Procrastination and mental health coping: A brief report related to students

Abstract

Research relating procrastination and mental health suggests that poor adjustment may be explained directly by the stress resulted from worry/anxiety over the delay, and indirectly by the tendency to put off important coping behaviors. In the present study, participants (80 women, 24 men; age range = 18-33 years, M age = 21.12 years old, SD = 2.03) completed Spanish versions of a measure of coping behaviours related to mental health and a procrastination inventory evaluating the tendency to avoid starting or completing tasks across a variety of everyday situations. Results indicated that procrastinators compared to non-procrastinators reported significantly lower positive actions and expression feelings/needs. Significant predictors of procrastination by students were low positive actions, expressing feelings, and assertiveness. Implications are considered relevant to student personality and development.

Full text

Individual Differences Research www.idr-journal.com
201x, Vol. x, No. x , pp. xx-xx ISSN: 1541-745X
© 201x Individual Differences Association, Inc.
1
Procrastination and Mental Health Coping:
A Brief Report Related to Students
Joseph Ferrari*
DePaul University
Juan Francisco Díaz-Morales
University of Madrid
*Joseph Ferrari; DePaul University; Psychology Department, 2219 North Kenmore Ave;
Chicago IL 60619. jferrari@depaul.edu (email).
ABSTRACT - Research relating procrastination and mental health suggests that poor adjustment
may be explained directly by the stress resulted from worry/anxiety over the delay, and indirectly
by the tendency to put off important coping behaviors. In the present study, participants (80
women, 24 men; age range = 18-33 years, M age = 21.12 years old, SD = 2.03) completed
Spanish versions of a measure of coping behaviors related to mental health and a procrastination
inventory evaluating the tendency to avoid starting or completing tasks across a variety of
everyday situations. Results indicated that procrastinators compared to non-procrastinators
reported significantly lower positive actions and expression feelings/needs. Significant predictors
of procrastination by students were low positive actions, expressing feelings, and assertiveness.
Implications are considered relevant to student personality and development.
Chronic procrastination, the purposive and frequent delay in beginning or completing
a task to the point of experiencing subjective discomfort (Ferrari, 2010), is estimated at
20-25% among adult men and women living around the world (cf. Ferrari, Díaz-Morales,
O’Callaghan, Díaz, & Argumedo, 2007). It is associated with higher levels of stress and
anxiety, weak impulse control, lack of persistence, lack of work discipline, lack of time
management skill, and the inability to work methodically (see Díaz-Morales, Ferrari,
Díaz, & Argumedo, 2006; Ferrari & Diaz-Morales, 2007a, 2007b; Schouwenburg, Lay,
Pychyl, & Ferrari, 2004; Sirois, 2006 ). Examining effective coping behaviors, several
studies supported links between procrastination and an inability to regulate negative
emotions, ego-depletion (Ferrari & Pychyl, 2007), speed-accuracy tradeoffs (Ferrari,
2001), or health-related goals (Tice & Bratslavsky, 2000). A variety of studies also
suggest that procrastination is linked to negative mental health outcomes with greater
stress and many symptoms of physical illness (i.e. number of symptoms, visits health-
care professionals, and amount of stress in the past week; see Ferrari, 2010; Ferrari,
Johnson, & McCown, 1995).
Sirois (2006) proposed that procrastination is a behavioral style affecting physical and
mental health, mediated through a behavioral pathway: poor health of procrastinators
may be explained directly by the stress resulting from procrastination, failing to cope

