Mustafa Afifi
Jumeira University, UAE
Title: Assertiveness, anxiety symptoms, and psychological empowerment levels of the medical students and their relationship with academic procrastination
Biography
Biography: Mustafa Afifi
Abstract
Introduction & Objectives: Procrastination has its negative impact on the learning process as well as the academic achievement. Our aim is to investigate the association of psychological empowerment, assertiveness and/or anxiety symptoms with academic procrastination among medical students.
Methods: Our sample comprised of 99 MBBS students, of the total of students in RAK Medical University chosen randomly based on their online responses to questionnaires sent to their e-mails. The sample answered a self- report questionnaire including demographic data, the Academic Procrastination Scale (APS) developed and validated by McClosky 2012, the Rathus Assertiveness Schedule (RAS), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Assessment (GAD-7) and the Psychological Empowerment Scale (PES) constructed by Spreitzer.
Results: Around 73% of the sample were females, 74% non-Arabs and the mean (SD) age was 20.13 (1.45). The mean (SD) scores of the APS, RAS, GAD-7 and PES were 73.92 (19.46), -2.86 (24.64), 6.98 (5.42), 50.18 (9.14), respectively. There were no gender and no nationality differences found for any of the aforementioned constructs. APS was significantly positively correlated with GAD-7 (r= 0.255), significantly negatively correlated with RAS (r=-0.299), and significantly negatively correlated with PES (r=-0.347) and three of its subscales (competence, self-determination and impact). In stepwise linear regression only PES predicted APS (standardized Beta=-0.282) controlled for sex, age and nationality.
Conclusion: Improving the psychological empowerment of the medical students through coaching is recommended to change their procrastination habits during the academic year.