Lost in the Moment? An Investigation of Procrastination, Mindfulness, and Well-being

In this study, we extend previous work documenting links between procrastination, stress, and physical health by examining the potential role of mindfulness in explaining the high stress and poor health reported by procrastinators. A sample of 339 students (81% female) completed an on-line survey that included measures of trait procrastination, mindfulness, perceived stress, and perceived health. Univariate analyses revealed that procrastination was associated with low mindfulness, high stress, and poor perceived health. Structural equation modelling was used to test the role of mindfulness in explaining the links between procrastination and stress, and between procrastination and perceived health. The overall measurement model indicated a good fit to the data. Tests of the nested mediation models revealed that the effects of procrastination on stress and health were mediated by mindfulness, and bootstrapping analyses confirmed the significance of these effects. Our findings are consistent with previous research and theory on the salutatory effects of mindfulness for health and well-being and indicate that for procrastinators, low mindfulness may be a risk factor for poor emotional and physical well-being.     

A modal profile analysis of procrastinators: A search for types

This paper described two studies in which Skinner and Lei's (1980a) Modal Profile Analysis was applied to scores on a procrastination scale and a number of other trait scales. In study I, ratings on 18 dimensions regarding 10 personal projects were also included in the Analysis. Four profiles were retained in this study, with procrastination defining two of them. In one profile, procrastinators were also high on the neurotic disorganization scale and the rebelliousness scale and had personal projects which, overall, were characterized by high stress, high difficulty and low progress, and on which less than adequate time was spent. In the second profile, the procrastinator was neurotically disorganized, low in organization, energy level, and need-achievement, and had projects which were low in difficulty and stress, and high in progress. In Study II, four profiles were retained with the male data, with procrastination defining two of them. With the female data, three profiles were retained, only one defined by procrastination. With females procrastination, neurotic disorganization, high cognitive failures, and low organization were linked with low self-esteem and low energy level. Such was not the case with males. Rather, in one profile, the disorganized procrastinator was high in other-directed self-monitoring and low in stimulus screening and sensitivity to rejection. In the other male profile, the disorganized procrastinator was high in private self-consciousness and breadth of interest, and low in both stimulus screening and other-directed self-monitoring. Various interpretations of the pertinent profiles in Studies I and II were made, particularly as they might relate to classifications of the underachiever. Correlation coefficients in Study II between procrastination and the other trait measures were also presented.     

Procrastination and Depression from a Cognitive Perspective: An Exploration of the Associations Among Procrastinatory Automatic Thoughts,Rumination, and Mindfulness

Extensive research indicates that procrastination is associated with many maladaptive outcomes including diminished performance and greater psychological distress, but the specific factors and mechanisms associated with the vulnerability of procrastinators still need to be identified. The current study examined the associations among procrastination, ruminative brooding, mindfulness, and self-compassion. Procrastination was measured in terms of academic procrastination as well as a cognitive measure of procrastination examining the frequency of procrastination-related automatic thoughts. In addition to the main focus on the vulnerability of procrastinators, the question of whether students with multiple vulnerabilities would be particularly at risk for depression was also assessed. A sample of 214 undergraduate students completed measures of academic procrastination, procrastination-related automatic thoughts, rumination, mindfulness, self-compassion, and depression. Correlational analyses showed that both procrastination measures were associated with ruminative brooding as well as reduced mindfulness and self-compassion. Moderator-effect tests yielded no significant interactions. Overall, our findings highlight the relevance of cognitive factors in explaining procrastination and depression. Elevated levels on measures tapping cognitive risk factors (ruminative brooding and procrastination-related automatic thoughts) or a low level of protective, self-relevant cognitive factors associated with resilience (mindfulness and self-compassion) were related to a high level of procrastination and depression. These results imply that procrastinators might be vulnerable to depression due to the joint presence of these cognitive risk and resilience factors.     

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.     

