Chronic Procrastination Among Iranians: Prevalence Estimation, Latent Profile and Network Analyses

Procrastination is the deliberate, unjustified postponing of an intended course of action despite its costs or unfavorable effects. The present study used a self-report online survey and collected data from a large convenience sample of the general adult population (N = 2,076; females = 55.73%; M_age = 35.1 years [SD ± 12.7]) with diverse demographics. Following the ring-curve distribution, the results indicated a 15.4% prevalence rate of procrastination among the Iranian community, which was significantly higher among women and divorced individuals and lower among nomadic individuals and those with higher academic degrees. A latent profile analysis demonstrated two distinct profiles, one for procrastinators (high scores on chronic procrastination, psychological distress, neuroticism, and extraversion; and low scores on general self-efficacy, self-esteem, satisfaction with life, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) and one for non-procrastinators (demonstrating a reverse pattern compared to procrastinators). Moreover, additional network analysis suggested that the examined networks were invariant across procrastination status and gender. The results indicate that procrastination differs by demographic characteristics and is associated with a unique psychological profile. However, none of the aforementioned key study variables were considered a potential vulnerability for procrastinators due to the finding that all variables were peripheral and none were central in the examined networks. Therefore, relying on the differences in mean scores on psychometric scales does not appear to be an optimal way of determining the most important variables in a therapeutic context when treating procrastination.