A Personality-Based Perspective on Academic Procrastination: Levels, Types, and Coping Strategies Among Medical Students

Academic procrastination is a prevalent issue among students, including pre-clinical medical students. This study explored the level of students’ procrastination, the types of procrastinators they identified as, and the strategies they used to cope, all examined through the perspective of their personality traits. A total of 101 pre-clinical students took part in a cross-sectional survey, which utilized four instruments: Lay’s Procrastination Scale, the Procrastination Coping Strategies Inventory, the Procrastinator Type Questionnaire, and the Ten Item Personality Inventory. Results showed that over 80% of participants reported moderate to high levels of procrastination, with most identifying as perfectionists, crisis-makers, and dreamers. Cognitive strategies were the most commonly used method to manage procrastination, followed by behavioral and emotive strategies. Findings also indicated significant differences in procrastination levels based on the personality traits of agreeableness and openness to experience. Meanwhile, the types of procrastinators differed significantly according to emotional stability, with certain types more prevalent among students with lower levels of this trait. Students with higher openness to experience tended to use a combination of coping strategies, rather than relying on a single approach. These findings suggest that academic procrastination among medical students varies across personality traits in terms of its level, type, and coping strategies. Understanding these variations may help inform the development of more personalized and targeted academic support initiatives.