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

Abstract

Procrastination is defined as the tendency to delay activities that have to be completed before a deadline. It is often part of psychotherapies for adults with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, procrastination is officially not acknowledged as an ADHD-related symptom. Therefore, little is known about the role of procrastination in ADHD. We investigated the relation between procrastination and ADHD-related symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity in 54 students with varying levels of self-reported ADHD-related behaviours. Various measures of procrastination were used, including questionnaires of academic, general procrastination and susceptibility to temptation as well as direct observation of academic procrastination while solving math problems. We expected a positive relation between severity of ADHD-related behaviours and procrastination, specifically for impulsivity. However, partial correlations (corrected for the other symptom domain of ADHD) indicated that only inattention was correlated with general procrastination. This specific and preliminary finding can stimulate future research in individuals diagnosed with ADHD.

Hyperfocusing as a dimension of adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

“…The results of the present study also revealed that the procrastination in adult patients with ADHD was not associated with hyperactivity and impulsivity. However, procrastination was associated with attention deficit as implied in previous research (Niermann & Scheres, 2014).…”

“…Based on the negative experiences related to procrastination, especially adolescents and adults with ADHD are prone to develop negative beliefs about the self (Steel, 2007). Procrastination was also associated with inattention, perfectionism, fear of failure, depression and low self-esteem (Niermann & Scheres 2014;Pychyl, Coplan, & Reid, 2002;Solomon & Rothblum, 1984). So, procrastination is often part of the psychotherapies for adults with ADHD who usually present low self-esteem and develop depression (Cook, Knight, Hume, & Qureshi, 2014;Daviss, 2008;Harpin, Mazzone, Raynaud, Kahle, & Hodgkins, 2013).…”

Planning to make economic decisions in the future, but choosing impulsively now: are preference reversals related to symptoms of ADHD and depression?

“…For these paired items, we included the item with the highest score in the sum score. The sum of these items led to a score for hyperactivity/impulsivity and a score for inattention, both ranging from 0 to 27, based on nine items each (see also Niermann and Scheres, ).…”

Prospective memory (partially) mediates the link between ADHD symptoms and procrastination

“…So far, only four studies have targeted procrastination in ADHD, and all of them reported an increased tendency of patients with ADHD to put off tasks and intended actions. Niermann and Scheres (2014) investigated the association of ADHD-related symptoms with procrastination in a nonclinical sample of students and found only inattention, but not hyperactivity and impulsivity, to be significantly related to procrastination. Ramsay (2016) described a case study of a college student with ADHD who procrastinates strongly.…”