Mindfulness, Procrastination, and Anxiety - Assessing their Interrelationships

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Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice Mindfulness, Procrastination, and Anxiety: Assessing Their Interrelationships Ashwin Gautam, Craig P. Polizzi, and Richard E. Mattson Online First Publication, November 7, 2019. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/cns0000209

CITATION Gautam, A., Polizzi, C. P., & Mattson, R. E. (2019, November 7). Mindfulness, Procrastination, and Anxiety: Assessing Their Interrelationships. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/cns0000209

Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice © 2019 American Psychological Association ISSN: 2326-5523

2019, Vol. 1, No. 999, 000 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/cns0000209

Mindfulness, Procrastination, and Anxiety: Assessing Their Interrelationships Ashwin Gautam, Craig P. Polizzi, and Richard E. Mattson This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

Binghamton University Procrastination is a commonly occurring phenomenon that can significantly impact a person’s well-being and physical health. A significant need exists to identify variables that confer risk or hold potential to treat procrastination. Thus, we aimed to (a) investigate the web of relations among procrastination, anxiety, and mindfulness and (b) explore the contribution of candidate variables of potential relevance beyond anxiety in predicting procrastination. To address our primary aim, we performed a structural equation model (SEM) analysis in a college sample (N ⫽ 801; male ⫽ 550, female ⫽ 246, other ⫽ 5) to investigate whether five facets of mindfulness (i.e., nonreactivity, nonjudging, observing, describing, and acting with awareness) attenuate procrastination via decreasing anxiety. Regarding indirect effects, anxiety mediated the relation between procrastination and all facets of mindfulness, except for observing. In terms of direct effects, greater acting with awareness and observing were most closely associated with lower procrastination. To explore our secondary aim, we used forward stepwise regression to investigate the unique contribution of variables of potential relevance beyond mindfulness and anxiety in predicting procrastination. This analysis revealed that anxiety, conscientiousness, behavioral avoidance, social desirability, neuroticism, and mindfulness significantly accounted for variance in procrastination while controlling for a variety of other variables (i.e., emotion dysregulation, depression, negative affect, and acceptance). Finally, we discuss (a) the implications of our findings for procrastination treatment, (b) the limitations of our study, and (c) future research directions. Keywords: mindfulness, anxiety, procrastination

The word procrastination is derived from the Latin terms pro (“in favor of”) and crastinus (“tomorrow”): To procrastinate is to postpone completing a task from the present or near future to a more distant future. Olpin and Hesson (2013) defined procrastination quite simply as, the “avoidance of doing a task that needs to be accomplished” (p. 181). According to Steel’s (2007) meta-analysis, 80%–95% of college stu-

dents engage in occasional procrastination, whereas almost 50% of college students procrastinate consistently and problematically. Although procrastination is widespread among students for academic-specific tasks, it is prevalent even among an older cohort: As high as 20% of the adult general population report engaging in chronic procrastination for daily life events such as paying bills or planning for health-related issues (Harriott & Ferrari, 1996). Procrastination exacts substantial costs. Procrastination is associated with negative outcomes such as increased rates of stress, anxiety, depression, and lower well-being and selfesteem (Solomon & Rothblum, 1984; Steel, Brothen, & Wambach, 2001; Tice & Baumeister, 1997). Procrastination in students is associated with poor academic performance (Howell, Watson, Powell, & Buro, 2006), and up to 65% of students wish to reduce it (Solomon & Roth-

X Ashwin Gautam, Craig P. Polizzi, and X Richard E. Mattson, Department of Psychology, Binghamton University. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Ashwin Gautam, Department of Psychology, Binghamton University, 4400 Vestal Parkway East, Clearview Hall, Room 15, Binghamton, NY 13902. E-mail: [email protected] 1

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GAUTAM, POLIZZI, AND MATTSON

blum, 1984). Extending to the general population, procrastination is negatively correlated with physical health, likely due to delay in seeking medical care (Elliot, 2002). Additionally, procrastination has a strong negative impact on financial well-being (Elliot, 2002). For example, as per the American tax preparation company H&R Block, 40% of individuals procrastinate on completing their taxes, which costs them, on average, $400 per year (Kasper, 2004). Given the high costs of procrastination, it is important that researchers identify individual differences and psychological variables associated with tendencies to procrastinate. One such variable, which we consider in the present study, is mindfulness (i.e., nonjudgmental awareness of present emotions, sensations, cognitions, action tendencies; Kabat-Zinn, 2002). Previous studies have found that dispositional mindfulness is negatively associated with procrastination, implying that addressing tasks in a mindful manner ameliorates procrastination (Flett, Haghbin, & Pychyl, 2016; Sirois & Tosti, 2012). Mindfulness increases sensitivity to emotions and sensations when confronting an aversive task and thereby potentially facilitates task-relevant cognitive, affective, and behavioral control (Sirois & Tosti, 2012). Our study is the first to adopt a fine-grained approach to explore the association between mindfulness and procrastination by specifically evaluating the direct relations among five mindfulness facets (Baer, Smith, Hopkins, Krietemeyer, & Toney, 2006) and procrastination. These facets include the following: (a) acting with awareness (which facilitates attention to the present emotional state and surroundings), (b) nonjudging of inner experiences (which promotes healthy engagement with emotions, fostering objective experience of emotions absent maladaptive coping such as chronic avoidance; Adele & Feldman, 2004; Hayes, Wilson, Gifford, Follette, & Strosahl, 1996), (c) observing (which is the propensity to notice the gamut of experiences or stimuli, rather than focusing on unpleasant ones), (d) describing (which is the ability to label experiences with words), and (e) nonreactivity to inner experiences (which allows thoughts and feelings to come and go, without attachment or preoccupation; Baer et al., 2008).

