According to Self-Determination Theory (SDT), basic psychological needs are autonomy (feeling in control of one’s actions), competence (feeling effective and capable), and relatedness (feeling connected to others).
These needs are essential for motivation, well-being, and healthy psychological functioning. When unmet, they can lead to emotional distress and maladaptive behaviors like procrastination.
Ye, Z., Chi, S., Ma, X., & Pan, L. (2025). The impact of basic psychological needs on academic procrastination: The sequential mediating role of anxiety and self-control. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1576619. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1576619
Key Points
- Focus: This study explored how basic psychological needs, anxiety, self-control, and psychological resilience influence academic procrastination among college students.
- Method: Researchers conducted a cross-sectional study using self-report measures from 612 Chinese university and college students, analyzing relationships through mediation and moderation models.
- Findings: Unmet psychological needs were linked to higher academic procrastination, primarily through reduced self-control. Anxiety and self-control jointly mediated this relationship, and psychological resilience buffered the negative effects of low self-control.
- Implications: The study highlights the importance of fostering basic psychological need satisfaction and resilience to reduce procrastination, offering guidance for educational interventions and student mental health programs.
Rationale
Academic procrastination is a widespread challenge that hampers learning and psychological well-being.
While past research links unmet psychological needs with procrastination, the mechanisms remain unclear.
This study addresses that gap by examining the mediating roles of anxiety and self-control, and the moderating role of psychological resilience. Understanding these pathways can inform targeted interventions.
Additionally, the study offers a cross-cultural perspective by sampling Chinese students, enhancing global understanding of procrastination dynamics.
The findings aim to clarify how emotional and cognitive self-regulation processes are influenced by need satisfaction, building on Self-Determination Theory.
Method
The researchers used a cross-sectional survey-based design with validated psychological scales.
Data were analyzed using SPSS and PROCESS Macro to examine mediation and moderated mediation models with bootstrapped confidence intervals.
Procedure
- Participants gave electronic informed consent.
- They completed five online self-report questionnaires:
- Basic Psychological Needs
- State Anxiety
- Self-Control
- Academic Procrastination
- Psychological Resilience
- Responses were screened for inattentiveness and inconsistencies.
- Data were analyzed for correlations, mediation, and moderation effects.
Sample
- Final sample size: 612 students (51.14% male, 48.86% female)
- Age: Not specified, but students represented all university years.
- Academic levels: 47.22% bachelor’s programs, 52.78% vocational programs
- Fields: 51.63% Arts, 18.30% Science, 30.07% Engineering
- Education stage: 42.97% first-year, 40.20% upper-year, 16.83% graduating
Measures
- Basic Psychological Needs Scale (BPNS): Assesses autonomy, competence, and relatedness.
- State Anxiety Questionnaire: Measures temporary anxiety symptoms through 20 items.
- Self-Control Scale (SCS): Evaluates self-regulation abilities like impulse control and effort.
- Procrastination Assessment Scale for Students (PASS): Assesses behavioral frequency of academic procrastination.
- Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC): Measures hardiness, optimism, and persistence.
Statistical Measures
- Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlations
- Independent t-tests and ANOVAs for demographic differences
- Mediation (PROCESS Model 6) and moderated mediation (Model 87)
- Bootstrapping with 5,000 samples and 95% confidence intervals
Results
- Students with unmet psychological needs showed higher academic procrastination.
- Self-control mediated the relationship between basic needs and procrastination.
- Anxiety and self-control together also mediated this relationship.
- Anxiety alone did not significantly mediate the relationship.
- Psychological resilience moderated the effect of self-control on procrastination, weakening the negative impact of low self-control.
- Resilience also moderated the indirect effects of anxiety and self-control in the mediation chain.
- Significant differences in procrastination were found by gender, academic program, discipline, and year of study.
Insight
This study reveals how unmet psychological needs increase procrastination by draining emotional and cognitive self-regulation resources.
Self-control is a more reliable mediator than anxiety alone. Importantly, resilience can protect students with lower self-control from falling into procrastination cycles.
These findings enrich Self-Determination Theory by incorporating emotional and cognitive pathways and highlight resilience as a critical buffer.
This work extends previous models by introducing a moderated sequential mediation framework.
Future studies could test these findings longitudinally or through interventions that build self-regulation and resilience.
Clinical Implications
- Educators and counselors should prioritize fostering autonomy, relatedness, and competence in students.
- Resilience training (e.g., mindfulness, CBT) may be particularly effective for students prone to procrastination.
- Universities should implement structured self-control skills training and mental health programs.
- Group counseling and academic coaching could target at-risk students based on demographic predictors.
- Institutional policies could focus on supportive environments that reduce anxiety and promote psychological safety.
Strengths
This study had several methodological strengths, including:
- The study uses a large and diverse sample, improving generalizability within the Chinese context.
- Multiple validated instruments were employed with strong internal consistency.
- The design included rigorous controls for inattentive responding and data quality.
- The use of bootstrapping in mediation models strengthens the reliability of findings.
- Incorporation of both mediators and a moderator allows for a nuanced understanding of the underlying mechanisms.
Limitations
This study also had several limitations, including:
- The cross-sectional design prevents conclusions about causality.
- The sample was limited to Chinese students, which may limit cross-cultural applicability.
- Self-report measures are subject to biases such as social desirability and response fatigue.
- The study lacked direct behavioral measures of procrastination.
- Vocational and part-time students were underrepresented, limiting demographic generalizability.
Socratic Questions
- Why might self-control mediate the relationship between need satisfaction and procrastination more strongly than anxiety?
- Could different types of anxiety (e.g., test anxiety vs. general anxiety) show stronger mediation effects?
- How might cultural values around academic achievement shape psychological needs and procrastination?
- What are the implications of this study for designing educational interventions in non-Chinese settings?
- Are there alternative explanations for the observed link between self-control and procrastination?
- How might these findings translate into workplace settings or adult education programs?
- If resilience moderates the effects of low self-control, how can we train or enhance resilience in students?
- Could longitudinal research yield different insights about how procrastination develops over time?
- What role do external motivators (e.g., grades, job prospects) play in buffering against procrastination?
- How might this model apply to online or distance-learning students, who face different stressors?
