Development and Validation of the State Academic Initiation Procrastination Scale (SAIPS)

Objectives This study aimed to develop and validate a scale for intervening in academic procrastination. First, to easily capture improvement pre- and post-intervention, the scale was developed at the state level rather than the chronic level. Second, focusing on the specific phenomenon of academic procrastination as “delaying the initiation of studying” - a core characteristic in the definition of academic procrastination- an operational definition was es-tablished in developing this scale. Methods To this end, we developed a SAIPS and conducted reliability analysis and EFA with 417 college students randomly extracted from the first-round data) and extracted the main factor from it. Subsequently, we performed CFA on three validation samples and evaluated the model fit. In addition, we verified the convergent and discrim-inant validity. Results From this sample, the final 1-factor 10-item scale was derived, and a high reliability of .90 or higher was confirmed. In the first validation sample (417 college students not included in the estimation sample from the first-round data), CFA showed adequate fit, with CFI .954, TLI .941, RMSEA .077, and SRMR .040. In the second validation sample, comprising 249 college students from the second-round data, CFA showed relatively low fit (CFI=.862, TLI=.822, RMSEA=.158, SRMR=.067). However, the third validation sample (627 middle and high school students from the first-round data) showed considerably good model fit (CFI=.983, TLI=.978, RMSEA= .062, SRMR=.021). Correlation analysis revealed discriminant validity, demonstrating significant negative correla-tions with “regular and consistent practices”, “self-confidence”, “self-regulation efficacy”, “academic efficacy”, and “academic enthusiasm efficacy”. Additionally, significant positive correlations were found with “chronic pro-crastination”, “chronic academic procrastination”, “academic procrastination state inventory: academic pro-crastination”, and “academic procrastination state inventory: fear of failure”, ensuring convergent validity. Conclusions The findings suggested the clinical implications of the scale developed in this study for future educa-tional and counseling interventions. Finally, the significance and limitations of this study were discussed.