RESEARCH PAPER
Procrastination and anxiety: Exploring the contributions of multiple anxiety-related disorders
Submission date: 2017-07-05
Final revision date: 2017-11-21
Acceptance date: 2017-12-12
Online publication date: 2018-03-16
Publication date: 2018-04-18
Current Issues in Personality Psychology 2018;6(2):122-129
KEYWORDS
obsessive-compulsive disorderpanic disorderhealth anxietygeneralized anxiety disordersocial anxiety disordergeneralised anxiety disorder
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Background:
Procrastination is the unnecessary delay of a task that subsequently creates anxiety (Rothblum, Solomon, & Maurakami, 1986). Research suggests that procrastination is linked with poorer mental health, but questions remain regarding its association with anxiety disorders. Studies exploring obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and procrastination have found high levels of procrastination in OCD (Ferrari & McCown, 1994), but have also found no association between obsessive thoughts and procrastination (Kağan, Çakır, İlhan, & Kandemir, 2010). Scher and Osterman (2002) found that procrastination correlated with physiological anxiety and social anxiety, but not worry. No previous research has examined the connection between procrastination and health anxiety.
Participants and procedure:
A non-clinical university sample (N = 300) completed online self-report questionnaires in order to examine the relationships between procrastination and symptoms of OCD, generalised anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, health anxiety, and panic disorder.
Results:
Symptoms of panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and health anxiety correlated with levels of procrastination. However, using a multiple regression analysis, only panic disorder symptoms uniquely predicted procrastination.
Conclusions:
It is proposed that people with panic disorder may procrastinate to avoid anxiety inducing situations, or that individuals who frequently procrastinate may become sensitive to the anxiety caused by procrastination, thereby potentially triggering panic disorder. The full implications of these findings are further discussed.
Procrastination is the unnecessary delay of a task that subsequently creates anxiety (Rothblum, Solomon, & Maurakami, 1986). Research suggests that procrastination is linked with poorer mental health, but questions remain regarding its association with anxiety disorders. Studies exploring obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and procrastination have found high levels of procrastination in OCD (Ferrari & McCown, 1994), but have also found no association between obsessive thoughts and procrastination (Kağan, Çakır, İlhan, & Kandemir, 2010). Scher and Osterman (2002) found that procrastination correlated with physiological anxiety and social anxiety, but not worry. No previous research has examined the connection between procrastination and health anxiety.
Participants and procedure:
A non-clinical university sample (N = 300) completed online self-report questionnaires in order to examine the relationships between procrastination and symptoms of OCD, generalised anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, health anxiety, and panic disorder.
Results:
Symptoms of panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and health anxiety correlated with levels of procrastination. However, using a multiple regression analysis, only panic disorder symptoms uniquely predicted procrastination.
Conclusions:
It is proposed that people with panic disorder may procrastinate to avoid anxiety inducing situations, or that individuals who frequently procrastinate may become sensitive to the anxiety caused by procrastination, thereby potentially triggering panic disorder. The full implications of these findings are further discussed.
REFERENCES (42)
1.
Abramowitz, J. S., Deacon, B. J., & Valentiner, D. P. (2007). The Short Health Anxiety Inventory: Psychometric properties and construct validity in a non-clinical sample. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 31, 871–883.
2.
Andrews, G., Hobbs, M. J., Borkovec, T. D., Beesdo, K., Craske, M. G., Heimberg, R. G., ...Stanley, M. A. (2010). Generalized worry disorder: A review of DSM‐IV generalized anxiety disorder and options for DSM‐V. Depression and Anxiety, 27, 134–147.
3.
Antony, M. M., Coons, M. J., McCabe, R. E., Ashbaugh, A., & Swinson, R. P. (2006). Psychometric properties of the social phobia inventory: Further evaluation. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44, 1177–1185.
4.
Connor, K. M., Davidson, J. R., Churchill, L. E., Sherwood, A., Foa, E., & Weisler, R. H. (2000). Psychometric properties of the social phobia inventory (SPIN): New self-rating scale. British Journal of Psychiatry, 176, 379–386.
5.
Craske, M. G., & Barlow, D. H. (1988). A review of the relationship between panic and avoidance. Clinical Psychology Review, 8, 667–685.
6.
