Selected personality correlates of procrastination in Polish adolescents–preliminary report

Abstract

Procrastination, or intentional delay, is a phenomenon that makes the functioning of young people harder.Recently, this issue has been given a lot of attention in psychology and education sciences. Students who delay various activities may experience negative emotions and problems related to psychological health and daily functioning. This research aims to examine the links between selected personality traits (in the Big Five model and underlying autism spectrum disorder) and the propensity for engaging in procrastination behaviours. The research involved 530 primary school students (seventh- and eight-graders), aged from 13 to 15 years (M = 13.8, SD = 0.48; 58.5% females and 41.5% boys). During adolescence, various non-adaptive personality traits may contributeto the development of procrastination, which makes it harder for adolescents to make choices, decisions or fulfill their duties in a timely manner. The research makes use of the following methods: the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI); Polish version by Łaguna, Bąk, Purc, Mielniczuk, Oleś, 2014; the Pure Procrastination Scale (PPS) by Steel, 2010; Polish adaptation by Stępień,Cieciuch, 2013; amended by Stępień, Topolewska, 2014, and the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) Adolescent Version by Barron-Cohen et al., 2006; Polish version by Pisula, Rynkiewicz, Łucka, 2010. The research results show that conscientiousness, agreeableness, and emotional stability are significant predictors of procrastination in early adolescence. It was found there is a significant association between agreeableness and generalised tendency to procrastinate in terms of decision-making and non-adaptation in boys. The results obtained can be useful in the formulation of guidelines for parents and teachers planning and organising the work of students who have problems meeting school demands.