High Procrastination Research Articles

Cannabis, Decision-Making, and Online Assistance Seeking.

Maladaptive decision-making strategies could contribute to cannabis-related problems, as some individuals may neither select safe patterns of cannabis use, nor seek treatment. To explore decision-making styles and their relationship to cannabis-related harm, 153 respondents completed the Cannabis Use Disorders Identification Test-Revised (CUDIT-R), the Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire (MDMQ), and answered questions about their willingness to seek online: (1) further information or (2) treatment for cannabis-related issues. Multiple regression considered relationships between problematic cannabis use, decision-making style, and cannabis use within the past month. Subscales of the CUDIT-R revealed that: (1) hazardous use was associated with higher hypervigilance and higher decisional self-esteem; (2) dependence symptoms were associated with lower vigilance and higher procrastination; and (3) harmful use was associated with higher procrastination. People with symptoms of CUD were less likely to seek further help or support online if prone to procrastination or buckpasssing. Decisional style influenced cannabis use and symptoms. Those people with cannabis-related problems that did not seek online assistance were defensively avoidant. Procrastination is a feature of problematic cannabis use. Online offers of assistance may be ignored by defensively avoidant CUD clients. (Am J Addict 2019;00:1-7).

Attenuated brain activity during error processing and punishment anticipation in procrastination \u2013 a monetary Go/No-go fMRI study

Procrastination is a self-regulatory failure in which people voluntarily but irrationally delay important tasks. Trait procrastination is estimated to affect 15–20% of the total population and leads to a significant decrease in performance, satisfaction with achievements, and quality of life. Procrastination is related to impulsivity and reduced executive control, especially in the domain of inhibition. Moreover, procrastinatory tendencies seem to increase with negative affect, suggesting impaired emotion regulation. The aim of this study was to investigate the neuronal mechanisms of inhibition, error processing, and behavioral control under pressure of punishment in procrastinators. Non-student subjects recruited to low (LP) and high procrastination (HP) groups performed an fMRI monetary Go/No-go task. HP showed significantly lower error-related activity in ACC than LP. There was also a significant group by condition interaction in the ACC and right DLPFC suggesting increase of control during the punishment condition in LP but not HP group. These results suggest that procrastinators have impaired error processing mechanisms which may add to the persistence of procrastination through difficulties in correction of faulty behaviors. Procrastination also seems to be related to a decreased ability to intensify self-control in more demanding situations and/or impaired coping in the context of negative situations.

General and Life-Domain Procrastination in Highly Educated Adults in Israel.

Procrastination is usually perceived as a general behavioral tendency, and was studied mostly in college students in academic settings. Recently there is a growing body of literature to support the study of procrastination in older adults and in different life-domains. Based on these advances in the literature, the present study examined procrastination in 430 highly educated adults in Israel. Findings showed that respondents reported significantly higher procrastination in maintaining health behaviors and spending leisure time rather in other life-domains. Forty percent of participants reported high procrastination in health behaviors, while only 9.5% reported this level of procrastination in parenting and 1% in the general tendency to procrastinate. Further findings suggested that 25% of respondents reported high procrastination in four or more life-domains, and 40%—in one to three life-domains. The general tendency to procrastinate was moderately associated with procrastination in finance, education, and career life-domains and weekly with other life-domains. Fourteen percent of participants reported that procrastination influenced their life the most in health behaviors, 12% in career and education and 11% in romance and family life. These initial findings contribute to the overall perspective of life-domain specificity of procrastination in adults, and emphasize the importance to further study and develop a life-span perspective.

Differences in Learning Characteristics Between Students With High, Average, and Low Levels of Academic Procrastination: Students' Views on Factors Influencing Their Learning.

