Sex, Education and Procrastination: An Epidemiological Study of Procrastinators’ Characteristics from A Global Sample

Abstract

Procrastination is a common form of self-regulatory failure with substantive connections to lower levels of health, wealth and well-being. Conducting an epidemiological study, we determined the characteristics of prototypical procrastinators from a global sample based on several relevant self-reported demographic variables. Using an internet sampling strategy, we surveyed 16 413 English-speaking adults (58.3% women; 41.7% men: M age = 38.3 years, SD = 14), specifically on the variables of sex, age, marital status, family size, education, community location, and national origin. Almost all the results were statistically significant because of our large sample size. However, procrastination tendencies were most prominently associated with sex, age, marital status, education and nationality. Procrastinators tended to be young, single men with less education, residing in countries with lower levels of self-discipline. Notably, procrastination mediated the relationship between sex and education, providing further support that men are lagging behind women academically because of lower self-regulatory skills. Given procrastination's connection with a variety of societal ailments (e.g. excessive debt, delayed medical treatment), identifying risk factors and at risk populations should be helpful for directing preventative public policy.

Academic Procrastination Among International Graduate Students: The Role of Personality Traits, the Big-Five Personality Trait Taxonomy

“…The present results were consistent with earlier research findings conducted by Ferrari et al (2007), who found no significant nationality differences between nations on avoidant procrastination. On the other hand, our results are in contrast with the findings of Steel and Ferrari (2013), who found a significant relationship between procrastination and nationality. The present study could have several limitations.…”

“…The difference between men and women's tendency to procrastinate is another controversial issue among researchers, since although the findings of several studies reported no significant differences between male and females in the incidence of procrastination (; Johnson & Bloom, 1995;Watson, 2001;Ferrari et al, 2007), others reported significant differences (Erdinç, 2009;Klassen et al, 2009). Steel and Ferrari (2013) found a significant correlation between procrastination and gender based on the assumption that men potentially have higher levels of impulsiveness (Strüber, Lück & Roth, 2008, as cited in Steel & Ferrari, 2013) and lower levels of self-control (Higgins & Tewksbury, 2006, as cited in Steel & Ferrari, 2013. As such, Steel and Ferrari conclude that males tend to procrastinate more than females.…”

A Multivariate Investigation into Academic Procrastination of University Students

“…It is observed that the mean APS score is highest for the age group less than 20 and second highest for the age group 21 -25. Svartdal et al [13] and Steel & Ferrari [14] observed that as age increases, the level of procrastination decreases. Similar, results were observed in the current study as well, which showed that age and overall APS scores are negatively correlated to each other, which implies that as age increases procrastination decreases.…”

Tipología de Actividades Extraescolares y Procrastinación Académica en Alumnado de Educación Primaria

“…De acuerdo a Steel y Ferrari (2013), probablemente los autores actualmente más destacados en este campo, la procrastinación es un fallo en los procesos de autorregulación o -en lenguaje más llano-es el hábito de dejar para mañana lo que se debe y se puede hacer hoy, sin que exista una causa objetiva que explique la demora (Lay, 1997). Esta característica se ha venido estudiando en psicología desde la década de los ochenta y ha demostrado ser claramente perjudicial para el aprendizaje académico, tal y como comentan algunos autores desde distintas latitudes (Clariana, Gotzens y Badia, 2011;Clariana, Gotzens, Badia y Cladellas, 2012;Lakshminarayan, Potdar y Reddy, 2013;Lubbers, Van Der Werf, Kuyper y Hendriks, 2010;Moon y Illingworth, 2005, Rothblum, Solomon y Murakami, 1986.…”

“…Además de acompañar a las notas académicas bajas, la procrastinación presenta otras implicaciones negativas, por ejemplo, estar relacionada con un nivel también más bajo de consciencia como factor de personalidad (Steel, 2007), y con un nivel de neuroticismo (Özer, 2012) e impulsividad más altos (Schouwenbourg y Lay, 1995;Steel y Ferrari, 2013); correlacionar negativamente con la utilización de estrategias metacognitivas y de autorregulación durante el aprendizaje (Howell y Watson, 2007); estar conectada con un mayor nivel de malestar personal (Rice, Richardson y Clark, 2012); y estar asociada con una menor motivación intrínseca en relación a los estudios (Schouwenbourg y Groenewoud, 2001). Esto por mencionar solo algunas de las particularidades más habitualmente relacionadas con esta tendencia.…”