Procrastination and physical health: stress as a mediational factor

Sirois, Fuscia M.; Melia-Gordon, Michelle L.; and Pychyl, Timothy A. 2003. "I'll look after my health, later'": and investigation of procrastination and health." Personality and Individual Differences 35, pp. 1167-1184.

Is the problem clearly stated?

The authors examined the mediational role of stress and health behaviors in the procrastination - illness relationship. This was an exploratory study looking for correlations that might indicate areas for further study. They hypothesized that stress mediates the procrastination-illness relationship. In addition they explored possible other factors that might affect any relationship between procrastination and health.

Does the problem have a theoretical rationale?

The theoretical rationale for the study was covered extensively in the review of the literature. Since there was little previous research connecting the behavioral trait of procrastination to physical health, the researchers included detailed study of the theoretical literature as well.

5) How clearly are the hypotheses stated?

Authors noted that procrastination is a behavior that could impact healthcare choices by delaying needed action, and found theoretical support for that view. They noted that multiple actions affect poor lifestyle and health care choices and that procrastination could affect multiple behavioral choices. The discussion of the ways procrastination might affect healthcare choices was extensive and multi-faceted.

6) Are operational definitions provided?

Researchers used an established scale for measuring procrastination behavior. This scale looked at procrastination across a number of daily tasks. Procrastination was defined as it was reflected on the procrastination questionnaire.

7) Is the procedure (or method) used to attack and answer the problem fully and completely described?

Researchers noted the demographic characteristics of their participant-pool. Demographic information was included in the statistical analysis. Another scale was used to evaluate stresses in the participants' lives. No reliability information was given for that scale. The "Wellness Behavior Checklist was used to measure health-related lifestyle, with reliability data provided. They used the "Brief Medical and Treatment History" questionnaire in an adopted form, invalidating any reliability statistics on that form for their use.

They used the Treatment Delay Index to determine if the participants delayed needed treatment. In their formula they excluded both severe illnesses such as cancer and mild conditions such as headache or cold.

8) Are there any probable sources of error that might influence the results of the study? If so, have they been controlled?

The scale used had established internal consistency measures and a test-retest reliability of.80. Combined with a sample of 122 students it suggests that good statistical analysis can be accomplished. However, all the participants were college students. They were college students given an incentive to enroll in the research (all were entered into a raffle for a $200 prize), and there were twice as many female as male college students.

9) Were statistical techniques used to analyze the data? If so, were they appropriate?

The researchers specified very clearly the circumstances they required in order to make the judgment that procrastination had had a mediational effect on that person's choice to get medical care. They generated descriptive statistics including overall health of the group, tendency to delay treatment, and perceived stress as a group measure. They then looked for statistical correlations between procrastination for seeking medical care and the various behavioral scales administered. A number of significant correlations were detected.

10) How clearly are the results presented?

The researchers did find that procrastination correlated with lower incidents of wellness-connected behaviors such as good diet, adequate sleep and exercise. However, it did not correlate with poorer health. They did find correlations between procrastination and perceived levels of stress, and a correlation between stress and illness. A possible causal relation between procrastination and illness, however, was not shown. The authors noted limitations of their study. In particular they noted that the very young age of the individuals in the study may have had more positive effect on their overall health than it would in an older population.

11) Any suggestion for developing further research on the topic.

The authors suggest that doing a longer study might reveal more information. They realize that further research is appropriate. They did not mention the possibility of repeating this study with an older population more likely to have illnesses, such as hypertension or incipient diabetes, where delaying treatment might have a more measurable effect.