Academic hardiness as a moderator of the relation between perfectionism and academic procrastination in university students

The aim of the study was to investigate the predictive value of adaptive and maladaptive dimensions of perfectionism for academic procrastination in university students and the possible moderating role of different dimensions of academic hardiness. The total sample was consisted of 966 undergraduate students from various departments. They were asked to answer three self-reported questionnaires as regards their perfectionism, procrastination, and hardiness in academic settings. The results showed that adaptive perfectionism is a negative predictor of academic procrastination, while the maladaptive perfectionism is a positive predictor. Two of the three dimensions of academic hardiness, namely commitment and challenge, were found to be significant moderators of the relation between maladaptive perfectionism and academic procrastination, while control was a significant moderator of the relationship between adaptive perfectionism and students’ academic procrastination. The results indicate that finding the academic tasks as highly challenging and being highly committed to personal accomplishment seems to play a moderating role by leading to higher procrastination only for those who feel a high discrepancy between their personal standards and their accomplishments. Having, though, high personal standards and a high level of control seems to reduce academic procrastination.