Parent–adolescent attachment and procrastination: The mediating role of self-worth

ABSTRACT

Within the theoretical framework of attachment theory, the author examined associations between adolescents' procrastination and their attachment relationships with both mothers and fathers, and explored the potential mediation role of self-worth in these associations. Participants were 384 Chinese adolescents (49.6% boys, average age 15.13 years) from public schools in Shanghai, China. They completed self-report measures of 3 dimensions of parental attachment (i.e., trust, communication, and alienation), general self-worth, and procrastination. The results indicated that both paternal and maternal trust and paternal communication were negatively associated with higher levels of procrastination whereas both paternal and maternal alienation were positively associated with procrastination. In addition, self-worth mediated the associations among 3 dimensions of parental attachment and procrastination. The findings highlighted the importance of parental attachment-based intervention strategies to reduce procrastination among adolescents.

KEYWORDS:

• Chinese adolescent
• parental attachment
• procrastination
• self-worth

Funding

This study was supported by Teaching and Research Section of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (JX09JC03201601), and the research fund of the School of Social Development and Public Policy at Fudan University.