Furthermore, although mindfulness is negatively correlated with procrastination, no studies to date have examined potential mechanisms of action related to the association between mindfulness and procrastination. Accordingly, we investigated the hypothesis that mindfulness mitigates procrastination via modulation of anxiety. Anxiety is positively related to procrastination of academic and nonacademic activities across multiple age-groups (Balkis & Duru, 2007; Owens & Newbegin, 1997; Milgram & Toubiana, 1999; Steel et al., 2001). Correlates of anxiety such as fear of failure, task aversion, and negative self-evaluation are also significantly associated with procrastination (Ferrari, 1995; Ferrari, Keane, Wolfe, & Beck, 1998; Milgram, Marshevsky, & Sadeh, 1995). Solomon and Rothblum’s (1984) factor analysis determined that fear of failure and task aversion accounted for the majority of variance in predicting procrastination among the variables examined. Anxiety produced from an aversive task, in addition to negative self-evaluation, is also a significant contributor of procrastination (Balkis & Duru, 2007; Sheykhi, Fathabadi, & Heidari, 2013). The relevance of anxiety as a potential mediator is underscored by findings that mindfulness mitigates anxiety or distress associated with a daunting task and increases persistence in the service of goal attainment. For example, Evans, Baer, and Segerstrom (2009) reported that persistence with a difficult anagram task correlated with acting with awareness and nonjudging of inner experiences. Accepting, rather than acting in response to negative emotions, may allow individuals to resist impulses to procrastinate and maintain task persistence by reducing anxiety related to an aversive task, or the anticipation of such a task. Our study contributes to research on procrastination in that we (a) conduct a granular analysis of procrastination in relation to the five facets of mindfulness and (b) investigate anxiety as a mediator through which mindfulness attenuates procrastination. Primary Aim As our review indicates, increased mindfulness can temper anxiety, which we argue is a key contributor to procrastination. Accordingly, the primary aim of our study was to investigate the web of relations among procrastination,

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MINDFULNESS, PROCRASTINATION, AND ANXIETY

anxiety, and mindfulness. We tested the a priori hypothesis that greater mindfulness will decrease procrastination via anxiety reduction and that anxiety will mediate the relation between five facets of mindfulness and procrastination (indirect relation). We further hypothesized that higher scores on all facets of mindfulness will be significantly associated with lower procrastination (direct relation). We conducted mediation analyses using a structured equation model (SEM) to ascertain the relation between mindfulness and procrastination, assessing the mediating role of self-reported anxiety symptoms. Secondary Aim Although the extant literature has documented the relation between anxiety and procrastination (e.g., Tan et al., 2008), few studies have investigated the robustness of this relation by assessing multiple candidate variables in the same experimental context. Thus, in addition to our primary aim, we conducted regression analyses to explore the contribution of candidate variables of potential relevance beyond anxiety in predicting procrastination. In contrast to our more focused and theoretically informed primary aim, our secondary aim was geared to generate new research ideas and hypotheses related to procrastination. We selected variables in these exploratory analyses based on a review of extant research on the antecedents or correlates of procrastination. More specifically, we evaluated whether procrastination would be related to behavioral avoidance, neuroticism, conscientiousness, emotion dysregulation, depression, negative affect, acceptance, and mindfulness. Neuroticism is closely related to increased stress, fear of failure, and unrealistic self-standards, all of which are positively associated with procrastination (Markiewicz, 2017). Researchers have also documented a strong inverse relation of conscientiousness with trait procrastination (Scher & Osterman, 2002). Although procrastination may improve mood briefly due to escape from taskassociated anxiety, eventually anxiety compounds over time via negative reinforcement and engenders depressed mood marked by intense negative affect (Steel, 2007). Similarly, ruminative brooding, depression, and negative affect promote behavioral avoidance (Flett et al., 2016) and procrastination in response to

