Correlations of Self-esteem and Relationship with Parents with Academic Procrastination in Students: An Analytical, Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background & Aims: Procrastination is a very common phenomenon and almost a global problem that exists in all cultures. Studies show that (80-95%) of students are involved in some form of procrastination and (50%) of them are always procrastinating in doing homework and learning subjects. Academic procrastination is one of the factors affecting students' academic achievement and many students cannot use their maximum existential capacity due to this problem. In fact, procrastination causes a high degree of anxiety and depression in the person, which lowers his self-esteem. Self-esteem is one of the most important factors modulating psychosocial stress, which is based on family relationships, academic success, physical image, social interaction, and self-worth. The importance of these issues depends on individual differences and growth. Studies show that the way parents relate to their children and how they raise their children affect procrastination. In addition to common problems of other students, medical students also face special problems in their field, such as the stress of the hospital environment and dealing with the problems of patients, and are more at risk of injury. Therefore, it is necessary to examine different academic problems such as academic procrastination and its related factors including relationship with parents and self-esteem of this group to prevent the academic failure of these students as the future workforce. Training students who, due to academic procrastination, have not been able to acquire sufficient educational competence to provide services to patients will cause several problems in the health system in the future. This study aimed to determine the relationship between self-esteem and relationship with parents with academic procrastination in nursing students. In total, 410 students were selected through quota sampling and included in the study. The inclusion criteria were being a student, nursing students in one of the intended disciplines, non-employment in the health system and other organizations. The exclusion criteria were being married, having a history of mental illness and not having parents. The measurement tool was a four-part questionnaire, with the first part related to demographic information (age, gender, field of study, semester, and degree), the second part was Solomon and RothBlum's academic procrastination questionnaire, the third part was Rosenberg's self-esteem questionnaire, and the fourth part of the questionnaire was the parent-child relationships devised by Fine, Moreland, and Schwebe. Data were analyzed in SPSS version 16 using descriptive (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient, and linear regression) at the significance level of 0.05. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to evaluate the normal distribution of data, and Levene’s test was set as default in t-test. One-way ANOVA was also used to assess the equality of the variances. Results: Evaluation of the frequency distribution of quantitative variables using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test showed a normal distribution of data (P>0.05). In terms of age range, the highest frequency belonged to the age range of 18-32 years and the average age of students in this study was 20.82 ± 1.83. Most participants were female. The participants were studying nursing, operating room, emergency medicine, and midwifery, with nursing having the highest ratio. Students in this study were classified into four semesters, with the highest ratio belonging to the first and fifth semesters and the lowest ratio to the third semester. The mean and standard deviation of the academic procrastination score in this study was 64.2 ± 4.48 which was moderate. The mean score of relationship with parents was at the desired level of 142.61 ± 7.11, and the mean score of self-esteem was 24.12 ± 1.45 which was at the average level. Pearson’s correlation-coefficient regarding the correlation between the studied variables indicated a negative and significant relationship between academic procrastination with relationship with parents (P<0.001; r=-0.54) and self-esteem (P<0.001;-r=0.32). Regression test showed that self-esteem (adjusted R 2 =0.102) and relationship with parents (adjusted R 2 =0.291) significantly predict academic procrastination. The unstandardized beta value showed that the share of self-esteem in predicting academic procrastination was 0.21, and the share of relationship with parents was 0.27. Mean scores of self- esteem, relationship with parents, and academic procrastination were 12.24 ± 1.45, 142.61 ± 7.11, and 64.2 ± 4.48, respectively. The standardized beta value showed that a one-unit increase in the standard deviation of the relationship with parents will decrease the standard deviation of academic procrastination by 0.40 (standardized β=-0.405). 1 unit increase in the standard deviation of the self-esteem variable will decrease the standard deviation of academic procrastination by 0.36 (standardized β=-0.363). Conclusion: The study aimed to investigate the relationship between self-esteem and relationship with parents with academic procrastination. The results showed that increasing self-esteem and relationship with parents will significantly reduce academic procrastination in students. Self-esteem and relationship with parents also predict academic procrastination. According to these results, it should be said that studying self-esteem and relationship with parents in students is necessary and, these variables should be improved in educational systems with appropriate education, and therefore action should be taken to improve the situation of academic procrastination. The results of this study have some implications for administrators of educational systems to avoid the academic procrastination of medical students whose educational competence is of great importance. Using psychological counseling to assess mental health and its parameters, including self-esteem, helps in identifying students at risk. Also, identifying students' broken relationships with parents through counseling can play an important role in improving their mental health and thus reducing their academic procrastination.