Absorbed in the moment? An investigation of procrastination,absorption and cognitive failures

Mood-repair conceptualizations of procrastination suggest that regulation of immediate mood is prioritized over instrumental action towards goals. The aim of the current research was to examine how and why absorption – a mindset reflecting a responsiveness to engaging stimuli – may account for procrastinators’ tendency to focus on immediately rewarding activities at the cost of their long term goals, and the cognitive implications of being absorbed in the moment. Across two student samples (Study 1: N = 103; Study 2: N = 339) procrastination was associated with absorption. A bootstrapping analysis of the indirect effects of procrastination on absorption through state anxiety in Study 1 was significant supporting the hypothesized role of absorption as a vulnerability towards mood-regulating distractions for procrastinators. In Study 2 small but significant indirect effects of procrastination on cognitive failures through absorption emerged, supporting the proposition that absorption may have a cognitive toll for procrastinators. Taken together, these findings suggest a cognitive escape hypothesis to explain how procrastinators deal with negative moods, and provides new insights into the factors and processes that contribute to the self-regulation difficulties that characterize trait procrastination.     

Cognitive,emotional, and motivational factors related to procrastination: A cluster analytic approach

Procrastination is a widespread phenomenon that has been associated with a host of cognitive, emotional, and motivational factors but about which a clear and integrated picture is still lacking. The aim of this study was to use primary established psychological procrastination-related factors in the literature to examine whether reliable subgroups of procrastinators can be identified through cluster analysis. To this end, 180 French-speaking students were asked to complete a measure of procrastination and four questionnaires assessing impulsivity, cognitive emotion regulation, self-esteem, and global motivation. Four clusters were identified: two with the lowest scores of procrastination (“High regulated” and “Regulated/low motivated”), one with higher scores of procrastination (“Emotional”), and another with even higher scores (“Unregulated”). The findings provide insights into the dynamic relationships between key procrastination-related factors and the mechanisms linked to the self-regulation difficulties that characterize trait procrastination.     

Rethinking procrastination: positive effects of "active" procrastination behavior on attitudes and performance

Researchers and practitioners have long regarded procrastination as a self-handicapping and dysfunctional behavior. In the present study, the authors proposed that not all procrastination behaviors either are harmful or lead to negative consequences. Specifically, the authors differentiated two types of procrastinators: passive procrastinators versus active procrastinators. Passive procrastinators are procrastinators in the traditional sense. They are paralyzed by their indecision to act and fail to complete tasks on time. In contrast, active procrastinators are a "positive" type of procrastinator. They prefer to work under pressure, and they make deliberate decisions to procrastinate. The present results showed that although active procrastinators procrastinate to the same degree as passive procrastinators, they are more similar to nonprocrastinators than to passive procrastinators in terms of purposive use of time, control of time, self-efficacy belief, coping styles, and outcomes including academic performance. The present findings offer a more sophisticated understanding of procrastination behavior and indicate a need to reevaluate its implications for outcomes of individuals.     

Out of Sight,Out of Time? A Meta‐analytic Investigation of Procrastination and Time Perspective

Recent theory suggests that trait procrastination is a form of temporal self‐regulation failure that reflects a disjunction between the present and future self. Yet research to date is sparse and inconsistent regarding the nature of the associations of procrastination with time perspective. The current study aimed to meta‐analytically summarize the evidence to date to address the question of how procrastination is linked to future and present time perspective, and to test whether stress and positive affect explained the link between procrastination and future time perspective. A search of the available literature yielded six published studies and three unpublished studies, which were combined with five unpublished data sets for a total of 14 samples with 4312 participants. The meta‐analysis revealed that procrastination had a moderate and significant negative association with future time perspective, and a small but significant positive association with present time perspective. Mediation analyses across two of the samples found that high stress and low positive affect explained in part the association between procrastination and future time perspective. Overall, these findings support the notion that procrastinators focus less on the future and highlight the dynamic interrelations of affect and cognition that underlie procrastinators' intertemporal choices. Copyright © 2014 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Differentiating Procrastinators from Each Other: A Cluster Analysis

Procrastination refers to the tendency to postpone the initiation and completion of a given course of action. Approximately one-fifth of the adult population and half of the student population perceive themselves as being severe and chronic procrastinators. Albeit not a psychiatric diagnosis, procrastination has been shown to be associated with increased stress and anxiety, exacerbation of illness, and poorer performance in school and work. However, despite being severely debilitating, little is known about the population of procrastinators in terms of possible subgroups, and previous research has mainly investigated procrastination among university students. The current study examined data from a screening process recruiting participants to a randomized controlled trial of Internet-based cognitive behavior therapy for procrastination (Rozental et al., in press). In total, 710 treatment-seeking individuals completed self-report measures of procrastination, depression, anxiety, and quality of life. The results suggest that there might exist five separate subgroups, or clusters, of procrastinators: “Mild procrastinators” (24.93%), “Average procrastinators” (27.89%), “Well-adjusted procrastinators” (13.94%), “Severe procrastinators” (21.69%), and “Primarily depressed” (11.55%). Hence, there seems to be marked differences among procrastinators in terms of levels of severity, as well as a possible subgroup for which procrastinatory problems are primarily related to depression. Tailoring the treatment interventions to the specific procrastination profile of the individual could thus become important, as well as screening for comorbid psychiatric diagnoses in order to target difficulties associated with, for instance, depression.     

