The Journal of Medical Education and Development

Introduction: Identifying affecting factors on academic procrastination is considered as a common psychological trauma in academic environments. Thus, this study aimed to provide a model predicts academic procrastination on the basis of personality traits and achievement goals. Methods: This cross sectional analytic study consisted of 258 students of faculty of nursing, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences who were chosen via randomized stratified ratio sampling and answered to a self-report questionnaire consisted of achievement goals, personality traits, and academic procrastination. Results: Analyzing the data showed that a neurosis personality trait had an indirect and positive effect on students’ academic procrastination. Also, the personality traits such as extraversion, consciousness, agreeableness and openness to experience had an indirect and negative effect on students’ academic procrastination. Conclusion: According to the findings, planners of nursing courses should provide a fresh scientific environment to create a bed for formation of positive personality traits in students so that they can provide a context for adopting an appropriate goal-setting pattern, and in turn, reducing academic procrastination. As well, with the implementation of personality measures and deeper understanding of the inner characteristics of learners’ personality, they can be kept safe from exposure to psychological traumas such as academic procrastination.