The Efficacy of Interventions Aimed at Reducing Procrastination: A Meta‐Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Abstract

This meta‐analysis investigated the efficacy of interventions aimed at reducing procrastination in randomized controlled trials. Twelve studies, with a total of 646 participants, met inclusion criteria. The significant meta‐analytic effect size, Hedges's g = 1.18, indicates that the interventions had a large positive effect. Three variables significantly moderated effect size: Higher effects were associated with interventions delivered in person, student samples, and a no‐treatment control condition. The results lay a foundation for procrastination treatment and future research.

The Relationship between Physical Activity, Mobile Phone Addiction, and Irrational Procrastination in Chinese College Students

“…A British study has indicated that the more urban people procrastinate, the greater their health problems [ 5 ]. Procrastination is a common behavior among both teenagers and adults [ 6 ]. Globally, people of all ages, especially college students, are negatively impacted by irrational procrastination [ 7 ].…”

Factor Structure and Measurement Invariance of the Academic Time Management and Procrastination Measure

“…The scale may be particularly useful to educational specialists as a precursory method of identifying students who either lack effective time management skills or are at risk of engaging in procrastination. Identifying such students is especially crucial during the early stages of a student's collegiate experience as it provides an opportunity to address deficiencies through interventions designed to increase the student's ability to effectively plan and monitor their time or reduce procrastination (e.g., Malouff & Schutte, 2019;van Eerde & Klingsieck, 2018). University counselors wishing to utilize the scale with students further along in their education (e.g., students in their final semesters of college or graduate students) should interpret the results with caution as it remains unclear if the results generalize to such groups.…”

Procrastination, Perfectionism, and Other Work-Related Mental Problems: Prevalence, Types, Assessment, and Treatment—A Scoping Review

“…They can be defined as behaviors, emotions and cognitions that impede the successful completion of a task in a given time frame, i.e., the difficulty or inability to achieve important work-related goals (10). Research and treatment of work-related problems has primarily focused on procrastination (11,12), i.e., the act of postponing or delaying tasks until the last minute or past the deadline. Procrastination is consistently related to the aversiveness of tasks and duties, i.e., less pleasant tasks are the ones most frequently associated with procrastination (13).…”

“…With regard to empirical evidence, primarily various models of CBT with a focus on procrastination have been applied (12). With regard to self-help, there is evidence from an RCT including 150 participants that internet-based self-help using CBT principles is effective in reducing procrastination when compared to a waitlist control condition with moderate to large effect sizes for guided self-help and moderate effect sizes for unguided self-help (106).…”