Objectives Test anxiety is the most important problem among students around the world. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between behavioral procrastination, decisional procrastination and cognitive avoidance with subscales test anxiety in students of the Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz.
Methods This survey study is correlation in form. A sample of 200 students was selected by multi- stage cluster sampling method. General procrastination scale, decisional procrastination scale, cognitive avoidance questionnaire and Fried-Ben test anxiety were used to collect data. In order to analyze data, canonical correlation and multiple regression methods were used. Data analysis was carried out using the SPSS-17 software.
Results The canonical analysis showed that the linear combinations of predictor variables were correlated with linear combinations of dependent variables. Regression analysis showed that procrastination behavioral and procrastination decisional significantly predicted social derogation (β=0.238, P<0.001; β=0.302, P<0.001, respectively) and cognitive obstruction (β=0.381, P<0.001; β=0.204, P<0.006, respectively). Also, procrastination behavioral and cognitive avoidance significantly predicted tenseness (β=0.314, P<0.001; β=0.246, P<0.002, respectively).
Conclusion It is argued that universities should pay more attention to the factors that play significant roles in decreasing procrastination and decreasing cognitive avoidance. This is more likely to reduce test anxiety among graduate students.