“I can’t decide, and it upsets me”: assessing self-critical cognition, indecision, and hope among young adults

Abstract

background Decisional procrastination, or indecision, is the maladaptive postponing of decision-making when faced with conflicts or choices. In the present exploratory study, we examined two factors of a psychological model toward understanding the underpinnings of indecision, namely: self-critical cognition as a predisposition to indecision and decreased hope as a post-decision behavior of indecision. Self-critical cognition is the tendency for selfrelated thoughts to be critical and defeating. It is hypothesized to predict indecision as self-critical individuals are likely to also doubt their competence at tasks such as decision-making and may, in turn, delay. Decreased hope is hypothesized to be an outcome of indecision as the latter is related to anxiety, worry, and life regret.