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tasks that elicit negative emotion (Ottenbreit & Dobson, 2008). Attempts to avoid, suppress, or otherwise alter anxious thoughts and emotions decrease acceptance of experiences and reduce valuing of academic pursuits, eventuating in academic procrastination, beyond the effects of anxiety alone (Glick & Orsillo, 2015). Difficulties in regulating emotions probably also play a critical role in procrastination. Indeed, the association between health-related intentions and actual health-related behaviors is moderated by emotion regulation skills, implying that managing emotions facilitates goal-directed behavior and task completion (Blunt & Pychyl, 1998; Eckert et al., 2015). Lastly, as our mediation SEM assessed relations among procrastination and multiple facets of mindfulness on a granular level, we decided to add trait mindfulness as a total score in our regression to assess the relative contribution of mindfulness as a singular construct in predicting procrastination. In sum, our research is the first to examine, on a statistical basis, the independent and joint influence of mindfulness and anxiety on procrastination. Additionally, we examine key variables identified in the literature as potentially unique sources of variability in the statistical prediction of procrastination. An important goal of our research is to pave the way for experimental and longitudinal studies of procrastination that permit more causal inferences regarding variables targeted in the present research. Method Participants We recruited 801 participants (550 female, 246 male, and five other) ranging in age from 17 to 56 (M ⫽ 19.03, SD ⫽ 1.71) from an undergraduate psychology subject pool. Participants self-identified as Caucasian (62.37%), Asian (16.41%), Hispanic (7.19%), African/African American (4.54%), belonging to more than one race (2.52%), and other (6.94%). Participants earned one credit toward a course requirement. Measures Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ; Baer et al., 2006). The FFMQ is a 39-item self-report questionnaire that measures trait mindfulness. Mindfulness was also as-

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GAUTAM, POLIZZI, AND MATTSON

sessed across five domains described above. Items were scored on a 5-point Likert scale with (1 ⫽ never or very rarely true, 5 ⫽ very often or always true). The FFMQ possesses excellent internal consistency, reliability, and criterion validity (Baer et al., 2006; Baer et al., 2008). In the present study, Cronbach’s ␣ ⫽ 0.86 for the total FFMQ score and for the five facets of mindfulness, ␣Nonjudging⫽ .89, ␣Nonreactivity ⫽ .72, ␣Acting With Awareness ⫽ .86, ␣Observing ⫽ .78, and ␣Describing ⫽ .85. State–Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI; Spielberger, Gorsuch, Lushene, Vagg, & Jacobs, 1983). We assessed anxiety with the 20-item trait anxiety scale of the STAI. Items are rated on a 4-point Likert scale (e.g., from 1 ⫽ almost never to 4 ⫽ almost always). Test–retest reliability coefficients for the STAI have ranged from .65 to .75 over a 2-month interval with good construct and concurrent validity (Spielberger, 1989). In present study, Cronbach’s ␣ ⫽ 0.92 for the STAI. Tuckman Procrastination Scale (TPS; Tuckman, 1991). Procrastination was assessed with 16-item unidimensional TPS developed using a sample of junior and senior undergraduate students. Example of items include “When I have a deadline, I wait till the last minute” and “When something’s too tough to tackle, I believe in postponing it.” Items were scored on a 4-point Likert scale from 1 (that’s me for sure) to 4 (that’s not me for sure). In contrast to other measures used in this study, lower total score on the TPS indicated higher tendency for procrastination. Cronbach’s ␣ ⫽ 0.93 for the present study. Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (AAQ-II; Hayes, 2004). The 10-item AAQ-II was created to measure acceptance, which is primarily operationalized as experiential avoidance. Participants rate acceptance on a 7-point Likert scale from 1 (never true) to 7 (always true). The AAQ-II possesses strong internal consistency (mean ␣ coefficient ⫽ .84) and high 3-month and 12-month test–retest reliability (.81 and .79, respectively; Bond et al., 2011). The AAQ-II’s internal consistency was good in the present study (Cronbach’s ␣ ⫽ .87). Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II; Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996). The 21-item BDI-II measures depression in adolescents and adults (Beck et al., 1996). Items include depressive feelings (e.g., sadness and pessimism) and

