ACADEMIC PROCRASTINATION AND ITS CORRELATION WITH ACADEMIC SATISFACTION AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AMONG UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS OF ALLIED HEALTH SCIENCES OF RMI PESHAWAR: A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY.

BACKGROUND: Every student must complete different academic tasks during the day but due to some reasons completion of these intended tasks is often delayed, this general tendency of postponing or delaying different academic tasks has been referred to as academic procrastination. It is a highly prevailing issue faced by many college and university students in their academic life. It results in unhealthy emotions such as stress, worry, guilt, anxiety, and depression and thus leads to a dissatisfied academic life and poor academic performance. OBJECTIVE: To study academic procrastination and its correlation with academic satisfaction and academic performance among undergraduate students of allied health sciences of RMI Peshawar METHODOLOGY: This Analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on 250 undergraduate students from the second year to fifth year at Allied Health Colleges of RMI Peshawar using a convenience sampling technique. The duration of this study was 6 months. The data collection tools were the Tuckman Procrastination Scale, Academic Satisfaction Scale, and GPA of students. The demographic variables were mentioned as frequencies and percentages. Median values with IQ ranges were used to present the numerical variables. Correlation was found through the Pearson Correlation test. Association between all the categorical variables and Tuckman procrastination score was found via Mann Whitney U test and Kruskal Wallis test. RESULTS: Out of 250 students, 131 (52.4%) students showed a high level of academic procrastination whereas 119 (47.6%) students showed a low level of academic procrastination. A significant association (P value 0.000) was found between gender and academic procrastination as females demonstrated more academic procrastination compared to males. No association (P value 0.793) was found between year of study and procrastination. A negative correlation of academic procrastination was found with academic satisfaction and academic performance. CONCLUSIONS: Majority of undergraduate students depicted high level of academic procrastination. Different academic years of study did not influence the level of academic procrastination. However, Gender influenced the academic procrastination level as females illustrated more academic procrastination as compared to males. A negative correlation of academic procrastination was found with academic satisfaction and performance. KEYWORDS: Academic Procrastination, Academic Satisfaction, Academic Performance, Undergraduate Students, College.