"Guess I Am a Procrastinator": Self and Other Perceptions among Rural US Citizens (2014)

Over the past 30 years, studies indicated that procrastination, a needless/ intentional delay of relevant and timely tasks across situations and settings (Ferrari, 2010: Ferrari, Johnson, & McCown, 1995), is related to a variety of psychological variables, including low states of self-confidence and self-esteem and high states of depression, neurosis, self-awareness, social anxiety, forgetfulness, disorganization, non-competitiveness, dysfunctional impulsivity, behavioral rigidity, and lack of energy (Beswick, Rothblum, & Mann, 1988; Ferrari, et al. 1995; Lay, 1986; Pychyl & Flett, 2012; Senecal, Koestner, & Vallerand, 1995). As many as 20-25% of North American adult men and women may be characterized as self-reporting, dispositional, procrastinators, as reported by Ferrari and colleagues (Ferrari, 2010; Ferrari, Diaz-Morales, O'Callaghan, Diaz, & Argumedo, 2007; Ferrari, O'Callahan, & Newbegin, 2004). Such US rates are greater than rates of depression, anxiety disorder, or substance abuse, indicating that procrastination is part of a larger social problem (Ferrari, 2010). Steel and Ferrari (2013), in fact, reported from an on-line, epidemiological survey study of over 16,000 English-speaking adults from across the globe that procrastinators were young, single men with less education, residing in countries with lower levels of self-discipline. While these results are intriguing, the data set contained such a large sample size that most analyses were statistically significant. Also, the self-report measure of procrastination completed by respondents in Steel and Ferrari was created by Steel and has only limited validity. Participants in that study also needed access to computers, and within country analyses (e.g., rural vs. urban settings) were not conducted. The present study was exploratory, with a much smaller sample size than Steel and Ferrari employed. In contrast, all participants in the present study were residents from rural settings within a single English speaking country, the USA. Other previous studies by Ferrari and colleagues included adults compared across varied urban settings (see Ferrari, 2010). It is possible that procrastination rates in previous studies with urban samples reflected the urban lifestyle of rushing and time urgency (Ferrari, 2010). No published study examined the demographic profile of procrastinators exclusively from rural USA settings. Participants in the present study were attendees at one of a few public presentations on procrastination presented by the author, as opposed to those individuals who had access to technology and web connects. Moreover, the present study is the first empirical evaluation that asked respondents to self-indicate whether they viewed themselves as procrastinators, and whether others close to them also would consider them a procrastinator. Ferrari and colleagues found that procrastinators do not like similar procrastinators whether in social settings (Ferrari & Patel, 2004), within the workplace (Ferrari, 1992), or in school-related projects (Ferrari & Pychyl, 2012). These studies show that social comparison by procrastinators with peer procrastinators yields negative perceptions. Ferrari, Driscoll, and Diaz-Morales (2007) found that self-identified procrastinators had greater discrepancies in actual and ought selves, and less desirable self-identity attributes than non-procrastinators (see also Ferrari & Diaz-Morales, 2007). The present study was the first to provide a profile of persons who self-identified and other-identified as a chronic procrastinator, and to ask these persons (compared to non-procrastinators) in which areas of their lives they might be experiencing difficulties and challenges. METHOD Participants & Psychometric Scale There were 84 participants (57 women, 27 men: M age = 40.4 yrs. old, SD = 9.3) in the present, who attended one of two free public presentations held in either rural Norman, OK (n = 41), or Cortland, NY (n = 43). …