Friday, Jul 24, 2026 The claims desk. Receipts included. POWERED BY LENZ
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HEALTH

The Claim

Academic procrastination is common among university students.

The Short Version

Available evidence strongly supports the claim. Multiple peer-reviewed studies find academic procrastination affects a large share of university students, with estimates varying by definition but consistently high enough to qualify as common. The main caveat is that some studies measure occasional procrastination while others measure frequent or chronic forms.

Caveats

  • Prevalence varies substantially depending on whether studies measure occasional, frequent, or chronic procrastination.
  • Reported rates may differ across countries, institutions, disciplines, and student subgroups, so no single percentage applies everywhere.
  • Some listed sources are weak or non-peer-reviewed, but the conclusion rests on the stronger peer-reviewed evidence.

The Receipts

  1. Academic Procrastination in Children and Adolescents: A Scoping ...

    PubMed Central

  2. A network analysis of academic procrastination, psychological and environmental factors

    PubMed Central (NIH)

  3. Procrastination as a Marker of Anxiety Disorder Among College Students

    PubMed Central (NIH)

  4. Procrastination in University Students: A Proposal of a Theoretical Model

    PubMed Central (NIH)

  5. Tomorrow Never Comes: The Risks of Procrastination for University Students

    PubMed Central (NIH)

  6. Procrastination or 'intentional delay'?

    American Psychological Association (APA)

  7. Procrastination Among University Students: Differentiating Severe Procrastination and Moderate Procrastination

    Frontiers in Psychology

  8. A Study of Academic Procrastination in College Students

    Digital Commons @ URI

  9. Academic procrastination in university students: Associated factors ...

    PMC

  10. Understanding and Addressing Student Procrastination in College

    ERIC (Education Resources Information Center)

+ 4 more sources — see the full list on Lenz

Filed Under

Academic ProcrastinationUniversity Students

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