Ferrari... / Individual Differences Research, 201x, Vol. x, No. x, pp. xx-xx
2
effectively, and indirectly by the tendency to put off important health behaviors. The
current brief research extended the known relationships between coping and chronic
procrastination by exploring the underlying structure of frequent delays related to mental
health behaviours among emerging adults (i.e., undergraduates). We expected
procrastination tendencies to be related to mental health coping techniques such as
positive actions, controllability, expression of feelings and needs assertiveness, and well-
being seeking.
Method
Participants
Participants were 104 psychology students (80 women, 24 men; M age= 21.12 years
old, SD = 2.03) at a large, public, urban university in Spain.
Psychometric Scales and Procedure
All participants volunteered to complete, in counterbalanced order, within 20
minutes, both reliable and valid psychometric measures. One measure was McCown and
Johnson’s (1989) 15-item, uni-dimensional Adult Inventory of Procrastination (AIP; see
Ferrari et al., 1995, for psychometrics), assessing the tendency to avoid starting or
completing tasks across a variety of everyday situations. Sample items include “I don’t
get things done on time.” The Spanish version-AIP (Díaz-Morales et al., 2006) had good
internal consistency (original authors
α
= 0.83; current
α
= 0.82). This inventory was
back-translated for accuracy from English to Spanish by Diaz-Morales et al. (2006) and
used effectively in previous studies.
The other measure translated effectively in Spanish by Grossarth-Maticek and
Eysenck (1995) to assess health-related coping behaviors was the 25-item Self-Regulation
Inventory-Short (SRI-S) by Marqués, Ibáñez, Ruipérez, Moya, and Ortet (2005). This
self-report coping measure has five factors that examine effective coping skills for life
problems, namely: positive actions, solving problems and facilitating happiness (original
author’s
α
= 0.79), controllability, internal control attributions (original author’s
α
=
0.68), expression of feelings and needs, identification and expression of needs, wishes
and feelings (original authors
α
= 0.72), assertiveness, autonomy and self-confidence
(original author’s
α
= 0.69), and well-being seeking, satisfaction with oneself and others
(original author’s
α
= 0.70). A total SRI-S score, across all 25-items, also was calculated
for analysis (original author’s
α
= 0.84).
Results and Discussion
Table 1 presents the mean sum score for each subscale. As noted from the table,
zero-order correlates found chronic procrastination was negatively related to positive
actions, expression feelings/needs factors, and total SRI-S scores. No significant
differences, however, emerged on well-being seeking, assertiveness, and controllability.
Also, in order to analyze the relative contribution of SRI-S’s subscales in predicting
procrastination, a multiple regression analysis was performed. Consistent with the bi-
variate analysis noted in Table 1, results indicated (standardized betas) that lower score
on positive actions (β = - 0.25, t = -1.98, p < 0.05) and expression of feeling and needs (β
= -0.23, t = -2.21, p < 0.05) predicted procrastination scores.

Ferrari... / Individual Differences Research, 201x, Vol. x, No. x, pp. xx-xx
3
Table 1
Mean Sum Scores and Correlation Coefficients Across Self-reported Measures
M
(SD)
Procras-
tination
Positive
Actions
Control-
ability
Expression
Feelings
Asser-
tiveness
Well-being
seeking
TOTAL
SRI-S
Procrastination
036.84
(10.17)
[.82]
SR/Coping Style
-positive actions
022.40
(3.25)
-.25**
[.68]
-controllability
019.52
(4.46)
-.19
.48***
[.75]
-expression of feelings
019.89
(5.00)
-.27**
.39***
.26**
[.68]
-assertiveness
021.07
(4.06)
-.04
.47***
.23*
.30***
[.69]
-well-being seeking
024.61
(2.93)
-.12
.43***
.13
.31***
.17
[.69]
TOTAL SRI-S score
107.50
(13.29)
-.24**
.79***
.65***
.72***
.65***
.54***
[.82]
Note. Value in brackets along the diagonal is coefficient alpha with the current sample. SRI-S =
Self-Regulation Inventory. n = 104; * p < .05, ** p < .01, ***p < .001
Results from this brief survey study suggest that chronic procrastinators engage in less
positive, constructive behaviors that might regulate their adjustment and mental health
coping styles. Chronic procrastinators also are less likely to express their needs and
concerns, necessary for effective coping. Consistent with popular literature about the
effectiveness of coping styles by procrastinators (see Ferrari, 2010), the present study
supports the claim that chronic procrastination may lead to greater perceived stress plus the
delay or omission of important adjustment behaviors, resulting in poor mental health. The
present study, then, adds to current research on the procrastination and coping, and
connects the negative consequences of procrastination with increased vulnerability for
negative coping styles impacting, for example, physical health (Sirois, 2006). In sum,
chronic procrastination is conceptually self-regulatory failure and, consequently, disables
individuals from guiding their goal-directed activities toward health lifestyles.
Of course, this study is limited by sample size and demographics. We had a small
number of respondents, all traditional age students (as opposed to older working adults),
and all respondents came from Spain. Given the number of cross-cultural studies between
Spanish and, say, English-speaking respondents on chronic procrastination that replicate
the same results (e.g., Diaz-Morelas et al., 2006; Ferrari & Diaz-Morales, 2007a, 2007b;
Ferrari et al., 2007), we are confident that our results may generalize. Still, future studies
need to replicate and expand our results. We also encourage future studies to dig deeper
into understanding the link between chronic procrastination and mental-health, as this topic
needs greater breadth and depth in application and understanding (Ferrari, 2010).
Nevertheless, the present study found a link between these maladaptive lifestyles which
impact on the lives of many individuals.
References
Díaz-Morales, J.F., Ferrari, J. R., Díaz, K., & Argumedo, D. (2006). Factorial structure of
three procrastination scales with Spanish adult population. European Journal of
Psychological Assessment, 22, 132–137.
Ferrari, J.R. (2001). Procrastination as self-regulation failure of performance: Effects of
cognitive load, self-awareness, and time limits on "working best under pressure."
European Journal of Personality 15, 391-406.
Ferrari, J.R. (2010). Still procrastinating: the no regrets guide to getting it done. New
Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

