The development of academic procrastination in first-year secondary education students: The link with metacognitive self-regulation, self-efficacy, and effort regulation

Academic procrastination has been widely recognized as a problematic but common phenomenon in education. A growing body of literature construes procrastination as a situational, dynamic construct. Yet, little is known about its development in young secondary education students. The current study aims to elucidate this issue while exploring the relation with metacognitive self-regulation, self-efficacy, and effort regulation. Hierarchical growth curve modeling of the development of students' procrastination (566 students, 20 Mathematics/English grade-1 secondary education classes) revealed positive linear trajectories at class level but showed greater variability at student level. All mentioned predictors were negatively associated with procrastination and declined over time, with effort regulation revealing the strongest association. Interaction effects with time revealed a stable procrastination - effort regulation association, whereas the association with metacognitive self-regulation and self-efficacy diminished over time. The findings support the view on academic procrastination as a dynamic construct and highlight the importance of early intervention.