symptoms of depression (e.g., loss of pleasure and interest in sex). Participants rate items on a scale of 0 (not experiencing the feeling or symptom) to 3 (experiencing the symptom to a great degree). Total scores range from 0 to 63. The BDI-II has high reliability (Cronbach’s ␣ ⫽ .92) and good convergent validity with similar measure (Beck, Steer, & Carbin, 1988). The BDI-II demonstrated excellent internal consistency in the present study (Cronbach’s ␣ ⫽ .94). Cognitive-Behavioral Avoidance Scale (CBAS; Ottenbreit & Dobson, 2004). The 31-item CBAS is a self-report measure of avoidance using two factors: cognitive and behavioral avoidance. We used only the behavioral avoidance factor, which assesses behavioral social avoidance and behavioral nonsocial avoidance. Items are rated on a 5-point Likerttype scale ranging from 0 (not at all true) to 4 (extremely true for me), with higher scores indicating increased avoidance. The CBAS possesses good internal consistency, test–retest reliability, convergent and discriminant validity, and criterion validity with depression and anxiety (Ottenbreit & Dobson, 2004). The behavioral avoidance factor demonstrated good internal consistency in the present study (Cronbach’s ␣ ⫽ .87). Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS; Gratz & Roemer, 2004). The 36item DERS measures emotion regulation (i.e., awareness, understanding, and acceptance of emotions). Participants use a 5-point Likert scale to indicate how often each item applies to themselves, with 1 ⫽ almost never (0 –10%) and 5 ⫽ almost always (91–100%). Higher scores on the DERS are indicative of more difficulties with emotion regulation. The DERS possesses good internal consistency, with the range ␣ ⫽.76 –.89 (Weinberg & Klonsky, 2009). The DERS demonstrated strong test– retest reliability and convergent validity with other emotion regulation questionnaires among undergraduates (Gratz & Roemer, 2004). Internal consistency was excellent in the present study (Cronbach’s ␣ ⫽ .94). Marlow–Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MCSDS; Crowne & Marlowe, 1960). The 33-item MCSDS is a true/false questionnaire designed to determine the attempt to present oneself in a favorable light (Crowne & Marlowe, 1960). Items include, “I am always courteous, even to people who are disagreeable.”

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MINDFULNESS, PROCRASTINATION, AND ANXIETY

The MCSDS has adequate reliability (KuderRichardson 20 coefficient ⫽ .82) and high concurrent validity with similar measures (Lambert, Arbuckle, & Holden, 2016; Reynolds, 1982). The MCSDS demonstrated marginal internal consistency in the present study (Cronbach’s ␣ ⫽ .62). NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI; Costa & McCrae, 1992). The 60-item NEOFFI is a widely used measure of personality that is based on the Revised NEO Personality Inventory. The questionnaire assesses the Big Five five-factor personality model: neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Participants rate responses on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The NEO-FFI is valid and reliable (Anisi, Majdiyan, Joshanloo, & Ghoharikamel, 2011; McCrae & Costa, 2004; Perera, McIlveen, Burton, & Corser, 2015). Internal consistency of five subscales ranged from acceptable-to-good in the present study: Neuroticism (Cronbach’s ␣ ⫽ .85), Extraversion (Cronbach’s ␣ ⫽ .80), Openness (Cronbach’s ␣ ⫽ .72), Agreeableness (Cronbach’s ␣ ⫽ .76), and Conscientiousness (Cronbach’s ␣ ⫽ .85). Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988). The 20-item PANAS is a widely used measure of positive or negative affect. Items are rated in terms of current emotional levels using a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (not at all) to 5 (extremely) to generate a positive and a negative affect score. Watson et al. (1988) reported strong reliability; the Positive Affect scale shows internal consistency ranging from .86 to .90, and the Negative Affect scale has alphas ranging from .84 to .87. The PANAS also exhibits convergent and discriminant validity with self-report measures of general distress and dysfunction, depression, and state anxiety (Watson et al., 1988). Subscales demonstrated strong internal consistency in the present study: Positive Affect (Cronbach’s ␣ ⫽ .87) and Negative Affect (Cronbach’s ␣ ⫽ .90). Procedure We administered questionnaires entitled “How I Live: A Lifestyle Questionnaire” via online survey distribution website surveymonkey.com, which counterbalanced all measures.

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After consent was obtained, the research was presented as a study of personality and lifestyle. We excluded 100 individuals (801 remained) that exceeded 20% missing data on one or more questionnaires. We employed mean imputation to estimate missing values for the remaining participants, a strategy that is valid if missing data do not exceed 20% for each questionnaire (Schafer & Graham, 2002). Statistical Analyses To test our primary aim, we first conducted correlational analyses followed by a SEM using SPSS AMOS 22.0 to evaluate the meditational effect (i.e., indirect relation) of anxiety on the relations among the facets of mindfulness and procrastination and the association among the facets of mindfulness and procrastination (i.e., direct relation). We then conducted tests of dependent correlations to rule out suppression effects within the SEM using Lee and Preacher’s (2013) software. For our secondary aim, we conducted a forward stepwise regression to assess which variables accounted for the most variance in procrastination, including anxiety, mindfulness, neuroticism, conscientiousness, emotion dysregulation, depression, negative affect, behavioral avoidance, social desirability, and acceptance. Results Table 1 reports bivariate correlations among the variables. We considered correlations significant at p ⱕ .001 to control for the multiple correlations performed. Four mindfulness facets (i.e., nonjudging, acting with awareness, describing, and nonreactivity) were correlated with anxiety (ranging from r ⫽ ⫺.345, nonreactivity to r ⫽ ⫺.587, acting with awareness; all ps ⱕ .001). Observing did not meet criteria for significant correlation with anxiety (r ⫽ .102). The same four facets were correlated with increased procrastination (ranging from r ⫽ .176, nonreactivity to r ⫽ .578, acting with awareness; all ps ⱕ .001). However, observing was again not significantly correlated with procrastination (r ⫽ ⫺.030). Lower scores on the procrastination measure indicated higher procrastination. Five latent factors comprised the measurement model of mindfulness with latent factors

