Date of Award

5-30-2026

Thesis Type

PhD

Document Type

Thesis

Divisions

Faculty of Education

Department

Department of Educational Psychology and Counselling

Institution

Universiti Malaya

Abstract

This study addresses the issue of low timely completion rates among postgraduates in Malaysia. Based on this problem, this study aims to investigate the relationships between perfectionism, fear of failure, depressive symptoms, and academic procrastination. A total of 511 postgraduate students from public research universities in Klang Valley participated in the study. Preliminary analyses revealed moderate overall levels of perfectionism, fear of failure, and procrastination, alongside a comparatively higher level of depressive symptoms. Spearman’s rank-order correlations confirmed significant bivariate relationships among all key variables. Subsequent Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) demonstrated that fear of failure and depressive symptoms significantly mediated the relationship between perfectionism and procrastination, while gender did not moderate these effects. Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) identified four perfectionism subtypes: Adaptive, Self-Critical-Driven, Rigid- Driven, and Maladaptive Perfectionism. Multi-group analysis revealed differential mediation pathways: in the first three profiles, both fear of failure and depressive symptoms fully mediated the link between perfectionism and procrastination. In stark contrast, among Maladaptive Perfectionists, only fear of failure served as a significant mediator. These findings highlight those psychological mechanisms linking perfectionism to academic procrastination are profile dependent, underscoring the necessity of personalized, subtype informed interventions for postgraduate students.

Initial

khm

Additional Information

Thesis (PhD) – Faculty of Education, Universiti Malaya, 2026.

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