Students delay their duties, but also personal projects: Types of students' delayed and completed everyday actions

Research on procrastination focuses nearly exclusively on the delay of actions that are perceived as externally imposed obligations, which are postponed in favor of more attractive actions. Using the example of students' everyday actions we investigated whether this conceptualization neglects certain phenomenological facets. 398 college students were asked to describe delayed and instead completed everyday actions of a specific dilatory episode with respect to 35 characteristics. Subsequently, latent-profile analysis was used to explore whether typical action profiles could be differentiated. Three types of both delayed and completed actions were identified. The former could be characterized as duties, personal projects, and physical activities; the latter as recreation, socializing, and duties, in turn. The profiles of personal projects and physical activities thereby indicate that the scope of delayed actions is broader than usually presumed. It is argued that the conceptualization and assessment of procrastination should be extended with respect to these types of action.