Procrastination tendencies among obsessive-compulsives and their relatives

Participants diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD; 39 women, 26 men; M age = 40) and their family relatives (11 women, 7 men; M age = 45) completed standardized measures of obsessions, compulsions, decisional procrastination (indecision), and avoidant procrastination. Among the OCDs, obsessions were related significantly to decisional procrastination, and compulsions were related significantly to decisional and avoidant procrastination. In comparison to family members of obsessive compulsives, the OCDs reported significantly greater obsessions, compulsions, and indecisions, but not procrastination motivated by avoidance. Results suggest that individuals with clinical obsessive-compulsive tendencies do, in fact, report states of indecision, as claimed by DSM-III-R. However, these clinical individuals may not differ significantly from nonclinical samples (e.g., family members) in avoidant procrastination.