Personality correlates of decisional and task avoidant procrastination

Abstract

Newly constructed scales of decisional procrastination were validated as a precondition for assessing similarities and dierences between decisional and task avoidant procrastination. The two behavioral dispositions and their concomitant aective reactions (tension during decision making and discomfort about postponing tasks, respectively) were found to be independent. Each disposition was general rather than speci®c with a high inter-correlation of indecisiveness on matters of minor as well as major importance and a high inter-correlation of postponing life routines as well as postponing academic assignments. Two of the ®ve Costa±McCrae personality factors accounted for most of the explained variance in the two kinds of procrastination, Neuroticism for decisional procrastination and Conscientiousness for task avoidance procrastination, respectively. These ®ndings were consistent with theoretical formulations by Lazarus (Appraisal± Anxiety±Avoidance Model) and Kuhl (Action Control Theory).

“I'll look after my health, later”: an investigation of procrastination and health

“…Recent investigations of the relation between procrastination and the five-factor model have identified conscientiousness (Johnson & Bloom, 1995;Lay, 1997;Lay & Brokenshire, 1997;Lay, Kovacs, & Danto, 1998;Milgram & Tenne, 2000;Schouwenburg & Lay, 1995) and neuroticism (Johnson & Bloom, 1995;Milgram & Tenne, 2000;Schouwenburg & Lay, 1995;Watson, 2001) as the two main factors associated with procrastination. These studies indicate that conscientiousness is highly, negatively related to procrastination and makes a significant contribution to the variance in procrastination scores, especially task avoidance procrastination (Milgram & Tenne, 2000).…”

“…These studies indicate that conscientiousness is highly, negatively related to procrastination and makes a significant contribution to the variance in procrastination scores, especially task avoidance procrastination (Milgram & Tenne, 2000). Nonetheless, when compared to conscientiousness, procrastination is the better predictor of trait-specific dilatory behavior (Lay, 1997).…”

“…Nonetheless, when compared to conscientiousness, procrastination is the better predictor of trait-specific dilatory behavior (Lay, 1997). Neuroticism, however, is positively associated with procrastination, and is primarily related to goal-directed tentativeness (Schouwenburg & Lay, 1995) and decisional procrastination (Milgram & Tenne, 2000).…”

Decisional procrastination of school-to-work transition: Personality correlates of career indecision

“…In the case of developmental procrastination, manifesting itself in delaying the latest developmental task through postponing the school-to-work transition, this generalized pattern is career indecision: generalized, informational, emotional, crystallizational and indecision in autonomic action. The specific domain of procrastination, which is the life-span development domain, is a matter of various studies in the context of different determining factors that form reasons for procrastination (Ferrari, Emmon, 1995), most notably situational and personality determinants (Millgram, Tenne, 2000). The domain of procrastination that is recently a target of extra focus is the career indecision of individuals that are about to or already have graduated university (Creed, Muller, Patton, 2003).…”

“…Most notably, the results obtained in this study are in line with results from previous, similar studies (Millgram, Tenne, 2000), which have pointed towards two most important sources of procrastination, namely Neuroticism and Extraversion. The experienced difficulties and tensions when coming to a decision about school-to-work transition are strongly linked to feelings of insecurity, vulnerability and worrying -characteristics subsumed under the heading of Neuroticism.…”