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Once a procrastinator, always a procrastinator? Examining stability, change, and long-term correlates of procrastination during young adulthood.

Lisa Bäulke et al.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology2026https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000591article
AJG 4ABDC A*
Weight
0.37

Abstract

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 conscientiousness and neuroticism, 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. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000591

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@article{lisa2026,
  title        = {{Once a procrastinator, always a procrastinator? Examining stability, change, and long-term correlates of procrastination during young adulthood.}},
  author       = {Lisa Bäulke et al.},
  journal      = {Journal of Personality and Social Psychology},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000591},
}

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Once a procrastinator, always a procrastinator? Examining stability, change, and long-term correlates of procrastination during young adulthood.

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Evidence weight

0.37

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.16 × 0.4 = 0.06
M · momentum0.53 × 0.15 = 0.08
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.