Is poor control over thoughts and emotions related to a higher tendency to delay tasks?

Procrastination and emotion dysregulation are linked because delaying tasks often serves as a way to escape negative emotions like stress, frustration, or self-doubt.

Studying this connection helps us understand why some people chronically avoid responsibilities and how improving emotional regulation skills could reduce procrastination and its negative impact on well-being and performance.

Wiwatowska, E., Prost, M., Coll-Martin, T., & Lupiáñez, J. Is poor control over thoughts and emotions related to a higher tendency to delay tasks? The link between procrastination, emotional dysregulation and attentional control. British Journal of Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12793

Key Points

• Focus: The study investigates whether the link between procrastination and poor attentional control is explained by emotional dysregulation and spontaneous mind-wandering.
• Method: 206 university students completed self-report questionnaires and performed the ANTI-Vea task assessing attentional vigilance and control.
• Findings: Trait procrastination was associated with lower executive vigilance and attention span, but these links were fully mediated by emotion dysregulation and mind-wandering tendencies.
• Implications: The findings suggest that interventions targeting emotion regulation and attentional focus could reduce procrastination, especially in academic contexts.

Rationale

Procrastination is a widespread problem in academic settings, often linked to poor outcomes like lower achievement and increased distress.

While previous studies have associated procrastination with attentional deficits and impulsivity, few have used objective measures to pinpoint which attentional components are impaired.

Moreover, although emotion regulation difficulties are also implicated, the interplay between attentional control, emotional dysregulation, and spontaneous mind-wandering in driving procrastination remains underexplored.

The present study addresses this gap by measuring multiple facets of vigilance and attentional functioning using the ANTI-Vea task, and by testing whether emotion dysregulation and mind-wandering mediate the link between attention and procrastination.

Understanding these mechanisms could clarify why some individuals chronically delay tasks and suggest new strategies for intervention.

Unlike past research based on self-reports or group comparisons, this study applies continuous measures and mediation models to evaluate these complex relationships more precisely.

Method

The study used a cross-sectional, correlational design. Participants completed:

• Self-report questionnaires on procrastination, emotion regulation, and mind-wandering.
• The ANTI-Vea, an online attentional task assessing executive and arousal vigilance.

Statistical analyses included Pearson correlations, ANCOVAs, and mediation models using bootstrap resampling.

Procedure

• Participants gave informed consent and completed demographic questions.
• They filled out the following scales: PPS, DERS, MW-S.
• They then completed the ANTI-Vea attentional task.
• Afterward, they completed the Dundee Stress State Questionnaire (DSSQ) to assess task-related emotions.

Sample

• Final sample: 206 students (Mage = 24.4, SD = 7.1)
• Gender: 110 women, 93 men, 3 non-binary
• Inclusion: Polish university students
• Exclusion: psychiatric/neurological disorders, psychoactive drugs, uncorrected sensory impairments

Measures

• Pure Procrastination Scale (PPS): 12-item scale assessing chronic procrastination tendencies.
• Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS): 36 items, summed to assess global emotion dysregulation.
• Spontaneous Mind-Wandering Scale (MW-S): 4-item scale assessing frequency of mind-wandering.
• Dundee Stress State Questionnaire (DSSQ): Pre- and post-task versions assessing engagement, distress, and worry.
• ANTI-Vea Task Indices:
  • Executive vigilance (e.g., hit rate, A′)
  • Arousal vigilance (e.g., RT, SD of RT, lapses)
  • Attention span (mean number of optimal trials)

Statistical Measures

• Correlation analyses with FDR correction
• Bootstrap mediation models (PROCESS macro, model 4, 10,000 resamples)
• Repeated-measures ANCOVAs for pre/post DSSQ data

Results

• Procrastination was negatively correlated with:
  • Executive vigilance (hit rate, A′)
  • Attention span
• No significant correlation with:
  • Arousal vigilance (RT, SD, lapses)
  • Attentional network functions (alerting, orienting, executive control)
• Mediation:
  • Emotion dysregulation and mind-wandering fully mediated the link between procrastination and:
    • Executive vigilance
    • Arousal vigilance decrement
    • Attention span
• DSSQ:
  • Higher procrastination was associated with greater distress and worry and lower engagement before and after task
  • No interaction effect between procrastination and change in emotional state across the task

Insight

This study highlights how difficulty regulating emotions and controlling spontaneous thoughts, rather than attentional deficits alone, explain why some students procrastinate more.

It unites previously separate theories of procrastination—attentional control and emotional regulation—into a coherent model.

These findings extend prior research by showing that interventions improving emotional and attentional self-regulation (e.g., mindfulness training) may reduce procrastination.

Future studies could explore causal effects through longitudinal or experimental designs, including attention or emotion training.

Clinical Implications

• For educators: Teach emotion regulation and mindfulness strategies to reduce procrastination in students.
• For clinicians: Target both attentional control and emotional dysregulation in therapy for procrastination.
• Challenges: Implementing these interventions in large educational settings may require scalable digital tools.

Strengths

This study had several methodological strengths, including:

• The study used objective cognitive task data (ANTI-Vea) alongside validated self-report measures.
• It employed rigorous statistical mediation models and preregistered hypotheses.
• Sample size was sufficiently powered for mediation analysis.
• Results are openly accessible, enhancing transparency and reproducibility.

Limitations

This study also had several limitations, including:

• All findings are correlational; causation cannot be inferred.
• Some associations did not survive FDR correction.
• Measures of vigilance decrement had low internal consistency.
• The DSSQ’s Engagement and Distress subscales showed low reliability in this sample.
• The online format may have introduced variability in participant environments.

Socratic Questions

1. How might emotion regulation training reduce procrastination differently than attention training?
2. Could procrastination be adaptive in some situations? What distinguishes adaptive delay from maladaptive procrastination?
3. How would you design a study to test causality between attentional control and procrastination?
4. What role might cultural factors play in how procrastination, attention, and emotion regulation are expressed?
5. How might we address the measurement challenges of vigilance tasks in future research?
6. In what ways could educators use these findings to reshape student learning environments?
7. How might trait versus state procrastination influence task engagement and emotional distress differently?