Time Management Skills of Time Management Skills of College Students: How College Students: How Time Constraint Affects Time Constraint Affects

Stress LevelsStress Levels

Kathryn E. MoorsteinFort Lewis College

Theorists & Previous Theorists & Previous ResearchResearch

Lay & Schouwenburg Bond & Feather Britton & Tesser Brantley, Waggoner, Jones &

Rappaport

Lay & Schouwenburg Lay & Schouwenburg (1993)(1993)

Trait Procrastination, Time Management, and Academic Behavior

Definition of time management Hypothesis and experimental

design Findings and relevance

Bond & Feather (1988)Bond & Feather (1988) Some Correlates of Structure and

Purpose in the Use of Time Time Structure Questionnaire Report of findings Relevance

Britton & Tesser (1991)Britton & Tesser (1991) Effects of Time-

Management Practices on College Grades

Time-Management Questionnaire

Hypotheses and Experimental Design

Report of findings Relevance

Brantley, Waggoner, Jones Brantley, Waggoner, Jones & Rappaport (1987)& Rappaport (1987)

A Daily Stress Inventory: Development, Reliability, and Validity

Description of DSI Reliability & Validity Relevance

Research Question: Where Research Question: Where will highest stress levels will highest stress levels

exist?exist? Directional hypotheses

1. Students with low time management skills will have higher stress levels than students with high time management skills, regardless of the presence or absence of a time constraint

2. Students with low time management skills under a time constraint will have the highest stress levels of all other conditions (students with high time management skills will have lowest stress levels)

Descriptive StatisticsDescriptive StatisticsLow TM SkillsTime Constraintn= 14

 

High TM SkillsTime Constraintn= 12

n=26

Low TM SkillsNo Time Constraintn= 15

High TM Skills No Time Constraint n= 12

n=27

n= 29

 

n= 24  

Gender: 30.2% Male (n= 16) 69.8% Female (n= 37)

Age: M= 20.21 years, 41.5% 19 years (n= 22)

Sample TM AssessmentSample TM Assessment

Time Management Questionnaire

 

Please read the following 18 questions and circle “Yes” or “No” next to each in response. Please answer as truthfully as possible. 1. Do you make a list of the things you have to do each day? YES NO 2. Do you regularly review your class notes, even when a test is not imminent? YES NO

 3. Do you often find yourself doing things which interfere with your schoolwork simply because you hate to say “No” to people? YES NO 4. Do you continue unprofitable routines or activities? YES NO 5. Do you plan your day before you start it? YES NO 6. The night before a major assignment is due, are you usually still working on it? YES NO

Scoring and Placement Scoring and Placement into Conditionsinto Conditions

5 points- “yes”; 1 point “no” Questions 3,4,6, reverse coded Max 100 pts; Min 20 pts “Low” TM skills: 20-60 pts “High” TM skills: 61-100 pts Random assignment into

conditions after skill level assessed

Instructions Sheet: Time Instructions Sheet: Time ConstraintConstraint

Thank you again for your participation in this study. 

You have 10 minutes to complete the questions contained in this study. Please do not rush through each question but rather please think each question through thoroughly before moving on to the next question

and/or section. The researcher will not inform you of how much time remains or when 10 minutes has passed; it is your responsibility to keep track of the time.

 Accuracy as well as efficiency are taken into account when scoring.

 At the top of the first page, please look at the clock and record the time that you begin in the space provided. At

the end of the task, please again look at the clock and record your ending time in the space provided. 

When you have finished or the 10 minutes is complete, please turn your paper over and wait quietly for the other participants to finish.

Instructions Sheet: No Instructions Sheet: No Time ConstraintTime Constraint

Thank you again for your participation in this study. 

Please spend as much time as necessary to complete the questions contained in this study. You may take as long as necessary to complete this task up to 30 minutes. Please think each question through

thoroughly before moving on to the next question and/or section. 

Accuracy as well as efficiency are taken into account when scoring. 

