Comparative Effects of Cognitive Restructuring and Self-Management Techniques on Academic Procrastination Among Undergraduate Students in Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study compared the effectiveness of cognitive restructuring technique and self-management technique on academic procrastination among undergraduate students in Niger State, Nigeria. One objective guided the study and one null hypothesis was formulated and tested at 0.05 levels of significance. Quasi-experimental design involving pre-test post-test experimental groups design was adopted for the study. The population of this study comprised of one hundred and seventy-nine (179) male and female undergraduates identified with academic procrastinating behaviour in three sample departments in Federal University of Technology, Minna, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai and Abdulkadir Kure University, Minna. A total sample of forty (40) male and female participants were selected through purposive sampling technique to participate in the study, with twenty (20) assigned to the cognitive restructuring technique experimental group and twenty (20) assigned to the self-management technique experimental group. Academic Procrastinating Observational Scale (APOS) and Students' Academic Procrastinating Behaviour Questionnaire (SAPBQ) were used for data collection, and the instruments were validated by three experts from the Department of Counselling Psychology, IBBU Lapai. Test re-test method was used to obtain the reliability coefficient and a co-efficient value of 0.79 was observed. The data collected were analyzed through the use of Statistical Package for Social Sciences version-24 (SPSS-version 24). Frequency counts and percentage were used to present the demographic information of the participants, and independent sample t-test was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 levels of significance. The findings of the study revealed that there is no significant differential effect of cognitive restructuring technique and self-management technique on academic procrastination among undergraduate students in Niger State. Based on this finding, the researcher concluded that both cognitive restructuring technique and self-management technique are equally effective intervention techniques for helping students overcome academic procrastination. The researcher recommended among others that professional university guidance counsellors should be encouraged to use either cognitive restructuring technique or self-management technique, or a combination of both, in reducing academic procrastination among undergraduate students, since neither technique showed superiority over the other.