Psychological Well-Being and Its Relationship with Active and Passive Procrastination: A Study on Students of a Business University in Karachi

Zeenat Ismail

doi:10.5901/ajis.2016.v5n3p87

Abstract

Procrastination has been seen as a dysfunctional and an unproductive behavior, which impacts the psychological well-being negatively. However, a study by Chu and Choi (2005) gave a different perspective to procrastination by dividing it into active and passive (traditional) procrastination. This present study examines how psychological well-being is related to the two dimensions of procrastination, since different forms might have different effects on psychological well-being. It was hypothesized that high psychological well-being will be positively correlated with active procrastination and low psychological well-being will be negatively correlated with passive procrastination. For the research, 120 participants form Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi were selected, between the ages of 18 to 24. Morgan and Choi’s Active Procrastination Scale, Chu and Choi’s Passive Procrastination Scale, and Ryff’s Scales of Psychological Well-Being were used. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to find out the influences of active and passive procrastination on psychological wellbeing. The two predictors account for 88% of the variance in psychological wellbeing, F (2,117) = 5.679, p DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2016.v5n3p87

Highlights

Procrastination according to the Oxford Dictionary, “the lack or absence of self-regulated performance and the behavioral tendency to postpone what is necessary to reach a goal.” It is known as the thief of time
Multiple linear regression analysis was used to find out the influences of active and passive procrastination on psychological wellbeing
The present study hypothesized that active procrastination will be higher in males as compared to females; the results revealed that there was no significant difference in the active procrastination between males and females (M=46.3, SD=8.62; t(120)=0.212, p=0.23)

Summary

Introduction

Procrastination according to the Oxford Dictionary, “the lack or absence of self-regulated performance and the behavioral tendency to postpone what is necessary to reach a goal.” It is known as the thief of time. Procrastination according to the Oxford Dictionary, “the lack or absence of self-regulated performance and the behavioral tendency to postpone what is necessary to reach a goal.”. It is known as the thief of time. Ellis and Knaus (1997) defined procrastination as “the lack or absence of selfregulated performance and the behavioral tendency to postpone what is necessary to reach a goal.” Harris and Sutton (1983) have defined it as "an act of putting off a task that either the focal person or other role senders expect to be done at the present time". Procrastination involves time management and affective, cognitive, and behavioral components (Fee & Tangney, 2000)

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