Variable

Mindfulness Procrastinationa Social desirability Emotion regulationa Depression Positive affect Negative affect Neuroticism Conscientiousness Extraversion Openness Agreeableness Acceptance Behavioral avoidance Trait anxiety Acting with awareness Describing Nonjudging Nonreactivity Observing

1

— .437ⴱⴱⴱ .311ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.381ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.462ⴱⴱⴱ .437ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.471ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.522ⴱⴱⴱ .239ⴱⴱⴱ .169ⴱⴱⴱ .234ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.145ⴱⴱⴱ .604ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.526ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.613ⴱⴱⴱ .670ⴱⴱⴱ .759ⴱⴱⴱ .666ⴱⴱⴱ .574ⴱⴱⴱ .276ⴱⴱⴱ

— .369ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.275ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.398ⴱⴱⴱ .428ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.321ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.377ⴱⴱⴱ .367ⴱⴱⴱ .163ⴱⴱⴱ .155ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.216ⴱⴱⴱ .408ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.472ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.479ⴱⴱⴱ .578ⴱⴱⴱ .303ⴱⴱⴱ .338ⴱⴱⴱ .176ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.030

2

— ⫺.225ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.236ⴱⴱⴱ .221ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.297ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.305ⴱⴱⴱ .166ⴱⴱⴱ .066 .083 ⫺.342ⴱⴱⴱ .277ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.249ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.355ⴱⴱⴱ .314ⴱⴱⴱ .195ⴱⴱⴱ .274ⴱⴱⴱ .145ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.010

3

— .532ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.137ⴱⴱⴱ .541ⴱⴱⴱ .440ⴱⴱⴱ .033 .021 .118ⴱⴱ .309ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.568ⴱⴱⴱ .413ⴱⴱⴱ .526ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.503ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.188ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.563ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.089 .294ⴱⴱⴱ

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Note. N ⫽ 801. a Lower scores indicate increased procrastination. ⴱⴱⴱ p ⱕ .001.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

Table 1 Correlations Among Variables

— ⫺.356ⴱⴱⴱ .631ⴱⴱⴱ .478ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.164ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.136ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.027 .235ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.604ⴱⴱⴱ .526ⴱⴱⴱ .690ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.519ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.298ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.528ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.204ⴱⴱⴱ .158ⴱⴱⴱ

5

— ⫺.190ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.274ⴱⴱⴱ .413ⴱⴱⴱ .397ⴱⴱⴱ .253ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.016 .406ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.397ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.521ⴱⴱⴱ .321ⴱⴱⴱ .366ⴱⴱⴱ .260ⴱⴱⴱ .310ⴱⴱⴱ .154ⴱⴱⴱ

6

— .515ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.097 ⫺.065 .010 .283ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.621ⴱⴱⴱ .473ⴱⴱⴱ .671ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.489ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.309ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.540ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.206ⴱⴱⴱ .144ⴱⴱⴱ

7

9

10

11

— ⫺.075 — .036 .453ⴱⴱⴱ — .090 .346ⴱⴱⴱ .380ⴱⴱⴱ — .303ⴱⴱⴱ .174ⴱⴱⴱ .253ⴱⴱⴱ .190ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.541ⴱⴱⴱ .194ⴱⴱⴱ .128ⴱⴱⴱ .071 .477ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.242ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.208ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.096 .553ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.208ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.214ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.118ⴱⴱ ⫺.465ⴱⴱⴱ .183ⴱⴱⴱ .075 .104 ⫺.397ⴱⴱⴱ .188ⴱⴱⴱ .174ⴱⴱⴱ .155ⴱⴱ ⫺.496ⴱⴱⴱ .166ⴱⴱⴱ .057 ⫺.009 ⫺.209ⴱⴱⴱ .153ⴱⴱⴱ .141ⴱⴱⴱ .217ⴱⴱ .028 .130ⴱⴱⴱ .127ⴱⴱⴱ .300ⴱⴱ

8

13

— ⫺.255ⴱⴱⴱ — .190ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.589ⴱⴱⴱ .274ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.757ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.239ⴱⴱⴱ .555ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.081 .441ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.277ⴱⴱⴱ .619ⴱⴱⴱ .028 .290ⴱⴱⴱ .188ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.092

12

— .576ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.530ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.431ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.489ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.138ⴱⴱⴱ .050

14

16

17

18

19

20

— ⫺.587ⴱⴱⴱ — ⫺.451ⴱⴱⴱ .380ⴱⴱⴱ — ⫺.628ⴱⴱⴱ .695ⴱⴱⴱ .333ⴱⴱⴱ — ⫺.345ⴱⴱⴱ .058 .416ⴱⴱⴱ .056 — .102 ⫺.321ⴱⴱⴱ .206ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.336ⴱⴱⴱ .491ⴱⴱⴱ —

