Task aversiveness and outcome value mediate the relationship between self-control and academic procrastination among primary school students

Student academic procrastination has been established as a strong predictor of several unfavorable consequences such as poor academic performance, low academic self-efficacy, and negative emotional experience. Increasing knowledge on what variables affect academic procrastination can assist nurturers and educators in minimizing student academic procrastination in the primary school setting. Based on the temporal decision model, this study examined the link between self-control and academic procrastination via the mediational role of task aversiveness and outcome value. The model was tested using structural equation modeling and cross-sectional data from 3028 primary school students (50.8% boys) in grades 3–6. The results showed a positive association between the impulse system and academic procrastination, and a negative association between the control system and academic procrastination among primary school students. Moreover, both task aversiveness and outcome value were found to mediate the link between self-control and academic procrastination among primary school students. These findings suggest that encouraging and guiding students to think more about the positive outcome and less about the negative engagement of tasks may be an effective strategy to reduce their academic procrastination.