At the top of the first page, please look at the clock and record the time that you begin in the space provided. At the end of the task, please again look at the clock and record your ending time in the space provided.

 When you have finished, please turn your paper over and wait quietly for the other participants to finish.

Sample of Task: Part 1Sample of Task: Part 1

START TIME __________________ I.                     The following is a list of 25 words consisting of 4 to 5 letters with their letters scrambled. Please unscramble as many of the words as you can and write them in the space provided. Unscramble no less that 15 words before moving on to the next section. 1.     sotl _________________2.     renud _______________3.     neog ________________4.     vewa ________________5. kroje ________________

Task: Part 2Task: Part 2

I.                     Using the words you unscrambled on the previous page, please place as many as you can into the most appropriate definition in the space provided. You may reference the previous page but may not add to your answers on the previous page. Complete no less than 8 sentences before continuing on to the next section. These definitions are in no particular order.  You may look back to the previous section for help, but please do not look to the next section until you’ve completed section II.  1.     Someone who says or does things to provoke laughter. _____________2.     Spun fiber for weaving or knitting. ________________3.     Visual counterpart of an object formed by a lens or mirror. ________________4.     Lacking feeling. _______________

Task: Part 3Task: Part 3

I.                     Using the words that you unscrambled in Section I and matched with definitions in Section II, please create as many new words as you can by rearranging the orders of the letters. You may reference the previous pages but may not add to your answers on the previous pages. You do not have to use every letter of the word.  For example: The word “race” can be rearranged to spell “care”, “car”, “ear”, “ace”, etc. Please use no less than 4 of the words used to complete sentences in Section II and write your answers in the spaces provided. Please use the back of this page if you need additional space. 1.     original word: __________________ recombinant words: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________

END TIME ___________________________

Final Stage: Stress Final Stage: Stress AssessmentAssessment

Stress Inventory

 Below are listed a variety of events that may be viewed as stressful or unpleasant. Read each item carefully and decide whether or not you experienced that event while completing the prior task. If the event did not occur, place an “X” in the space next to the item. If the event did occur, indicate the amount of stress that it caused you by placing a number from 1 to 7 in the space next to that item (see numbers below). Please answer as honestly as you can and reflect only upon the prior task when answering so that we may obtain accurate information. X = did not occur 1 = occurred but was not stressful2 = caused very little stress3 = caused a little stress4 = caused some stress5 = caused much stress6 = caused very much stress7 = caused me to panic 

•You performed poorly at task ____•You performed poorly due to others ____•You thought about unfinished work ____•You hurried to meet deadline ____•You were interrupted during task/activity ____•Someone spoiled your completed task ____

Stress Inventory ScoringStress Inventory Scoring Three scores

1. FREQ: number of events reported having occurred

2. SUM: sum total of the impact ratings3. AIR: average impact rating

(SUM/FREQ)

Statistical ResultsStatistical ResultsLow TM SkillsTime Constraintn= 14M= 2.92SD= 1.54 

High TM SkillsTime Constraint

n= 12 M= 2.38 SD= .59

n=26M= 2.67

SD= 1.21

Low TM SkillsNo Time Constraintn= 15M= 2.47SD= .99 

High TM Skills No Time Constraint n= 12 M= 2.12 SD= .77

n=27M= 2.31

SD= .90

n= 29M= 2.69SD= 1.28 

n= 24M= 2.25SD= .69

 

Variance in ResultsVariance in Results

1514 1212N =

TIME

21

95

% C

I S

TR

ES

S4.0

3.5

3.0

2.5

2.0

1.5

1.0

MANAGE

1

2

Conclusions: TM Skills Conclusions: TM Skills Matter!Matter!

Marginally significant main effect of TM skills on stress levels

Suggests that low TM skills are related to higher stress levels

Supports past research Implications

Further ResearchFurther Research Investigate influence of TM skills

on other constructs Stress levels of college students in

general: other influences besides TM skills