Procrastination in early childhood: Associations with self-regulation, negative affectivity, and the home environment

Abstract

To examine the roles of self-regulation, negative affectivity, and the home environment in the development of procrastination, the current study investigated children's procrastination in relation to conscientiousness, effortful control, negative affectivity, parenting, and socioeconomic status. Parents of 3- to 6-year-olds (N = 396; 81.8% White) completed questionnaires assessing the above-mentioned variables. Children's age (β = .072), conscientiousness (β = -.512), effortful control (β = -.134), and negative affectivity (β = .269) were significantly related to children's procrastination after controlling for parenting, and socioeconomic status. Although parental democratic participation, parental education, and family income were negatively related to children's procrastination, they were not associated with procrastination after considering children's personality and temperamental variables. When children were divided into younger (3- and 4-year-olds) and older (5- and 6-year-olds) age groups, the results did not change except for parental education. Parental education was not associated with younger children's procrastination, but it was negatively associated with older children's procrastination. Self-regulation and negative affectivity were most strongly associated with early childhood procrastination compared to aspects of the home environment. Thus, procrastination might be an early emerging tendency that is closely related to personality and temperament. Future studies should continue to investigate the developmental trajectory of procrastination and explore how contextual factors influence its early and ongoing development.