The intrapsychic process of academic procrastination: How should-thinking aggravates self-regulatory failure

This study aimed to investigate whether should-thinking affects academic initiation procrastination, separately from or in addition to the paths examined in previous studies, and whether the theoretical pathways differ according to school level. Using data from 1447 middle school, high school, and college students, we conducted a multigroup analysis by school level and moderated mediation analysis, with should-thinking as the moderator. The moderating effect of should-thinking on feeling overwhelmed was found only in middle and high school students. The path from academic difficulties to feeling overwhelmed, academic burnout, to academic procrastination was observed across all the groups. Our results suggest the interventions needed for academic initiation procrastination at the school level. The current research provides an additional possible explanation for how will is weakened from the self-regulation perspective during the intrapsychic process of academic procrastination by examining the role of should-thinking. By examining theoretical paths according to school level separately, we surmised that path changes might occur during the school-level transition period, providing implications for future studies to clarify the various academic initiation procrastination processes based on the school level. This is significant because the findings of this study will enable researchers and practitioners to gain insight into interventions to alleviate academic initiation procrastination by considering developmental aspects.