Procrastination is a widespread phenomenon that can be defined as “the voluntary delay of an intended and necessary and/or [personally] important activity, despite expecting potential negative consequences that outweigh the positive consequences of delay” [1]. Although individuals differ in the extent to which they procrastinate [2], cross-national studies have reported that large numbers of adults—between 15 and 30%—engage in problematic procrastination [2,3,4]. Moreover, the prevalence of procrastination may be even higher in some populations: for instance, studies have reported that up to 50% of university students engage in problematic procrastination [5]. Such findings are important because procrastination is associated with a range of negative outcomes, including impaired work and academic performance [6,7,8], poorer psychological well-being [9, 10], negative health behaviours [11,12,13], and poorer sleep quality [14].
Although much is now known about procrastination in adult and especially university samples, surprisingly little research has been conducted with adolescent populations [15]. This is particularly important given the negative association between age and procrastination [2], suggesting that individuals get better at dealing with procrastination as they age. Indeed, some research has suggested that the prevalence of procrastination may be especially high in adolescence [16,17,18], with about 80% of adolescents procrastinating for an hour or more a day [19]. In particular, adolescents tend to procrastinate on unpleasant tasks, such as academic writing and anxiety-inducing tasks [20, 21]. Moreover, the consequences of procrastination in adolescence may be similarly deleterious as it is in adulthood. For example, procrastination in adolescence has been associated with significantly lower self-esteem, poorer academic achievement, greater symptoms of depression, and poorer sleep quality [22,23,24,25].
The little research that is focused on adolescent procrastination is primarily concerned with predictive factors. For instance, an important body of work has shown that perceived parental control is significantly associated with greater adolescent procrastination, whereas perceived parental autonomy is significantly associated with lower procrastination [26]. Likewise, parental attachment styles have also been found to be associated with adolescent procrastination, with maternal and paternal alienation in particular associated with significantly higher levels of procrastination [27]. Other research among adolescents has focused on uncontrolled Internet and smartphone use, which mediates relationships between procrastination and psychological functioning (e.g., sleep quality, stress; [28,29,30]). Beyond psychological traits and behaviours, other relevant research has focused on demographic characteristics that may shape procrastination.
Thus, a small handful of studies have examined sex and cross-national differences in procrastination. In terms of the former, whereas the evidence among adults suggests that men are significantly more likely to procrastinate than women (for meta-analyses, see [31, 32]), findings among adolescent samples are more equivocal. In samples of adolescents from Canada and Singapore, for example, boys were found to have significantly higher levels of procrastination than girls [19]. In contrast, studies of adolescents from Turkey have reported no significant sex difference in levels of procrastination [33, 34]. In terms of cross-national differences, Klassen et al. [19] reported that Singaporean adolescents had significantly higher levels of procrastination than their Canadian peers, which may be ascribed to cross-cultural differences in time orientation and centrality [35]. It remains the case, however, that the vast majority of studies on (adult) procrastination have relied on samples from Western, educated, industrialised, rich, and democratic nations (for exceptions, see [36, 37]).
As a contribution to the literature on adolescent procrastination, the present study sought to examine sociodemographic predictors of procrastination in a hitherto under-researched population, namely adolescents from New Caledonia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France and is divided into three provinces (North Province, South Province, and Loyalty Islands Province), with provincial populations varying in ethnic composition, socioeconomic status (SES), and the degree of urbanisation. The ethnic composition of New Caledonia is especially important: at the 2014 census [38], 39.1% of the population reported having Kanak ancestry (i.e., part of the Melanesian group, indigenous to New Caledonia), 27.2% identified as European, and 10.3% identified as Polynesian (Tahitian and Wallisian), with other groups making up the remainder. While the Kanak tend toward more traditional, collectivist, and Pacific lifestyles and norms, Europeans and other ethnic groups have adopted a more Westernised way of life [39, 40].
A primary objective of the present study, therefore, was to examine possible ethnic differences in adolescent procrastination. This is important, firstly, because we are not aware of any previous study that has considered within-nation ethnic differences in adolescent procrastination. Doing so may, therefore, point to a unique intra-national factor that impacts upon procrastination, although it is difficult to determine a priori how that will play out in the context of New Caledonia. Second, any relationship between ethnicity and procrastination may be complicated by ethnic identity [41]. For instance, one previous study with New Caledonian adolescents reported that more positive ethnic identity was significantly associated higher self-esteem across ethnic groups [42]. In the present case, therefore, we considered the extent to which ethnicity and ethnic identity both in isolation and interactively were associated with procrastination.
The present study
The overall objective of the present study was to examine sociodemographic differences in, and factors associated, with procrastination in a sample of adolescents from New Caledonia. More specifically, we first considered the relationship between procrastination and participant sex, with the expectation that boys would show significantly higher levels of procrastination that girls [31]. Second, we examined the extent to which both ethnicity and ethnic identity—in isolation and also interactively—were associated with adolescent procrastination. Given the dearth of research here, we considered these analyses to be exploratory. Similarly, for exploratory purposes, we also included socioeconomic status and urbanicity of residence in our analyses, as these may pertinent in the New Caledonian context [43]. Finally, we also included participant age, with the expectation that of a negative association between levels of procrastination and age [16]. We acknowledge at the outset the largely exploratory and preliminary nature of our study design, but believe this is offset—to some extent at least—by the inclusion of an under-investigated sample.