I could do it now, but I'd rather (forget to) do it later: examining links between procrastination and prospective memory failures.

Prospective memory (PM) represents the ability to remember to perform planned actions after a certain delay. As previous studies suggest that even brief task-delays can negatively affect PM performance, the current study set out to examine whether procrastination (intentionally delaying task execution despite possible negative consequences) may represent a factor contributing to PM failures. Specifically, we assessed procrastination (via a standardized questionnaire as well as an objective behavioral measure) and PM failures (via a naturalistic PM task) in 92 young adults. Results show that participants' self-reports as well as their actual procrastination behavior predicted the number of PM failures, corroborating the impact of procrastination on PM. Subsequent cluster analyses suggest three distinct procrastination profiles (non-procrastinators, conscious procrastinators and unconscious procrastinators), providing new conceptual insights into different mechanisms of how procrastinating may lead to forgetting to perform planned tasks.

Do self-reports of procrastination predict actual behavior?

OBJECTIVES: Procrastination is typically assessed via self-report questionnaires. So far, only very few studies have examined actual procrastination behavior, providing inconclusive results regarding the real-life validity of self-reports in this domain. The present study aimed to examine for the first time whether participants' self-reported procrastination can predict their actual behavior on a real-life task. METHODS: For that purpose, we assessed self-reported levels of procrastination [via the Pure Procrastination Scale, PPS] and actual procrastination behavior on a naturalistic task [i.e., having to send in an attendance sheet before a deadline] in 93 participants. RESULTS: Results show that self-reports significantly predicted procrastination behavior. Analyses of underlying dimensions suggest that real-life procrastination can be the result of "voluntarily delaying planned actions," but can also have more passive causes such as "running out of time." CONCLUSIONS: Comparing our results with the available literature suggests that PPS self-reports reflect a particularly valid tool to assess real-life procrastination behavior. Findings are discussed in the context of strategies and mechanisms that potential interventions may target in order to reduce procrastination.