Abstract

It is well known that academic delay and poor academic progress at universities depend on students' achievements. This can be affected by what is known as mental wandering, which distracts them from academic focus. This wandering can have a negative impact on many of the characteristics students possess, especially academic procrastination. To confirm these assumptions, the researchers applied the two scales to a sample of (180) male and female students at Al-Mustansiriya University, distributed across the colleges. The results revealed weak mental wandering and academic procrastination among the students. Furthermore, there were differences between males and females in mental wandering and academic procrastination, with differences in demographic variables such as specialization (humanities or science) and marital status (married or unmarried). There was also a statistically significant correlation between mental wandering and academic procrastination among Al-Mustansiriya University students. Accordingly, the researchers developed a number of recommendations and proposals to benefit from the results of the current research, both theoretically and practically, for both researchers and official bodies. Keywords: mind wandering, procrastination, academic procrastination, university students.