Examining The Relationship Between Academic Procrastination, Self-Compassion, and Epistemological Beliefs in High School Students

This study aimed to examine the relationship between academic procrastination, self-compassion, and epistemological beliefs among high school students to determine whether self-compassion and epistemological beliefs predict academic procrastination. The study employed a correlational research design, with a sample consisting of 250 senior high school students from District 1 of the Tabriz Department of Education in the 2023-2024 academic year. Participants were selected using a non-random convenience sampling method. Data were collected using the Tuckman Procrastination Scale (1989), the Self-Compassion Scale – Short Form (Raes et al., 2011), and the Schommer Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire (1990). Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to examine the relationships between the variables, and multiple regression analysis was performed to assess the predictive power of self-compassion and epistemological beliefs on academic procrastination. The results indicated that self-compassion and epistemological beliefs had weak but statistically significant correlations with academic procrastination (r = -0.12, p < 0.01; r = 0.13, p < 0.01, respectively). However, the multiple regression analysis revealed that neither self-compassion (B = -0.13, p < 0.01) nor epistemological beliefs (B = -0.12, p < 0.01) were significant predictors of academic procrastination. The overall regression model was not statistically significant (F(2, 247) = 7.85, p < 0.01), suggesting that self-compassion and epistemological beliefs do not independently explain variations in academic procrastination. Although self-compassion and epistemological beliefs were correlated with academic procrastination, they did not significantly predict procrastination in this sample. The findings suggest that academic procrastination is influenced by more complex psychological and contextual factors.