The Dynamics of academic procrastination among medical students: a cross-sectional study at Wah Medical College, Pakistan

Introduction: Procrastination has arisen as a serious area of concern, particularly among medical students. Studies have shown that almost 50% of the students delay their work assignments with a reported prevalence of 81% to 90%. Objective: To determine the level of procrastination among medical students and its relationship with age, year of study and screen time in Wah Medical College. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was carried out at Wah Medical College, Wah Cantt. between September to November 2025. A questionnaire was distributed to all undergraduate medical students (n=327) who were willing to participate and collected back after 30 minutes. The General Procrastination Scale was used for data collection. Data was analyzed in SPSS version 23. Difference in the mean score of procrastination between years of MBBS was assessed using ANOVA. Pearson correlation was used to assess the difference in the mean score of procrastination with age and screen time. Results: The mean procrastination score was 42.27 ± 10.51, with 171 (52.2%) students exhibiting severe procrastination. More than half of the students obtained 50–84% in their last professional examination. Procrastination scores differed significantly across the five academic years (one-way ANOVA, p < 0.001). A significant association was also observed between procrastination scores and approximate screen time (t(326)=64.12, p<0.001). Pearson’s correlation analysis demonstrated a weak positive correlation between age and procrastination scores (r(325) = 0.20, p<0.05). Conclusion: The level of procrastination is severe among most of the medical students and it is related with the academic year and screen time.