预期想象对拖延的影响:想象过程和想象结果的效应分离

摘要 为了考察预期想象对不同拖延水平个体拖延行为的影响,本研究采用一般拖延量表(General Procrastination Scale)选取高拖延被试和低拖延被试,要求被试在进行模拟现实的拖延任务之前分别对任务过程和任务结果进行预期想象,比较不同拖延水平的被试在预期想象作用下拖延行为的变化。结果表明：(1)在两组被试中,相比于无想象条件下的拖延行为,对任务过程的预期想象增强拖延行为,对任务结果的预期想象削弱拖延行为;(2)对任务不同成分的预期想象所引发的情绪与拖延行为的变化相关显著。这说明情绪和预期想象是影响拖延的重要因素,合理地操纵对任务不同成分的预期想象可以有效干预拖延行为。     

Compulsive procrastination: some self-reported characteristics

In Sample 1, 46 procrastinators compared with 52 nonprocrastinators claimed lower self-esteem, greater public self-consciousness and social anxiety, and a stronger tendency toward self-handicapping. In Sample 2, 48 procrastinators compared with 54 nonprocrastinators reported a weaker tendency toward seeking self-identity information but a stronger tendency toward a diffuse-identity style, yet there were no significant differences in verbal and abstract thinking abilities. Further research must provide evidence for persistent procrastination as a personality disorder that includes anxiety, avoidance, and a fear of evaluation of ability.     

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.     

Exploring the Time Preferences by Procrastinators: Night or Day,Which is the One?

In study 1, trait procrastinators compared to nonprocrastinators claimed they were ‘night persons’, individuals who are most alert and active in the late afternoon and evening hours. However, there were no significant individual differences in time preference for a set of social and individual activities considered pleasurable. In study 2, participants kept daily records for six straight days of when they had engaged in activities. Proneness toward behavioral (but not decisional) procrastination was significantly related to number of activities performed in the evening. Together, these studies suggest that procrastinators may be ‘late starters’ who prefer to engage in daily activities later in the day than early in the morning. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The portrait of the procrastinator: Risk factors and results of an indecisive personality

Procrastinators purposefully delay the start or completion of tasks for their own irrational reasons and experience anxiety over the delay. However, imagining a typical ‘procrastinator’ evokes several conflicting images with differing experiences and personality correlates. One reason for this muddled picture may be conflated constructs. We posit that decisional procrastination (indecision) may be a related but distinct construct to more generalized procrastination, being highly correlated but with divergent predictors. In two studies, we examine competing hypotheses regarding the affective experiences (happiest moments; Study 1) and risk factors (personality correlates; Study 2) for both indecision and general procrastination using structural equation modeling (SEM). Results found indecision uniquely predicted fewer happy memories across a lifetime and less detail of those memories, controlling for initial affect. Furthermore, different magnitudes of predictive patterns emerged for indecision (strong neuroticism, moderate introversion) and generalized procrastination (strong unconscientiousness and weakly associated with neuroticism). In both studies, general procrastination led to indecision but models with the opposite effect were much weaker, suggesting procrastinating behavior predicts being indecisive but not vice versa. Results suggest differential experiences of indecisive individuals and more generalized procrastinators. Both procrastination traits appear related but distinct, explaining why ‘typical’ procrastinators can look so different psychologically.     

