The level of procrastination among dental post graduate students in andhrapradesh, India

Introduction: The dental post graduate students are under continuous stress to achieve the impeccable standards expected by the trainers. Lack of time management can lead to procrastination of academic and clinical tasks that ultimately could impact their academic performance. The aim this study to assess the level of procrastination among dental post graduate students in Andhra Pradesh, India. Material and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted over a period of 2 months from August to September 2013 among dental post graduate students of nine different specialities in Andhra Pradesh, India.Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire. Finally data was collected to assess the participant’s academic performance by collecting their under graduate academic grades. Results: There was higher representation of dental post graduate students from department of oral pathology in higher procrastinators category (28.57%) and most of the subjects from department of orthodontics were in lower procrastinators category (31.3%).As the age increased the level of procrastination decreased. Majority of the subjects aged ≥28 years were identified as low procrastinators (33.3%). Overall 15.94% of dental post-graduates who were considered high procrastinators had below average under graduate academic grades. 17.64%of dental post-graduates who were considered low procrastinators had above average under graduate academic grades. Conclusion: There was an inverse relation between the level of procrastination and academic performance indicating that dental post graduates who were considered high procrastinators had below average under graduate academic grades.