Impact of Procrastination on Scholastic Performance in Undergraduate Dental Students – A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract Introduction: Procrastination is the avoidance of doing a task that needs to be accomplished and putting it off at a later time. Procrastination is believed to be highly prevalent among college students and detrimental to their academic performance. The study aims to evaluate the prevalence of procrastination among dental students and to analyze its influence on their academic performance. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on all undergraduate dental students in a dental institution. The convenience sampling was used in this study. A self-administrated pretested questionnaire was given. Data were collected and analyzed using (SPSS.v. 29) Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software and Chi-square test was done. Results: Results indicated that 60% of the participants were more likely to procrastinate their academic assignments or tasks. Procrastination scores did not differ according to the gender. The findings suggested that procrastinating students had a higher level of poor time management, self-doubt irrational beliefs about studying, and poor academic performance and well-being. Conclusion: In the present study, according to Procrastination Assessment Scale-Students, there is a statistical significance for all the six areas of procrastination between all the groups. Highest percentage of severe procrastination was found in the present study, followed by moderate and mild procrastination among undergraduate dental students.