-regulation on academic procrastination, and the indirect effect of attentional control on academic procrastination mediated by emotional self-regulation were significant (P<0.05).

Conclusion: Based on the results of the present research, to reduce academic procrastination in students can be used to foster greater attentional control and emotional self-regulation via workshops.