Are College Cheating and Plagiarism Related to Academic Procrastination?

Abstract

A sample of 115 college undergraduates were given the Procrastination Assessment Scale for Students and a cheating and plagiarism questionnaire during separate testing sessions. On these self-report measures, scores for cheating on examinations and for plagiarism were positively correlated with self-ratings of procrastination and negatively correlated with self-reported grade point average. Students who scored high on procrastination had significantly higher scores for plagiarism than those who scored low on procrastination. The results suggest that procrastination may be one of many factors mediating academic dishonesty.