Further development and testing of the metacognitive model of procrastination: Self-reported academic performance

•Poorer academic performance is associated with unintentional procrastination.•The metacognitive model of procrastination explains 13% of the variance in academic performance.•Interventions targeting metacognitive beliefs may help to optimize academic performance. Background: procrastination is highly prevalent amongst students and impairs academic performance. The metacognitive model of procrastination explains a significant proportion of unintentional procrastination variance. However, the model has yet to be tested using academic performance as the dependent variable. We tested whether the metacognitive model of procrastination explained self-reported academic performance (AP). Methods: a convenience sample of 204 current undergraduate and postgraduate students completed a battery of online questionnaires that measured intentional and unintentional procrastination, metacognitions about procrastination, AP, and depression. We conducted a series of correlation analyses and a path analysis (based on the metacognitive model of procrastination) that specified AP as the dependent variable. Results: the correlation analyses indicated that there are significant, negative associations between AP and depression, AP and negative metacognitions about procrastination, and AP and unintentional procrastination. The tested model was a good fit of the data and explained 13% of the variance in AP. Limitations: this study is cross-sectional. Conclusions: our findings provide further support for the metacognitive model of procrastination, indicating that novel interventions that target metacognitions may help to tackle procrastination and optimize AP.