Procrastination is the term used for delaying activities or tasks that need to be accomplished. It has derived from Latin word proscrastinus which states that pro means “forward” and crastinus as “tomorrow” (En.wikipedia.org, 2018). Since the 1990s, research into procrastination has been growing rapidly in order to know the personal, environmental, cognitive, motivational and emotional factors that lead an individual to prolong tasks (Rebetez et al., 2015). These tasks can be related to our daily life activities, education and work organization. Procrastination is also behaviour that a person adopts knowing the fact that postponing the necessary tasks will lead to worse outcome. According to (Steel, 2007), possible outcomes of these delays will have many negative consequences, including mental and physical health problems, ability to achieve academic and career goals and financial well-being.
Researches have showed that procrastination is associated with poor health because of stress, anxiety, sense of guilt, depression and social disapproval for not fulfilling the responsibilities and commitment involved in it.
According to researchers, anxiety and stress are found in ADHD. ADHD known as Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder is a mental disorder found common both in children and adolescents It is also described as a neurodevelopmental disorder with a recognised and persistent pattern of behaviour (ADHD Australia, 2018).The main hypothesis of my report is to examine how procrastination is related to ADHD.
People suffering with ADHD face daily problems due to difficulty such as paying attention, hyperactivity and impulsive behaviour. Moreover, ADHD patients tend to have following symptoms :-
• Losing or misplacing things
• Poor listening skills
• Poor Planning and Organizing
• Forgetting things often
• Frequent mood swings
• Low tolerance
• Hot temper
• Impulsiveness
• Disorganizing and problems prioritizing
• Face trouble with coping stress
• Poor self image
• Lack of focus
• Anxiety
• Face hurdle while completing tasks (Mayo Clinic, 2018) (Cold et al., 2018)
All of the above factors leads to failure and causes an individual to be more anxious; causing stress and depression as well as making a person to delay assignments. We can associate procrastination with stress, depression and ADHD because they all share the common factors. In 2016, a pilot study was done by Joseph R Ferrari regarding procrastination rate among adults with and without ADHD. The study contained convenience sample of adults, who were clinically diagnosed with ADHD. There were 18 men as well as 11 women from and their mean age was 48 years. Another group of people were diagnosed without ADHD and the participants were 102 women and 65 men. Their mean age was 44 years. The main aim of this study was to compare chronic procrastination found in ADHD to another sample without ADHD. All the participants completed 3 questionnaire :- Mann’s (1982) 5-item 5-point Likert scale ,e (1 = not at all true of me; 5 = always true of me);Lay’s (1986) 20-item, 5-point (1 = “not true of me”; 5 = “very true of me”) General Procrastination Scale (GP) and McCown and Johnson’s (1989a: see Ferrari et al., 1995) 15-item, 7-point (1 = strongly disagree; 1 = strongly agree) Adult Inventory of Procrastination (AIP). All these scales were used to discover different aspects of procrastination such as decisional procrastination arousal procrastination and avoidant procrastination. (R Ferrari, 2018)
(R Ferrari, 2018)
The above table shows that participants with ADHD scored higher in all questionnaires in comparison to another group. The results have demonstrated that people with ADHD are prone to prolong task because of the symptoms they are suffering with. Moreover, this study has also stated that there is no significance different between genders on chronic procrastination that exist among ADHD people. Besides that, other empirical studies also addressed that chronic procrastination is consist of other traits such low self-confidence and self-esteem and high depression, worry, public self-consciousness, social anxiety, forgetfulness, disorganization, dysfunctional impulsiveness, behavioral rigidity, and lack of energy (Beswick, Rothblum, ; Mann, 1988; Effert ; Ferrari, 1989; Ferrari 1991,1992,1993; Lay, 1986)
Solutions to Procrastination
According to psychologist, ADHD can be treated with cognitive and behavioural therapy. Also, ADHA people can go for relaxation training and stress management. (Psychology Today, 2018).This will help them how to control anxiety and stress. Moreover, indirectly it will aid them in not delaying assignments. Furthermore, it is advised them to follow some of the tips such as getting rid of catastrophizing, dropping the perfectionism, forgiving oneself, making plans as well as making schedule according to calendar and optimizing the environment that will distract them.
Conclusion
Procrastination means delaying task and various researches has shown it leads to stress, nervousness, panic, restlessness, uneasiness and affect mental as well physical health. All these factors are found in people suffering with ADHD. ADHD is a mental disorder that affects one’s behaviour. In addition, there is difference in brain development and brain activity compared to normal people (Kidshealth.org, 2018). ADHD patients tend to do their work at last moment. This got proven by pilot study done by Joesph Ferrari, which announced that ADHD leads to chronic procrastination. In order to get rid of procrastination, one can consult psychologist and follow what psychologist recommends.
References
Psychology Today. (2018). 11 Ways to Overcome Procrastination. online Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/better-perfect/201703/11-ways-overcome-procrastination Accessed 25 Jul. 2018.
Healthline. (2018). 14 Adult ADHD Signs and Symptoms. online Available at: https://www.healthline.com/health/adhd/adult-adhd Accessed 25 Jul. 2018.
Kidshealth.org. (2018). ADHD. online Available at: https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/adhd.html Accessed 25 Jul. 2018.
Mayo Clinic. (2018). Adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) – Symptoms and causes. online Available at: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/adult-adhd/symptoms-causes/syc-20350878 Accessed 25 Jul. 2018.
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R Ferrari, J. (2018). online Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276354426_Procrastination_Rates_Among_Adults_With_and_Without_ADHD_A_Pilot_Study?enrichId=rgreq-21ceab8e9aec8498a2f12d72633ae40d-XXX&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI3NjM1NDQyNjtBUzoyMjk4MzM0ODU1ODIzMzZAMTQzMTgwNzk4MTcwMg%3D%3D&el=1_x_2&_esc=publicationCoverPdf Accessed 25 Jul. 2018.
En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Procrastination. online Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procrastination Accessed 25 Jul. 2018.
ADHD Australia. (2018). What is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)?. online Available at: https://www.adhdaustralia.org.au/about-adhd/what-is-attention deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd/ Accessed 25 Jul. 2018.