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6 GAUTAM, POLIZZI, AND MATTSON

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MINDFULNESS, PROCRASTINATION, AND ANXIETY

for trait anxiety and procrastination. Factor loading of questionnaire items were significantly reliable across all latent variables. Preliminary analysis provided good fit across three indices (␹2/df ⫽ 2.94, root mean square error of approximation ⫽ .049, standardized root mean square residual ⫽ .066) but poor fit on the comparative fit index (.811). One reason for poor fit could be that the comparative fit index assumes all latent variables are uncorrelated in the null model. The significant intercorrelations among mindfulness factors may violate this assumption, resulting in a lower value for the index. We used a Student’s sample test to examine gender differences. We found significant gender differences only for nonreactivity, t(792) ⫽ 4.44, p ⬍ .001; male (M ⫽ .084, SD ⫽ .35), with men endorsing higher scores than women (M ⫽ ⫺.038, SD ⫽ .36).1 Primary Aim Figure 1 illustrates the SEM with latent factors of mindfulness facets, anxiety, and procrastination. Nonjudging (b ⫽ ⫺.29, p ⫽ .001), nonreactivity (b ⫽ ⫺.27, p ⫽ .001), acting with awareness (b ⫽ ⫺.17, p ⫽ .001), and describing (b ⫽ ⫺.11, p ⫽ .002) demonstrated a significant indirect relationship. Observing was the only factor that did not demonstrate a significant indirect relationship (b ⫽ .03, p ⫽ .532). Acting with awareness demonstrated the strongest direct significant relation with procrastination (b ⫽ .48, p ⫽ .003), followed by observing (b ⫽ .11, p ⫽ .033). Nonreactivity (b ⫽ ⫺.01, p ⫽ .91) and describing (b ⫽ .00, p ⫽ .95) did not evidence significant direct relations with procrastination. Although nonjudging was significantly associated with procrastination (b ⫽ ⫺.16, p ⫽ .005), it was also the only mindfulness factor negatively associated with procrastination. Anxiety was also significantly associated with procrastination (b ⫽ ⫺.45, p ⫽ .002). We assessed dependent correlations between the facets of mindfulness and procrastination to determine if the correlation between procrastination and acting with awareness was significantly stronger than the correlations of procrastination with the other facets of mindfulness (see Table 2). Test of dependent correlations affirmed the SEM, indicating that acting with awareness demonstrated a significantly stronger correlation with procrastination compared with

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all other facets of mindfulness, except for describing. Secondary Aim Table 3 presents the final model in the forward stepwise regression analysis. Increased anxiety (p ⬍ .001), behavioral avoidance (p ⬍ .001), and neuroticism (p ⬍ .05) were uniquely related to increased procrastination. Additionally, decreased conscientiousness (p ⬍ .001), social desirability (p ⬍ .001), and mindfulness total score (p ⬍ .05) were uniquely related to increased procrastination. Table 4 displays variance in procrastination scores accounted for by each variable uniquely related to procrastination. The variables together accounted for 38.6% of the variance in procrastination scores. As expected, increased anxiety accounted for most of the procrastination score variance (22.9%). Low conscientiousness accounted for the second most variance (7.5%), increased behavioral avoidance accounted for the third most variance (4.0%), low social desirability accounted for the fourth most variance, (3.3%), and increased neuroticism accounted for the fifth most variance (0.6%). Low mindfulness accounted for the least variance in procrastination scores (0.4%).2 Discussion Our study provided the most complete analysis to date of the statistical links among procrastination, anxiety, and mindfulness in a college population. To test our primary aim, we used a SEM to assess the mediating role of 1 We initially tested two additional models, one with a total mindfulness score in lieu of the five facets and another with depression added as a second mediator. Depression was originally added to account for greater mediation but was subsequently removed due to a significant depreciation in model fit. A separate regression analysis further illustrated that depression does not explain significant variance in procrastination. Similarly, total mindfulness score was also removed from the model due to a considerable decrease in model fit. 2 We also conducted a forward stepwise hierarchical regression with procrastination as the outcome variable in which anxiety was entered into the first block and all other variables entered into the second block. Results indicated that anxiety explained 22.9% of variance in procrastination as compared to the remaining variables that only explained an additional 16.4% of the variance.

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GAUTAM, POLIZZI, AND MATTSON

Figure 1.