Within the field of procrastination, much research has been conducted on factors that have an influence on academic procrastination. Less is known about how such factors may differ for various students. In addition, not much is known about differences in the process of how factors influence students’ learning and what creates differences in procrastination behavior between students with different levels of academic procrastination. In this study learning characteristics and the self-regulation behavior of three groups of students with different levels of academic procrastination were compared. The rationale behind this was that certain learning characteristics and self-regulation behaviors may play out differently in students with different levels of academic procrastination. Participants were first-year students (N = 22) with different levels of academic procrastination enrolled in an elementary teacher education program. The selection of the participants into three groups of students (low procrastination, n = 8; average procrastination, n = 8; high procrastination, n = 6) was based on their scores on a questionnaire measuring the students’ levels of academic procrastination. From semi-structured interviews, six themes emerged that describe how students in the three groups deal with factors that influence the students’ learning: degree program choice, getting started with study activities, engagement in study activities, ways of reacting to failure, view of oneself, and study results. This study shows the importance of looking at differences in how students deal with certain factors possibly negatively influencing their learning. Within the group of students with average and high levels of academic procrastination, factors influencing their learning are regularly present. These factors lead to procrastination behavior among students with high levels of academic procrastination, but this seems not the case among students with an average level of academic procrastination.

Time Perspective as a Predictor of Procrastination

Abstract The article presents the results of the study of time perspective as a predictor of procrastination. It shows how the test subjects with high procrastination rates are more pessimistic and negative about past events; they are less focused on future plans, goals, and prospects, and are convinced that their future is predetermined and cannot be influenced by individual actions. The discriminant analysis revealed negative attitude toward the past, fatalistic perception of the future, and lack of orientation to the future as factors predicting a high level of procrastination. Approaches to reduction of procrastination level in the work of organization are as well formulated.

Procrastinación académica en el alumnado universitario no tradicional

Introducción. La procrastinación es la acción de retrasar la realización de tareas necesarias, hasta el extremo de generar malestar y perjuicios a los individuos que la protagonizan. La presencia de alumnado no tradicional en las universidades se ha incrementado notablemente en las últimas décadas. Este tipo de estudiantes encuentra dificultades en sus estudios, las cuales podrían propiciar una mayor incidencia de las conductas procrastinadoras. Para comprobarlo, comparamos los niveles de procrastinación y motivos para procrastinar entre estudiantes tradicionales y no tradicionales.Método. Utilizamos una muestra de 479 estudiantes colombianos. Los niveles de procrastinación y motivos para procrastinar fueron medidos a partir de la Procrastination Assessment Scale – Students (PASS). En el análisis de datos se utilizaron estadísticos descriptivos, análisis factorial exploratorio, prueba t para muestras independientes y d de Cohen.Resultados. Los estudiantes no tradicionales han presentado niveles de procrastinación superiores (t=4,412; p<0,001; d=0,459), aunque los motivos para procrastinar no difieren de los aportados por estudiantes tradicionales. El carácter de estudiante no tradicional ha resultado ser una variable relevante en la explicación de la procrastinación académica.Discusión y conclusiones. A partir de estos resultados, se deriva la conveniencia de ofrecer una orientación académica al alumnado no tradicional, con el fin de tratar la procrastinación y reducir así posibles riesgos de bajo rendimiento o abandono en este colectivo estudiantil.

Procrastinators and Clutter: An Ecological View of Living with Excessive “Stuff”

In the present study, young adults (n = 346; M age = 21.5 years old) completed self-reported measures of procrastination, self-identity with possessions, clutter, place attachment, and psychological home to provide an ecological understanding of the context in which chronic procrastinators live. Results found behavioral procrastination tendencies related only to clutter (a belief that living spaces have too much “stuff,” feeling overwhelmed with excessive possessions, and that one’s personal life is negatively impacted by many possessions). Clutter in one’s living space, negative emotions, and impaired social ability all predicted high procrastination scores. Clutter was the best predictor of procrastination as determined by multiple regression. Taken together, chronic procrastinators reported too much clutter (possessions, or stuff), and that clutter interferes with a strong quality of their lives.

Procrastination as a Key Factor in Postpartum Screening for Diabetes: A Qualitative Study of Iranian Women with Recent Gestational Diabetes

