Procrastination, generalized or specific, in college students and their parents

Fifty-two Israeli university students (81% women) reported their current academic and life routine procrastination. Their parents reported on their own academic procrastination when they were in school, and their own current life routine procrastination. Both students and parents reported on the parentsʹ involvement in academic and life routine tasks when the students were younger. Findings confirm that avoidant procrastination is a generalized behavioral disposition to postpone doing things across academic assignments and non-academic life routines, and are consistent with an appraisal-anxiety-avoidance model of procrastination. Parents were more involved in regulating their childrenʹs behavior at home than at school. Mothers were more involved than fathers and their involvement was associated with their adult children procrastinating less in life routines. The absence of any relationship between parental involvement scores reported by parents and their adult children raises serious questions about research studies that assume equivalence of childrenʹs perceptions of parental behavior and the behavior in question.