Academic Procrastination in Two Settings: Motivation Correlates,Behavioral Patterns,and Negative Impact of Procrastination in Canada and Singapore

Two studies are reported examining academic procrastination and motivation in 1,145 university students from Canada and Singapore. In Study 1, relationships between procrastination and motivation variables were found to be similar across contexts, with self‐efficacy for self‐regulated learning most strongly associated with procrastination in both contexts. In Study 2, patterns of procrastinating behavior and the negative impact of procrastination were examined and compared in Canadian and Singaporean undergraduates. Participants in both contexts reported writing to be the academic task most prone to procrastination. More Singaporeans than Canadians were classified as negative procrastinators (i.e. rated procrastination as a negative influence on academic functioning). In both contexts, negative procrastinators spent more time procrastinating than neutral procrastinators and displayed lower self‐efficacy for self‐regulated learning. On décrit deux recherches portant sur la motivation et la procrastination universitaire (tendance à remettre au lendemain) de 1145 étudiants du Canada et de Singapour. Dans la première étude, les relations entre la motivation et la procrastination sont apparues être analogues dans les deux pays, la variable la plus fortement associéà la procrastination étant l'auto‐efficience pour l'apprentissage autorégulé. Dans la deuxième étude, les schémas comportementaux de procrastination et son impact négatif ont été analysés et comparés chez les étudiants de 1° cycle canadiens et singapouriens. Les sujets des deux pays ont mentionné la rédaction comme étant la tâche universitaire la plus soumise à la procrastination. Davantage de Singapouriens que de Canadiens été classés en procrastinateurs négatifs (c'est‐à‐dire que la procrastination est considérée comme étant un handicap pour les études). Dans les deux cas, les procrastinateurs négatifs gaspillaient plus de temps que les procrastinateurs neutres et manifestaient une moindre auto‐efficience pour l'apprentissage autorégulé.     

Trait anxiety, defensiveness and selective processing of threat: an investigation using two measures of attentional bias

Attentional biases for threat were examined in a non-clinical sample (N=60), with each participant tested on both the modified Stroop colour-naming and dot probe tasks. Three groups were selected on the basis of trait anxiety and social desirability scale (SDS) scores: “low anxiety” (LA: low trait, low SDS), “repressor” (REP: low trait, high SDS) and “high anxiety” (HA: high trait, low SDS). Results from the colour-naming task suggested that high levels of defensiveness (in combination with low trait anxiety) were associated with greater avoidance of threat. The REP group showed less interference in colour-naming threat than neutral words; whereas the HA group showed increased interference due to threat words. On the dot probe task, there was a general tendency for this non-clinical sample as a whole to show avoidance of social threat relative to neutral words, but there was no bias for physical threat words. Avoidance of social threat was significant only within the REP group. No relationships were found between the measures of cognitive bias from the two tasks, suggesting different underlying mechanisms. Results are discussed in relation to previous findings and theoretical views of the effects of anxiety and defensiveness on the processing of threat.     

社会认知基本维度对现实威胁感知的作用研究

个体感知中表达性优先于能动性,但群体感知中表达性和能动性的作用仍存在争议,两个研究探索表达性和能动性特质在对外群体现实威胁感知中的作用。研究1选用成人被试,采用问卷调查法考察表达性和能动性特质与现实威胁感的关系,发现表达性和能动性特质都能预测现实威胁感,表达性特质越低,能动性特质越高,现实威胁感越强。研究2采用最简群体范式,通过实验法操纵表达性和能动性特质,发现外群体表达性特质越低,能动性特质越高,其现实威胁感越强。两个研究共同说明,表达性和能动性特质在对外群体的现实威胁感知中起到重要作用。     

Overcoming Procrastination: The Effect of Implementation Intentions1

A hypothesized solution for procrastination is the formation of an implementation intention ( Van Eerde, 2000 ). University students (N = 152) were assessed using the Aitken Procrastination Inventory ( Aitken, 1982 ) and were asked to report to an experiment. Half of the participants formed implementation intentions to attend. An odds ratio indicated that participants who formed implementation intentions were nearly 8 times more likely to keep their appointments than those who did not. Low procrastinators reported more often for the experiment than did high procrastinators (Low = 49.4%; High = 30.1%), χ²(1, N = 152) = 5.84, p < .016. The interaction between implementation intentions and procrastination was not significant, χ²(1, N = 152) = 0.28, p < .60.     

Procrastination: Different time orientations reflect different motives

Because procrastination concerns a person’s ability to meet deadlines, temporal dimension is clearly important to this personality construct. In the present study, the characteristic profile of arousal and avoidant motives of procrastinators were related to past, present, and future time conceptions. Participants (140 women, 135 men; mean age = 49.4, SD = 5.55) completed measures of arousal and avoidance procrastination, and time orientation. Results indicated that avoidant procrastination was associated negatively with present-fatalistic time orientation, and arousal procrastination was associated positively with present-hedonist and negatively with future time orientations. The variance accounted for by time orientations was modest, yet provides further evidence that there are distinct motives for chronic procrastination.