Background: Women with previous gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) are at elevated risk for developing Type 2 diabetes. Despite the recommendation for postpartum diabetes screening for these women, the rate of screening is low. Objectives: The present study aimed at conducting an in-depth exploration of the experiences of Iranian women with recent GDM in the process of diabetes screening. Methods: This grounded theory qualitative study was conducted in Tehran, Iran, from 2013 to 2016. In this study, 22 women with recent GDM, who gave birth at least 6 months before the interview, were selected by purposeful sampling method; then, to achieve saturation, the participants were followed using theoretical sampling method. The participants were asked about their postpartum experiences, specially about the process of attendance/not attendance in diabetes screening at 6 weeks to 6 months after child birth, using semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed using Corbin and Strauss method (2008). Results: Three main categories were extracted as postpartum diabetes screening process in women with a recent GDM: to be aware, to be sensitive, and to perceive severity of the threat. Also, the outcomes have been classified into 4 levels: selective screening, accidental screening, primary lack of screening, and secondary lack of screening. In our study, the participants had a range of procrastination in screening, from no procrastination in selective screening to high procrastination in secondary lack of screening. Sometimes, the participants had the intention to be screened but they took no action, did not do the screening due to self-deception, or perceived screening as lacking immediate reward (3 main features of procrastination). Thus, due to procrastination, they did not do the screening. Screening in the range of procrastination, as the core category, was the most obvious concept that implicitly existed in all the data. Conclusions: Even when sensitivity and perceiving a threat about diabetes were activated in women with recent GDM, they did not undertake screening due to procrastination. Procrastination is an important and missed factor in screening. Conducting further studies is recommended to develop evidence-based strategies to decrease women’s procrastination in screening.

Examination of the relationship between emotional stability, personality and procrastination tendency on women employees

Objective: Many of the studies that are conducted on the relationship between personality traits and procrastination that were carried out on students and their academic procrastination reported that the distribution of emotional stability scores on procrastination scores were parabolic. In this study, the relationship between personality traits and procrastination, and the distribution of emotional stability factor scores on procrastination scores were examined on working women. Methods: The Procrastination Scale and the Five Factor Personality Inventory Short Form were administered to 512 working women between the ages of 18 to 60 years. Results: The correlation coefficients calculated between total scores of the Procrastination Scale and factor scores were as follows: -0.17 for extra-version, -0.37 for agreeableness, -0.61 for conscientiousness, 0.50 for emotional instability, and -0.28 for openness to experience. Factor scores of the Personality Inventory explained 0.57% of the variance of the procrastination scores. The factors of conscientiousness and emotional instability made the largest contribution in predicting procrastination scores. Except for the extraversion factor scores there were differences in the remaining four groups’ factor scores when the procrastination scores were considered. Those receiving low procrastination score received the highest score on agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness to experience factors. Those receiving high procrastination score received the lowest total factor scores. For the emotional instability factor, the group scoring low on procrastination received the lowest; the group scoring high on procrastination received the highest factor score. No evidence was obtained about the parabolic distribution of emotional stability factor on the procrastination score. Discussion: Results showed that there was a strong relationship between personality traits and procrastination level in working women. Although there is a strong relationship between emotional stability and procrastination, it is not clear how it occurs.

The procrastinators want it now: Behavioral and event-related potential evidence of the procrastination of intertemporal choices

Much past research has focused on the correlation between procrastination and personality traits (e.g., impulsivity). According to the temporal motivation theory, procrastinators are impulsive and sensitive to delays in time. However, there is still a lack of direct evidence of the tendency of procrastinators to prefer immediate over future rewards. To investigate this question, we recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) in the brain while participants performed an intertemporal choice task involving both time delay and reward processing. The participants were assigned to a high procrastination group and a low procrastination group according to their scores on self-report measures. We found that high procrastination participants preferred immediate rewards compared to future ones whereas low procrastination participants did not. High procrastinators also exhibited a larger and delayed P2 component, indicating delay time processing and abnormal reward processing. No significant effect associated with procrastination was found on the P300 component. Taken together, these findings suggest that high procrastinators are more impulsive and encode the information of delay time more slowly but with a higher level of motivation-driven attention. The current study substantiates higher impulsivity in procrastination and verifies that a difference exists in the sensitivity to time delay between high and low procrastinators.

The benefits of job demands for employees low in self-esteem and high in trait procrastination

We integrate self-efficacy theories of motivation and distraction theories of emotion regulation to propose that job demands boost the self-evaluation and performance of employees characterized by low self-esteem and high trait procrastination. We reason that job demands minimize these individuals’ negative self-directed affect. We find support for these predictions in three experiments that manipulated the physical (Study 1) and cognitive (Studies 2 & 3) demands of a task. These task demands boosted the self-evaluation (Studies 1 & 2) and performance (Study 3) of participants high in trait procrastination and participants’ low in self-esteem, but exerted no or a negative effect on these outcomes for participants low in trait procrastination or high in self-esteem. Moreover, whereas trait procrastination and low self-esteem were associated with greater negative self-evaluation and lower performance in low job demand contexts, they showed no relationship with these negative outcomes in high job demand cont...