Craske, M. G., Sanderson, W. C., & Barlow, D. H. (1987). The relationships among panic, fear, and avoidance. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 1, 153–160.
7.
Ferrari, J. R. (1991a). Compulsive procrastination: Some self-reported characteristics. Psychological Reports, 68, 455–458.
8.
Ferrari, J. R. (1991b). Self-Handicapping by procrastinators: Protecting self-esteem, social-esteem, or both? Journal of Research in Personality, 25, 245–261.
9.
Ferrari, J. R. (1992). Procrastinators and perfect behavior: An exploratory factor analysis of self-presentation, self-awareness, and self-handicapping components. Journal of Research in Personality, 26, 75–84.
10.
Ferrari, J. R., & McCown, W. (1994). Procrastination tendencies among obsessive-compulsives and their relatives. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 50, 162–167.
11.
Ferrari, J. R., & Díaz-Morales, J. F. (2014). Procrastination and mental health coping: A brief report related to students. Individual Differences Research, 12, 8–11.
12.
Fee, R. L., & Tangney, J. P. (2000). Procrastination: A means of avoiding shame or guilt? Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 15, 167–184.
13.
Flett, G. L., Blankstein, K. R., & Martin, T. R. (1995). Procrastination, negative self-evaluation, and stress in depression and anxiety. In Procrastination and task avoidance (pp. 137–167). New York City, NY: Springer US.
14.
Foa, E. B., Huppert, J. D., Leiberg, S., Langner, R., Kichic, R., Hajcak, G., & Salkovskis, P. M. (2002). The Obsessive–Compulsive Inventory: Development and validation of a short version. Psychological Assessment, 14, 485–496.
15.
Gönner, S., Leonhart, R., & Ecker, W. (2008). The Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Revised (OCI-R): Validation of the German version in a sample of patients with OCD, anxiety disorders, and depressive disorders. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 22, 734–749.
16.
Hajcak, G., Huppert, J. D., Simons, R. F., & Foa, E. B. (2004). Psychometric properties of the OCI-R in a college sample. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 42, 115–123.
17.
Hedman, E., Lekander, M., Ljótsson, B., Lindefors, N., Rück, C., Andersson, G., & Andersson, E. (2015). Optimal cut-off points on the Health Anxiety Inventory, Illness Attitude Scales and Whiteley Index to identify severe health anxiety. PLoS One, 10, e0123412.
18.
Heitmann, C. Y., Peterburs, J., Mothes‐Lasch, M., Hallfarth, M. C., Böhme, S., Miltner, W. H., & Straube, T. (2014). Neural correlates of anticipation and processing of performance feedback in social anxiety. Human Brain Mapping, 35, 6023–6031.
19.
Houck, P. R., Spiegal, D. A., Shear, M. K., & Rucci, P. (2002). Reliability of the self-report version of the Panic Disorder Severity Scale. Depression and Anxiety, 15, 183–185.
20.
Kağan, M., Çakır, O., İlhan, T., & Kandemir, M. (2010). The explanation of the academic procrastination behaviour of university students with perfectionism, obsessive-compulsive and five factor personality traits. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2, 2121–2125.
21.
Krohne, H. W. (1993). Vigilance and cognitive avoidance as concepts in coping research. In H. W. Krohne (Ed.), Attention and avoidance: Strategies in coping with aversiveness (pp. 19–50). Toronto, ON: Hogrefe & Huber.
22.
Lay, C. H. (1986). At last, my research article on procrastination. Journal of Research in Personality, 20, 474–495.
23.
Lay, C. H., & Burns, P. (1991). Intentions and behavior in studying for an examination: The role of trait procrastination and its interaction with optimism. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 6, 605–617.
24.
Lee, E. H., Kim, J. H., & Yu, B. H. (2009). Reliability and validity of the self‐report version of the Panic Disorder Severity Scale in Korea. Depression and Anxiety, 26, E120–E123.
25.
Leahy, R. L. (2002). Improving homework compliance in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 58, 499–511.
26.
Liebscher, C., Wittmann, A., Gechter, J., Schlagenhauf, F., Lueken, U., Plag, J., ...Kircher, T. (2016). Facing the fear–clinical and neural effects of cognitive behavioural and pharmacotherapy in panic disorder with agoraphobia. European Neuropsychopharmacology, 26, 431–444.
