The Role Of Executive Dysfunction In Student Procrastination: A Cognitive Control Perspective

Academic procrastination is often described as a voluntary delay of intended coursework despite awareness of negative consequences. Although motivational and emotional explanations have strong empirical support, a growing body of research suggests that procrastination is also meaningfully related to executive dysfunction, understood as difficulties in cognitive control processes that enable goal-directed behavior. From a cognitive control perspective, procrastination can be conceptualized as a breakdown in the capacity to maintain academic goals, resist competing temptations, initiate effort in the face of aversive affect, and flexibly regulate attention and action across time. This article synthesizes theoretical and empirical literature linking executive functions to procrastination in university students, with emphasis on how deficits in inhibition, working memory, goal maintenance, task switching, and emotion-related control may contribute to delays in starting and sustaining academic work. A narrative review approach is used to integrate evidence from self-report and performance-based executive function measures, findings from ADHD-related research, and cognitive neuroscience models of control including conflict monitoring and proactive versus reactive control. The reviewed evidence converges on the view that executive dysfunction is not merely an accompanying feature of procrastination but can operate as a psychological vulnerability that increases reliance on short-term mood repair and reward-driven choice at the expense of long-term academic goals. Implications for assessment, prevention, and intervention are discussed, highlighting the value of integrating cognitive control training, environmental design, and cognitive-behavioral techniques in university support services.

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