Relationship Between Procrastination and Academic Performance Among a Group of Undergraduate Dental Students in India

Procrastination, generally defined as a voluntary, irrational delay of behavior, is a prevalent phenomenon among college students throughout the world and occurs at alarmingly high rates. For this study, a survey was conducted of 209 second-, third-, and fourth-year undergraduate dental students of Bapuji Dental College and Hospital, Davangere, India, to identify the relationship between their level of procrastination and academic performance. A sixteen-item questionnaire was used to assess the level of procrastination among these students. Data related to their academic performance were also collected. Spearman's correlation coefficient test was used to assess the relationship between procrastination and academic performance. It showed a negative correlation of -0.63 with a significance level of p<0.01 (two-tailed test), indicating that students who showed high procrastination scores performed below average in their academics. In addition, analysis with the Mann-Whitney U test found a significant difference in procrastination scores between the two gender groups (p<0.05). Hence, among the Indian undergraduate dental students evaluated in this study, it appeared that individuals with above average and average academic performance had lower scores of procrastination and vice versa.

Self-Efficacy and Locus of Control as Predictors of Academic Procrastination Among Undergraduates in a Nigerian

The study investigated the influence of self-efficacy and locus of control on the procrastination behaviour of 300 undergraduate students from a Nigerian university. The participants responded to three valid scales (General Perceived Self Efficacy Scale, Locus of Control Scale and the procrastination scale). Data was analyzed using the Pearson product moment correlation and Multiple regression statistics. The result revealed that low self-efficacy and external locus of control was reported among majority of the participants. 81% (243) of the participants indicated high levels procrastination while the rest reported moderate to low levels. There was a significant positive relationship between locus of control and procrastination and a significant negative relationship between self-efficacy and procrastination. The two independent variables as a block and separately were effective in predicting procrastination among students. On the basis of these findings, it was suggested that education stakeholders should take into consideration the need to introduce into university curriculum content factors that would further assist students to acquire high self-efficacy and competencies to become internally motivated to have internal locus of control in order to minimize or manage procrastination behaviour.

Psychometric validation of two Procrastination inventories for adults: Arousal and avoidance measures

Lay's (1986) General Procrastination (GP) and McCown and Johnson's (1989) Adult Inventory for Procrastination (AIP) measures were evaluated across two studies. In Study 1, both inventories were administered to two groups of college students (Sample 1 n=52; Sample 2 n=59), who were asked to return completed scales before the end of the semester. Students' attendance rates at study groups, test grades, and time required to complete multiple choice items on two exams also were recorded. Results indicated that high procrastination scores were related to a higher number of days to return completed inventories but not attendance, exams scores, or test-taking time. In Study 2, nontraditional age university students (n=215) were asked to complete procrastination measures as well as sensation-seeking, need for cognition, and self-esteem inventories. Factor analysis indicated that scores on Lay's (1986) scale loaded on sensation-seeking, while McCown and Johnson's (1989) scale loaded negatively with need for cognition and self-esteem variables. It would appear that although the scales assessed procrastinatory behavior, one inventory is indicative of sensation-seeking and the other the avoidance of poor self-esteem.

An assessment of appraisal, anxiety, coping, and procrastination during an examination period

High School students responded to an inventory which included dispositional measures of procrastination and social evaluation trait anxiety. Subsequently, and 7 days prior to their first examination (Stage 1), each of the 40 female and 23 male students completed measures of state anxiety, perception of the stressor situation, and ways of coping, all with regard to their approaching exam period. These judgments were repeated 1 day prior to their first examination (Stage 2), and again 5 days after their last examination (Stage 3). Correlational analyses indicated that threat and harm perceptions were highly positively related to state anxiety, whereas challenge and gain were moderately and negatively related. State anxiety was linked to emotion‐focused coping, but was independent of problem‐focused coping. In an analysis of variance, high procrastination, high trait anxious subjects felt the least challenged at Stage 1. In a ‘maverick’, post hoc analysis, high procrastinators were more likely than low procrastinators at each stage to promise themselves ‘that things will be different next time’. Discussion included an assessment of the need for specificity when using the Ways of Coping (Folkman and Lazarus, 1985) scale.