Structural equation model for anxiety mediation.

self-reported anxiety symptoms in ascertaining the relation between mindfulness and procrastination. More specifically, we tested the a priori hypothesis that anxiety will statistically mediate the relation between five facets of mindfulness and procrastination (indirect relation). We further tested the hypothesis of a direct relation between mindfulness and procrastination in the prediction that higher scores on all facets of mindfulness will be significantly associated with lower procrastination (direct relation). Regarding indirect relations in the SEM, we found partial support for our mediation hypothesis: All facets of mindfulness, except observing, revealed a statistically significant indirect effect of mindfulness on procrastination via anxiety reduction. Our finding that acting with awareness was negatively associated with anxiety is consistent with previous research that

Mindful. facets

Acting with awareness, z

Nonjudging Nonreacting Observing Describing

⫺13.931ⴱ 3.876ⴱ 9.504ⴱ ⫺2.282

ⴱ

p ⬍ .001.

p ⱕ .05.

ⴱⴱ

p ⱕ .005.

attending to current activities is inversely associated with worrying about future events (Hölzel et al., 2011; Watkins, 2009), potentially diminishing task avoidance and procrastination. Our finding that nonjudging and nonreactivity were negatively associated with lower anxiety was consistent with previous findings of an inverse relation of nonjudging and nonreactivity with both general psychological distress (Baer et al., 2006; Baer et al., 2008) and anxiety (Bohlmeijer, ten Klooster, Fledderus, Veehof, & Baer, 2011). Additionally, we found that describing was inversely associated with anxiety which is consistent with previous research indiTable 3 Final Model in Forward Stepwise Regression Predicting Procrastination Predictors

Table 2 Test of Dependent Correlations

ⴱ

B

Anxiety ⫺.18 Conscientiousness .39 Behavioral avoidance ⫺.17 Social desirability .48 Neuroticism ⫺.11 Mindfulness .12

SE (B)

␤

Semipartial correlation

.04 .05 .03 .08 .05 .06

⫺.17ⴱⴱ .23ⴱⴱ ⫺.20ⴱⴱ .18ⴱⴱ ⫺.08ⴱ .08ⴱ

⫺.12 .22 ⫺.15 .16 ⫺.06 .06

Note. Higher scores on the Tuckman Procrastination Scale are indicative of less procrastination. ⴱ p ⬍ .05. ⴱⴱ p ⬍ .001.

MINDFULNESS, PROCRASTINATION, AND ANXIETY

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Table 4 Amount of Variance in Procrastination Explained by the Forward Stepwise Regression Step

R2

R2 change

Anxiety Conscientiousness Behavioral avoidance Social desirability Neuroticism Mindfulness

.229 .304 .344 .377 .383 .386

.229 .075 .040 .033 .006 .004

ⴱ

p ⬍ .05.

ⴱⴱ

p ⬍ .01.

ⴱⴱⴱ

F change F(1, F(1, F(1, F(1, F(1, F(1,

799) 798) 797) 796) 795) 794)

⫽ ⫽ ⫽ ⫽ ⫽ ⫽

237.45ⴱⴱⴱ 85.48ⴱⴱⴱ 48.78ⴱⴱⴱ 42.50ⴱⴱⴱ 7.44ⴱⴱ 4.66ⴱ

p ⬍ .001.

cating that lower ability to describe internal experiences is associated with greater anxiety (Baer et al., 2006; Baer et al., 2008). Observing was the only mindfulness facet not significantly associated with anxiety. Regarding direct relations, as we predicted, increased acting with awareness and observing were significantly associated with decreased procrastination. Procrastination can be characterized as avoidance of unpleasant thoughts and feelings related to completing a requisite task (Sirois, 2004; Tice, Bratslavsky, & Baumeister, 2001). Accordingly, we suggest that acting with awareness promotes self-regulation of thoughts and emotions, as evidenced by the moderate correlation between acting with awareness and self-regulation capacity (see Table 1), and thereby reduces habitualized, automatic tendencies to procrastinate and facilitates monitoring and resisting impulses to procrastinate. Similar to acting with awareness, increased observation captures an ability to pay sensory attention to distress produced from an aversive task. Individuals with higher procrastination habits may be less observant of the distress produced from trying to complete a challenging task and therefore may be less motivated to address it. Contrary to these findings, which supported our hypothesis, nonreactivity and describing were not significantly associated with procrastination. Moreover, nonjudging evidenced a significant but reverse association with procrastination (i.e., increased nonjudging predicted increased procrastination). Perhaps being aware and observant of procrastination tendencies is sufficient to minimize avoidance of an aversive task. Therefore, nonreactivity and describing may not explain enough variance in the association between mindfulness and procrastination

