title: Differentiating Procrastinators from Each Other: A Cluster Analysis.
abstract: Procrastination refers to the tendency to postpone the initiation and completion of a given course of action. Approximately one-fifth of the adult population and half of the student population perceive themselves as being severe and chronic procrastinators. Albeit not a psychiatric diagnosis, procrastination has been shown to be associated with increased stress and anxiety, exacerbation of illness, and poorer performance in school and work. However, despite being severely debilitating, little is known about the population of procrastinators in terms of possible subgroups, and previous research has mainly investigated procrastination among university students. The current study examined data from a screening process recruiting participants to a randomized controlled trial of Internet-based cognitive behavior therapy for procrastination (Rozental et al., in press). In total, 710 treatment-seeking individuals completed self-report measures of procrastination, depression, anxiety, and quality of life. The results suggest that there might exist five separate subgroups, or clusters, of procrastinators: "Mild procrastinators" (24.93%), "Average procrastinators" (27.89%), "Well-adjusted procrastinators" (13.94%), "Severe procrastinators" (21.69%), and "Primarily depressed" (11.55%). Hence, there seems to be marked differences among procrastinators in terms of levels of severity, as well as a possible subgroup for which procrastinatory problems are primarily related to depression. Tailoring the treatment interventions to the specific procrastination profile of the individual could thus become important, as well as screening for comorbid psychiatric diagnoses in order to target difficulties associated with, for instance, depression.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Stockholm University , Stockholm , Sweden.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rozental
authors.affiliation: b Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning , Linköping University , Sweden.|c Division of Psychiatry, Department of Clinical Neuroscience , Karolinska Institutet , Stockholm , Sweden.
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Forsell
authors.affiliation: b Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning , Linköping University , Sweden.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Svensson
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Stockholm University , Stockholm , Sweden.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Forsström
authors.affiliation: b Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning , Linköping University , Sweden.|c Division of Psychiatry, Department of Clinical Neuroscience , Karolinska Institutet , Stockholm , Sweden.
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Andersson
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Stockholm University , Stockholm , Sweden.
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Carlbring
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000628:therapy; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; D003863:Depression / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D019114:Remote Consultation; D017748:Time Management / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: cluster analysis; comorbidity; procrastination; subgroups