Background: Procrastination is prevalent among students today, and this negatively impacts upon their academic achievement. The current study aimed to explore the relationship between procrastination, perceived stress, saliva alpha-amylase (sAA) levels, and the parenting styles of Chinese first year medical students (MBBS).
Methods: We recruited 140 MBBS students aged 18-22 years. Assessments included the Procrastination Assessment Scale-Students (PASS), the Chinese version of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), saliva alpha-amylase level (sAA), and the Chinese version of the Egna Minnen av Barndoms Uppfostran (EMBU) which assesses parenting style. PSS and sAA levels were assessed at week 1 (baseline), then again at week 2 and week 4.
Results: Male students reported higher levels of procrastination and perceived stress reactions than their female counterparts. Male students reported experiencing higher punishing/severe and rejecting (ie negative) parenting styles, while female students reported experiencing higher warm and affectionate (ie positive) parenting styles. Positive parenting styles were negatively associated with to procrastination and stress reactions, while negative parenting styles were positively associated with procrastination and delayed stress reactions among MBBS students.
Conclusion: Procrastination induced stress in MBBS students, providing further evidence that procrastination enhances stress in young adulthood. Negative parenting styles, such as being punishing and rejecting, had a positive correlation with procrastination.
Keywords: academic procrastination; medical students; parenting style; saliva alpha-amylase; stress.