Once a Procrastinator, Always a Procrastinator? Examining Stability, Change and Long-Term Correlates of Procrastination During Young Adulthood

Procrastination—a voluntary delay of an intended action despite the expectation of negative consequences—is a widespread phenomenon. Previous research has mainly focused on procrastination in specific situations and has rarely examined stability and change in procrastination over long periods of time. In the present study, we conducted an 18-year longitudinal study of procrastination. We report on stability and change in procrastination as well as its associations with conscientiousness and neuroticism, and long-term correlates using self-reports starting from high school graduation, in a large sample of young adults (N = 3,023) in Germany. We found that procrastination was slightly less stable than the Big Five, tended to decrease with age, and that higher procrastination was associated with delayed entry into the workforce. Procrastination overlapped with but was distinct from conscientiousness and neuroticism. We also found strong links between changes in procrastination and changes in conscientiousness and neuroticism over time. Finally, both initial levels and trajectories of procrastination predicted consequential long-term correlates up to 18 years after the first measurement, including academic, workplace, relationship, health, and pandemic-related outcomes. In sum, this long-term longitudinal examination of procrastination highlights patterns of stability and change in procrastination and demonstrates its relevance for important life outcomes.