Trait- and State-Aspects of Procrastination and Their Relation to Study Satisfaction

Abstract: Research differentiates between procrastination as a trait and as a state. While trait procrastination implies cross-temporal stability, state procrastination denotes an episode in which a particular task is procrastinated, therefore implying cross-temporal variability. However, it is unclear whether trait procrastination scales (i) capture temporal-variable variance components (i.e., state procrastination), and (ii) how trait and state are differentially related to other variables commonly associated with procrastination. Latent state-trait modeling was used to separate stable from temporal-variable variance components of a common trait procrastination measure and to relate both facets of procrastination to satisfaction with the studies as an example for related variables. Student participants ( N = 194) filled out the five-item short version of the General Procrastination Scale (GPS; Klein et al., 2019 ) three times with 12-month intervals between each measurement. Results confirm that GPS scores reflect stable components of procrastination to a larger extent than temporal-variable variance components. And they demonstrate that variable procrastination correlates more strongly with study satisfaction, as compared to stable procrastination. These results may inspire research to specify how far correlates of procrastination pertain to trait procrastination, state procrastination, or both.