The interplay between perceived stress, academic control, achievement motivation, and procrastination among nursing graduate students: A network analysis.

Background: Procrastination is common among nursing graduate students and is linked to poor academic performance, student attrition, and various potential physical and mental health issues. In light of the global nursing shortage, understanding the factors that contribute to procrastination is essential for developing effective interventions to mitigate its impact.

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the associations between perceived stress, academic control, achievement motivation, and procrastination among nursing graduate students through network analysis.

Design: A cross-sectional survey design was used.

Methods: Convenience sampling was used to recruit 413 nursing graduate students from six universities with master's nursing degree programs in China between May and December 2022. Data were collected using the General Procrastination Scale, Perceived Stress Scale, Perceived Academic Control Scale, and Achievement Motivation Scale. A Gaussian graphical model was constructed to investigate the relationship between perceived stress, academic control, achievement motivation, and procrastination. Centrality indices (closeness, strength, and betweenness), and bridge centrality indices (bridge strength) were calculated to identify central and bridge nodes as potential intervention targets.

Results: Among the participants, 274 (66.3 %) had moderate or high levels of procrastination. "Perceived self-efficacy" and "motive to achieve success" were negatively associated with procrastination (weight = -0.17, -0.11), whereas "perceived helplessness" and "external control" were positively associated with procrastination (weight = 0.18, 0.11). The critical central and bridge nodes were "perceived self-efficacy" (strength = 0.99, bridge strength = 0.76), "external control" (strength = 0.72, bridge strength = 0.51), "motive to avoid failure" (strength = 0.63, bridge strength = 0.44), and procrastination (strength = 0.67, bridge strength = 0.67).

Conclusions: The findings indicate that approximately two-thirds of nursing graduate students exhibited moderate or high levels of procrastination. By applying network analysis, perceived self-efficacy, external control, and motive to avoid failure are identified as critical central and bridge nodes that may serve as promising targets for intervention. Nursing educators are encouraged to implement early screening for procrastination and to develop tailored strategies aimed at reducing procrastination by alleviating external control and motive to avoid failure, and strengthening perceived self-efficacy among nursing graduate students.