Procrastination can make you depressed and poor: study

Giving it a college try might not be enough anymore.

Pro-procrastinators, beware: the practice might do more harm than good.

Researchers have found that university students are at risk of depression, poor health, physical pain and economic difficulties due to the last-minute habit, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study of 3,525 Swedish university students analyzed the participants at three different points in time to “assess whether procrastination was associated with worse health outcomes nine months later.”

The art of procrastination — or waiting until the very last minute to complete a task— is an educational epidemic among university students in particular, the study suggested.

Let’s face it: we all procrastinate a little. But according to the data, at least half of students postpone their coursework until the very last minute.

While past studies have suggested that seasoned procrastinators are “more in control of their time,” these researchers say otherwise.

The authors described procrastination as “a form of self-regulatory failure linked to personality traits such as impulsiveness, distractibility and low conscientiousness,” and it even has the ability to impact academic success.

“Students engaged in university studies have high levels of freedom and low structure, which places high demands on their capacity to self-regulate,” the authors wrote, adding that such high demands can create a snowball effect with procrastination-prone people.

Researchers selected the participating cohort using data from the Sustainable University Life study, which tracked Swedish university students for a year via online surveys. This most recent study chose an array of participants from varying disciplines, although they were limited to select Swedish colleges.

Following the baseline testing, students were surveyed at three different points in time, including at the nine-month mark, which represented a full school year. Researchers believed that the period was “adequate for procrastination to manifest its potential associations with different health outcomes.”

In the research, published Jan. 4, analysts discovered that, although weak, there were links present between procrastination and poor mental, physical and financial health. While intervention might not impact students’ overall health outcomes on a large scale, researchers claimed it could alleviate “small associations.”

To sum things up, researchers urged students to stop dragging their feet on their schoolwork.

“Considering that procrastination is prevalent among university students, these findings may be of importance to enhance the understanding of students’ health,” the authors wrote.