to emerge as significant independent predictors of procrastination. Nonjudging’s association with increased procrastination may imply that an optimal level of anxiety is necessary to spur task completion and that a laissez-faire attitude is antithetical to task completion. To test our secondary aim, we used forward stepwise regression analysis to evaluate the robustness of the association of anxiety with procrastination by controlling for other variables that potentially contribute to procrastination. We found strong support for anxiety in uniquely predicting procrastination in that that anxiety accounted for the highest percent of procrastination score’s variance (22.9%). Indeed, anxiety explained more variance in procrastination scores than the combined value of variance explained by conscientiousness, behavioral avoidance, low social desirability, neuroticism, and mindfulness. Additionally, emotion dysregulation, depression, negative affect, and acceptance failed to explain significant amount of variance in procrastination, above and beyond other variables, in this model. These findings support our primary hypothesis: Anxiety appears to be a key mechanism of procrastination; hence the salutary effects of mindfulness on procrastination may be mediated by tempering anxiety. It should be noted, however, that social desirability’s association with procrastination may be influenced by marginal inconsistency of the MCSDS (␣ ⫽ .62) in the present study. While this coefficient is lower than typical in for western undergraduate samples, some psychometric studies on MCSDS indicate relatively lower internal consistency coefficients (i.e., .60 –.70; Beretvas, Meyers, & Leite, 2002; Verardi et al., 2010).

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GAUTAM, POLIZZI, AND MATTSON

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Conclusions and Limitations Given the personal costs associated with procrastination, the importance of understanding variables and mechanisms that confer risk for or hold potential to treat procrastination among college students and other populations is critical. Although research on mindfulness-based treatment for procrastination is limited, we found indirect support for the hypothesis that acting with awareness, nonjudging, nonreactivity, and describing reduce procrastination via decreasing anxiety. In other words, anxiety may function as the mechanism of change in mindfulness-based interventions for procrastination. Our findings imply that anxiety plays a key role in treating procrastination and that improving mindfulness is a viable means to alleviate anxiety and, in turn, reduce procrastination. We also found that acting with awareness is the most critical mindfulness facet in statistically predicting procrastination directly. Increasing the ability to act with awareness could potentially help individuals to better monitor and resist the impulse to procrastinate and focus on task demands by initiating and persisting in goal-directed behavior. Our study is encouraging to practitioners who wish to refine mindfulness-based interventions for anxiety and procrastination by targeting specific mindfulness facets. Still, our results and recommendations should be tempered with caution. Our cross-sectional data preclude causal inferences. For example, chronic procrastination, itself, which defers goal attainment, could elicit anxiety and inhibit mindfulness. Longitudinal research, ecological momentary assessment, and manipulations of independent variables (e.g., mindfulness) are required to draw confident causal conclusions and buttress the reliability and generalizability of our results. Indeed, statistical mediation is not tantamount to mediation determined on the basis of behavioral measures of procrastination and measures of anxiety (including psychophysiological measures) using prospective research designs. Clearly, such designs should be the focus of future research, and the current research should be regarded as exploratory. Although mindfulness-based intervention for anxiety-induced procrastination is a promising and developing field of research, future researchers in his area should evaluate mindfulness-based

interventions against other evidence-based treatments for procrastination such as cognitive behavior therapy in randomized controlled trials. Generalizability to different samples (e.g., general population, clinical samples) is limited in the present study because participants were exclusively college students. We strongly encourage future researchers to continue testing relations among anxiety, mindfulness, and procrastination in community and clinical samples to improve our understanding of mechanisms of procrastination across diverse populations. Ultimately, our findings may help future researchers design and develop efficient, costeffective mindfulness-based interventions for procrastination. Given the dearth of research on mindfulness interventions for procrastination, our findings that all facets of mindfulness, except observing, influence the prediction of taskrelated anxiety and that acting with awareness and observing uniquely predict procrastination, will hopefully serve as a stepping stone to future controlled longitudinal research. References Adele, M. H., & Feldman, G. (2004). Clarifying the construct of mindfulness in the context of emotion regulation and the process of change in therapy. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 11, 255–262. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/clipsy.bph080 Anisi, J., Majdiyan, M., Joshanloo, M., & Ghoharikamel, Z. (2011). Validity and reliability of NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) on university students. International Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 5, 351–355. Baer, R. A., Smith, G. T., Hopkins, J., Krietemeyer, J., & Toney, L. (2006). Using self-report assessment methods to explore facets of mindfulness. Assessment, 13, 27– 45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/ 1073191105283504 Baer, R. A., Smith, G. T., Lykins, E., Button, D., Krietemeyer, J., Sauer, S., . . . Williams, J. M. (2008). Construct validity of the five facet mindfulness questionnaire in meditating and nonmeditating samples. Assessment, 15, 329–342. http://dx .doi.org/10.1177/1073191107313003 Balkis, M., & Duru, E. (2007). The evaluation of the major characteristics and aspects of the procrastination in the framework of psychological counseling and guidance. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, 7, 376–385. Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Brown, G. K. (1996). Beck Depression Inventory-II. San Antonio, 78, 490– 498.

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treatments. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 38, 8–14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/165060709029 80695 Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1063–1070. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514 .54.6.1063 Weinberg, A., & Klonsky, E. D. (2009). Measurement of emotion dysregulation in adolescents. Psychological Assessment, 21, 616– 621. http://dx.doi .org/10.1037/a0016669 Received December 19, 2018 Revision received September 10, 2019 Accepted September 16, 2019 䡲