- Procrastination-”intentionally putting something off or voluntarily delaying an intended course of actions although one expects negative consequences due to this delay”
- Research has shown that approximately 50% of students report being frequent procrastinators 
- The Pure Procrastination Scale (PPS) was created to compile a concise 12 question self-reported survey of procrastination that draws together previous surveys’ work 
- The PPS distinguishes between voluntary delay and observed delay
- Much of the literature on procrastination only uses self-report measures and doesn’t actually measure behavioral outcomes 

Links between self-reports of procrastination and actual procrastination study introduction

- To see whether the PPS actually served as a correct proxy to procrastination behavior 
- To see if procrastination behavior is more spurred by voluntary delay, observed delay, or if the two both relate equally to procrastination behavior 

Links between self-reports of procrastination and actual procrastination study goals

- A medium effect size, Two sided alpha of 0.05, and a power of 0.95
- 93 students in a second year bachelors program 
- Students were from the University of Geneva and spoke French 
- Students completed the french version of the PPS (11 items)
- On the PPS, each question was a 5 point Likert scale (“1= ‘very seldom or not true for me’; 5= ‘very often true for me’”)
- Procedure: students received an attendance sheet and in order to take the final exam and get course credit, they must scan in and return the sheet before a specific date. They weren’t told to do it as fast as possible but just to get it in before the date. Participants had, at a minimum, 3 weeks to hand it in
- Outcome variable-the number of days that passed before the participant scanned and handed in the attendance sheet 


Links between self-reports of procrastination and actual procrastination method

- Voluntary and observed delay were correlated at r=.46 with a p value less than or equal to .001
- Mean procrastination score was M=15.46 with a standard deviation of 11.12 
- Median procrastination score was Mdn=13.5
- Procrastination behavior was significantly correlated with both voluntary and observed delay: r (voluntary delay)=.41 with a p value less than or equal to .001; r (observed delay)=.47 with a p value less than or equal to .001
- “Self-reports significantly explained 26.8% of variance in procrastination behavior”
- Procrastination was predicted by both voluntary delay and observed delay which shows that both of the self report aspects predicted how many days they would postpone the task before doing it 

Links between self-reports of procrastination and actual procrastination results

- Validating the PPS is important for clinical contexts because it is easier to have a patient fill out a questionnaire than actually perform a specific task 
- Validating the PPS is also helpful because the data is made available immediately 
- People might engage in voluntary delay because they want to avoid the negative consequences and feelings that come along with the task (perhaps because they are worried about failing)
- People might also engage in voluntary delay because for one reason or another, they see something positive about delaying the task. For instance, they like the pressure of a fast approaching deadline 
- People who have high observed delay feel like observers of procrastination and can’t do anything to fix it 
- People who have high observed delay “tend to be bad at premediating and at anticipating potential consequences of their present actions which makes it difficult for procrastinators to manage and pursue their personal goals”
- Procrastination seems to be influenced by multiple factors 
- Procrastination can be reduced by creating interventions that reduce impulsivity, increase self control, target goal management, and help individuals complete tasks as soon as they are able to
- Visual imagery can be used to help with premeditation which will allow people to be more realistic about the consequences of their actions 
- Interventions for observed delay might include “targeting their planning skills, by training them to better organize their daily activities, or by improving their time management”
- Interventions for observed delay might also include developing self esteem, motivation, and regulating emotions 


Links between self-reports of procrastination and actual procrastination study discussion

This study aimed to see if self-reported procrastination is correlated with people's actual procrastination behavior. The researchers found this to be the case.

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Pulling from the Latin roots "*pro*" (meaning forward, forth, in favor of) and "*crastinus*" (of tomorrow), procrastination is an irrational, but voluntary decision to delay an intended behavior or task.
- *Irrationality* is defined as "... choosing course of action[,] despite expecting that it will not maximize your utilities..."
- *Intended* is defined as something that one wants to interact with; the avoidance of random or irrelevant tasks would not be considered procrastination.

Procrastination

Zuber, S., Cauvin, S., Haas, M., Daviet, A. S., Da Silva Coelho, C., & Kliegel, M. (2020). Do self‐reports of procrastination predict actual behavior?. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, e1843.

Temporal Motivation Theory (TMT) explains the behavior of procrastination by providing a quasi-mathematical framework, by examining the underlying behavioral components that contribute to (or combat) procrastination. The five components are:
- Value: the tangible and intangible rewards that an individual would receive from completing a task.
- Expectancy: the individual's belief and self-confidence in completing said task.
- Delay: the the period of time an individual needs to wait before receiving the reward from completing said task.
- Sensitivity to delay: the willingness of an individual to tolerate longer delays.
- Utility: the likeness for the individual to perform said task.

Temporal Motivation Theory

References on Procrastination

Where one intentionally delays studying or completing the academic work that they need to submit. 
Factors that contribute to procrastination levels:
- time management
- self-regulation
- participation levels

Procrastination in an Academic Setting

Note that, in addition to causing people to put off their work till the last minute, procrastination causes people to postpone engaging in healthy behaviors (e.g., exercising, meditation, improving eating habits) until the "last minute" (e.g., when they are diagnosed with a life-threatening chronic illness). "1 day later" often becomes "1 year later," which then usually becomes "1 decade later." Hence, overall health is harmed, and the risk for chronic diseases increase.

Procastination | Connection to Health and Chronic Diseases

People can be any combination of -

- Productive/Unproductive procrastinators

- Active/Passive procrastinators

Types of procrastination

Much of the research has been conducted on binary gender identifying participants. The data has problems with inconsistent results, but it appears that men have greater risk for procrastinating in academic life. 

- men are more likely than women to procrastinate
- women show higher levels of academic performance, correlated with less procrastination
- men's procrastination adversely impacts their performance and satisfaction

Gender differences with procrastination

Academic procrastination is the practice of avoiding or postponing academic tasks. It is associated with various negative impacts, including a reduction in the quality and quantity of a student's work, lower goal commitment, less time allotted to studying, decreased course achievement, and a decline in long-term learning. In addition to poor academic performance, academic procrastination can elicit negative emotional reactions such as frustration, anxiety, shame, and guilt.

Academic Procrastination

Procrastination can help promote creativity when intrinsic motivation is low.

Creativity and Procrastination

The expectation that a person who is intrinsicly motivated will show less procrastination is not backed by research. Less than 10 persent of variance in procrastination is due to high levels of inttrinsic motivation. It may have an influence on how people will directtheir attention during the time they are procrastinating, possibly causing specific types of procrastination or more thought focus on the task.

Intrinsic motivation does not mediate procrastination

There is a curvilinear relationship between procrastination and the quality of work, and the creativity of work. 
- Low procrastination can causally influence low creativity and moderate productivity.
- Moderate procrastination can causally influence high creativity and, with intrinsic motivation, high task efficiency.
- High procrastination tends to influence low creativity and low task efficiency, possibly due to time crunch.

Levels of procrastination

Links between self-reports of procrastination and actual procrastination study

Procrastination is often acknowledged in therapeutic treatment of ADHD, but it is not officially seen as an ADHD-related symptom. As a result, little is known about the role of procrastination in symptomology of ADHD. This study aims to explore the relationship between procrastination and ADHD-related symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity in undergraduate college students. Results indicated that only inattention was correlated with general procrastination, as well as susceptibility to temptation.

The relation between procrastination and symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in undergraduate students

This could consist of learning how to break down large tasks into smaller chunks, how to set more realistic deadlines for themselves, and reconsidering perfectionistic beliefs.

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