Ferrari... / Individual Differences Research, 201x, Vol. x, No. x, pp. xx-xx
4
Ferrari, J.R., & Díaz-Morales, J.F. (2007a). Perceptions of self-concept and self-
presentation by procrastinators: Further evidence. The Spanish Journal of
Psychology, 10, 91-96.
Ferrari, J.R., & Díaz-Morales, J. F. (2007b). Procrastination: Different time orientations
reflect different motives. Journal of Research in Personality, 41, 707–714.
Ferrari, J.R., & Pychyl, T.A. (2007). Regulating speed, accuracy, and judgments by
indecisives: Effects of frequent choices on self-regulation failure. Personality and
Individual Differences, 42, 777-787.
Ferrari, J.R., Díaz-Morales, J.F., O’Callaghan, J., Díaz, K., & Argumedo, D. (2007).
Frequent behavioral delay tendency by adults: International prevalence rates of
chronic procrastination. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 38, 458–464.
Ferrari, J.R., Johnson, J.L., & McCown, W.G. (1995). Procrastination and task
avoidance: Theory, research, and treatment. New York: Plenum, now Springer.
Grossarth-Maticek, R., & Eysenck, H. J. (1995). Self-regulation and mortality from
cancer, coronary heart disease, and other causes: A prospective study. Personality
and Individual Differences, 19, 781–795.
Marqués, M.J., Ibáñez, M.I., Ruipérez, M. A., Moya, J., & Ortet, G. (2005). The Self-
Regulation Inventory (SRI): Psychometric properties of a health-related coping
measure. Personality and Individual Differences, 39, 1043-1054.
McCown, W., & Johnson, J (1989). Adult Inventory of Procrastination. In JR Ferrari et
al (1995) Procrastination and task avoidance: Theory, research, and treatment. New
York: Plenum, now Springer.
Schouwenburg, H. C., Lay, C. H., Pychyl, T. A., & Ferrari, J. R. (2004). Counseling the
procrastinator in academic settings. Washington: APA.
Sirois, F. M. (2006). ‘‘I’ll look after my health, later’’: A replication and extension of the
procrastination–health model with community-dwelling adults. Personality and
Individual Differences, 43, 15-26.
Tice, D. M., & Bratslavsky, E. (2000). Giving in to feel good: The place of emotion
regulation in the context of general self-control. Psychological Inquiry, 11, 149–159.