TY - JOUR

T1 - Overcome procrastination

T2 - Enhancing emotion regulation skills reduce procrastination

AU - Eckert, Marcus

AU - Ebert, David D.

AU - Lehr, Dirk

AU - Sieland, Bernhard

AU - Berking, Matthias

PY - 2016/12/1

Y1 - 2016/12/1

N2 - Procrastination is a widespread phenomenon that affects performance in various life domains including academic performance. Recently, it has been argued that procrastination can be conceptualized as a dysfunctional response to undesired affective states. Thus, we aimed to test the hypothesis that the availability of adaptive emotion regulation (ER) skills prevents procrastination. In a first study, cross-sectional analyses indicated that ER skills and procrastination were associated and that these connections were mediated by the ability to tolerate aversive emotions. In a second study, cross lagged panel analyses showed that (1) the ability to modify aversive emotions reduced subsequent procrastination and that (2) procrastination affected the subsequent ability to tolerate aversive emotions. Finally, in a third study, a two-arm randomized control trial (RCT) was conducted. Results indicated that systematic training of the ER skills tolerate and modify aversive emotions reduced procrastination. Thus, in order to overcome procrastination, emotion-focused strategies should be considered.

AB - Procrastination is a widespread phenomenon that affects performance in various life domains including academic performance. Recently, it has been argued that procrastination can be conceptualized as a dysfunctional response to undesired affective states. Thus, we aimed to test the hypothesis that the availability of adaptive emotion regulation (ER) skills prevents procrastination. In a first study, cross-sectional analyses indicated that ER skills and procrastination were associated and that these connections were mediated by the ability to tolerate aversive emotions. In a second study, cross lagged panel analyses showed that (1) the ability to modify aversive emotions reduced subsequent procrastination and that (2) procrastination affected the subsequent ability to tolerate aversive emotions. Finally, in a third study, a two-arm randomized control trial (RCT) was conducted. Results indicated that systematic training of the ER skills tolerate and modify aversive emotions reduced procrastination. Thus, in order to overcome procrastination, emotion-focused strategies should be considered.

KW - Emotion regulation

KW - Emotion-focused intervention

KW - Procrastination

KW - Training

KW - Psychology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84991677439&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.lindif.2016.10.001

DO - 10.1016/j.lindif.2016.10.001

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:84991677439

VL - 52

SP - 10

EP - 18

JO - Learning and Individual Differences

JF - Learning and Individual Differences

SN - 1041-6080

ER -