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PaperProcrastination

One-to-one therapy at school helped struggling teenagers put things off less

Who it’s about: Children, Students

A teenage girl on a wooden bench turns pages of an open notebook while a young adult sits beside her, smiling.
  1. Helped

    Weekly one-to-one talks on unhelpful thoughts, stress and solving problems helped teens put things off less than waiting.

    Randomised trial of 129 struggling teenagers at school in Pakistan · vs teenagers who waited 8 weeks · they rated themselves · ⚠ many people dropped out; only counted people who finished; numbers unreliable; results look too good to be true

The study

Who took part

129 science students aged 14 to 18 at five schools in Pakistan were split into two groups. They scored high on burnout from school, anxiety and putting things off, and had low grades. Only 63 were checked at the end.

What they did

One group had 6 to 8 weekly one-hour sessions at school, alone with a clinical psychology student who had a supervisor. Sessions covered unhelpful thoughts, stress, solving problems and managing goals and tasks, with homework. The other group waited 8 weeks.

What happened

At the end, the therapy group rated themselves as putting things off much less, while the waiting group stayed about the same. About 6 in 10 teenagers dropped out, only those who stayed were counted, and the paper's numbers don't add up. The difference looks too large to be believable, so treat it with care.

Source

Cognitive behavior therapy for academic burnout, procrastination, self-handicapping behavior, and test anxiety among adolescents: a randomized control trial (2025)

DOI: 10.1186/s40359-025-02371-2

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