The intraindividual co-occurrence of anxiety and hope in procrastination episodes during exam preparations: An experience sampling study

Gadosey, C. K., Schnettler, T., Scheunemann, A., Fries, S., & Grunschel, C.

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that students procrastinate during exam preparation phase. Until now, only a few studies have investigated emotions that accompany academic procrastination in real-life situations. Further, there is a lack of studies that investigate the co-occurrence of both positive and negative emotions during procrastination episodes although both emotions can co-occur and interact within a person. We therefore examined how within-person experiences of exam-related emotions (i.e., anxiety and hope), learning-related confusion, and between-person factors (i.e., trait procrastination, gender, age, semester, and relevant exam) relate to state procrastination of learning during preparations for a relevant end-of-semester exam. A total of N = 93 students participated in an experience sampling procedure for 10 days prior to the relevant exam. As expected, multilevel logistic regression analyses showed that state procrastination was associated with higher anxiety, lower hope, and higher trait procrastination. The association between hope and state procrastination was weaker when anxiety was higher. Confusion and demographic variables had no significant relationship with state procrastination. Interestingly, these emotional experiences related to state procrastination were not comparable to delay per se suggesting that the two phenomena are distinct. Our research highlights the dynamic interplay of anxiety and hope during procrastination episodes.