27.
Luterek, J. A., Turk, C. L., Heimberg, R. G., Fresco, D. M., & Mennin, D. S. (2002). Psychometric properties of the GAD-Q-IV among individuals with clinician-assessed generalized anxiety disorder: An update. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy, Reno, NV.
28.
Morris, P. E., & Fritz, C. O. (2015). Conscientiousness and procrastination predict academic coursework marks rather than examination performance. Learning and Individual Differences, 39, 193–198.
29.
Newman, M. G., Zuellig, A. R., Kachin, K. E., Constantino, M. J., Przeworski, A., Erikson, T., & Cashman-McGrath, L. (2002). Preliminary reliability and validity of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire-IV: A revised self-report diagnostic measure of generalized anxiety disorder. Behavior Therapy, 33, 215–233.
30.
Rodebaugh, T. L., Holaway, R. M., & Heimberg, R. G. (2008). The factor structure and dimensional scoring of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire for DSM-IV. Assessment, 15, 343–350.
31.
Rothblum, E., Solomon, L., & Murakami, J. (1986). Affective, cognitive, and behavioral differences between high and low procrastinators. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 33, 387–394.
32.
Salkovskis, P. M., & Clark, D. M. (1993). Panic disorder and hypochondriasis. Advances in Behaviour Research and Therapy, 15, 23–48.
33.
Salkovskis, P. M., Rimes, K. A., Warwick, H. M., & Clark, D. M. (2002). The Health Anxiety Inventory: Development and validation of scales for the measurement of health anxiety and hypochondriasis. Psychological Medicine, 32, 843–853.
34.
Santacana, M., Fullana, M. A., Bonillo, A., Morales, M., Montoro, M., Rosado, S., ...Bulbena, A. (2014). Psychometric properties of the Spanish self-report version of the Panic Disorder Severity Scale. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 55, 1467–1472.
35.
Scher, S., & Osterman, N. (2002). Procrastination, conscientiousness, anxiety, and goals: Exploring the measurement and correlates of procrastination among school-aged children. Psychology in the Schools, 39, 385–398.
36.
Shear, M. K., Rucci, P., Williams, J., Frank, E., Grochocinski, V., Bilt, J. V., Houck, P., & Wang, T. (2001). Reliability and validity of the Panic Disorder Severity Scale: Replication and extension. Journal of Psychiatry Research, 35, 293–296.
37.
Solomon, L. J., & Rothblum, E. D. (1984). Academic procrastination: Frequency and cognitive-behavioral correlates. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 31, 503–509.
38.
Stead, R., Shanahan, M. J., & Neufeld, R. W. (2010). “I’ll go to therapy, eventually”: Procrastination, stress and mental health. Personality and Individual Differences, 49, 175–180.
39.
Taylor, S., Thordarson, D. S., Jang, K. L., & Asmundson, G. J. (2006). Genetic environmental origins of health anxiety: A twin study. World Psychiatry, 5, 47–50.
40.
Tice, D. M., & Baumeister, R. F. (1997). Longitudinal study of procrastination, performance, stress, and health: The costs and benefits of dawdling. Psychological Science, 8, 454–458.
41.
Van Eerde, W. (2000). Procrastination: Self‐regulation in initiating aversive goals. Applied Psychology, 49, 372–389.
42.
Warwick, H. M. (1989). A cognitive-behavioural approach to hypochondriasis and health anxiety. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 33, 705–711.
Copyright: © Institute of Psychology, University of Gdansk This is an Open Access journal, all articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/), allowing third parties to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and to remix, transform, and build upon the material, provided the original work is properly cited and states its license.
Share
RELATED ARTICLE
| eISSN: | 2353-561X |
| ISSN: | 2353-4192 |
We process personal data collected when visiting the website. The function of obtaining information about users and their behavior is carried out by voluntarily entered information in forms and saving cookies in end devices. Data, including cookies, are used to provide services, improve the user experience and to analyze the traffic in accordance with the Privacy policy. Data are also collected and processed by Google Analytics tool (more).
You can change cookies settings in your browser. Restricted use of cookies in the browser configuration may affect some functionalities of the website.
You can change cookies settings in your browser. Restricted use of cookies in the browser configuration may affect some functionalities of the website.
