A study says procrastination isn’t always laziness: Why people may delay tasks to escape difficult feelings

Procrastination can involve avoiding the discomfort attached to a task. A large student study documents its reported academic impact. Separate psychological research explains how seeking immediate emotional relief can help drive unnecessary delay.

Imagine sitting down to write an essay. You know the deadline. You have an hour free. Still, the blank page makes you uneasy. What if your argument sounds foolish? You decide to tidy your desk first. Then you check your messages.

Half an hour disappears. The desk looks better. The essay remains unwritten. The phone gives you something the essay cannot offer yet: a quick sense of progress. A reply takes seconds. Writing an argument means sitting with uncertainty. You keep promising yourself you will start after this.


You have been busy. Yet you have also escaped the task that made you uncomfortable.

What did the study of 65,950 students find?

Procrastination was the issue students most often reported as harming their academic performance. Itamar Shatz, of the University of Cambridge, analyzed survey data from 65,950 students across 97 US institutions. His study appeared in PLOS One on October 7, 2026.

About 45% said procrastination negatively affected their academic performance. The data came from the American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment.

The findings reflect students’ reports. They do not prove why each person delayed work or establish emotion avoidance as the cause. The study shows the scale of the problem. Understanding its emotional side requires looking at other research.

Why can procrastination feel good at first?

“Putting off an unpleasant task can feel like a relief, but it can cause trouble later.

Psychologists Fuschia Sirois and Timothy Pychyl describe procrastination through short-term mood regulation. Their 2013 review argues that people may prioritize feeling better now over completing an intended task.

“Emotion regulation” means influencing how you feel. It can support useful action. Avoiding an essay to escape embarrassment, however, may protect your current mood while leaving the assignment unfinished.

Researchers also discuss task aversiveness. The phrase means how unpleasant a task seems. For our imagined student, the essay represents possible criticism. Checking messages offers an easier experience. The relief is real enough to make avoidance appealing. The deadline remains.

How does delaying work affect your future self?

The immediate benefit belongs to you now. The unfinished work waits for you later. Sirois and Pychyl emphasize the gap between the present self and the future self. People may expect tomorrow’s version of themselves to handle a task more comfortably.

One student thinks, “I’ll be in a better mood tonight.” Tonight arrives. The essay still feels difficult. Now there is less time.

An earlier study offers a useful example. Psychologists Dianne Tice and Roy Baumeister followed students in two longitudinal studies, published in 1997.

Procrastinators reported less stress early in the semester than other students. Later, they reported more stress. They also received lower assignment grades.

Those findings illustrate a pattern of short-term benefits and later costs. They do not mean every delayed assignment ends badly.

Is every delay a sign of procrastination?

Nope. Sometimes it makes sense to put off a task, if there is a good reason. That might be good, to wait for important information. Taking a planned break can also be sensible.

Procrastination involves unnecessarily delaying an intended action despite expecting the delay to leave you worse off. Ask what the delay accomplishes. Does it help you return prepared? Or does it mainly keep you away from an uncomfortable feeling?

A timetable can show when an essay should happen. It may not resolve the fear attached to writing it.

What can help someone start an uncomfortable task?

A specific first action can make a vague intention easier to follow. Psychologist Peter Gollwitzer’s research on implementation intentions explains how linking a situation to an action can support goal pursuit.

An example would be: “If it is 6pm and I am at my desk, then I will write one rough opening sentence.” The plan names a starting point. It avoids requiring a perfect essay immediately.

One student could also identify the feeling: “I am worried my writing will be judged.” Naming the concern gives the hesitation a more specific meaning. They can then attempt a small action while still feeling uncertain. An opening sentence may be imperfect. It gives them something to revise.