Discussion

            This study used self-report measures to test the hypotheses that perseverance would be positively associated with strategic learning use, procrastination would be negatively associated with strategic learning use, and that procrastination would mediate the relationship between perseverance of effort and strategic approaches to learning. The results supported the hypothesis that perseverance is positively associated with strategic approaches to learning and that procrastination is negatively associated with strategic approaches to learning. Furthermore, our final hypothesis was supported as procrastination partially mediated the relationship between perseverance and strategic learning.

            In line with past research, the current study found that greater perseverance of effort, is associated with greater use of strategic approaches to learning (Welch & Vitacco, 2013). This study also supports previous findings in that greater strategic learning use was associated with lower levels of procrastination (Grøm Sæle et al., 2016). The finding that perseverance of effort has indirect effects on academic achievement is consistent with previous research (Chen-Yi & Chang, 2019; Hagger & Hamilton, 2019); however, examining procrastination as a mediator is novel. These results support previous research which suggests procrastination may reflect poorer self-regulation (Wolters & Hussain, 2014), and highlight its importance in the use of strategic learning. From a practical approach, it is possible that students who frequently procrastinate work under tight deadlines and are unable to adopt organized studying approaches due to a lack of time. However, it could also represent underlying cognitive deficits that contribute to an inability to plan and self-monitor. Future research should examine global measures of executive function to determine whether these deficits are explaining this relationship. Procrastination only partially mediated the relationship between perseverance of effort and strategic learning use and there may be other constructs contributing to this relationship such as self-efficacy and academic motivation (Chen-Yi & Chang, 2019). These results indicate that self-regulation is an essential part of strategic learning use, and future research should explore this relationship further to indicate whether self-regulation interventions may assist students with academic performance.

Limitations: Past research has found significant differences between learning strategies in college and high school students (Lawanto et al., 2013). Therefore, to generalize to academic institutions more broadly this study should be replicated with a high school sample.