“Tomorrow is the busiest day of the week”: Executive functions mediate the relation between procrastination and attention problems

Abstract

Objective

We examined whether executive functions (EFs) mediate the relation between procrastination and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in college students. Participants: One hundred fourteen undergraduates were recruited for study participation. Methods: Participants completed measures of academic performance, procrastination, ADHD symptoms, EFs (as measured by five EF facets: time management, organization/problem-solving, restraint, motivation, and emotion regulation), and common comorbid concerns for college students between May 2017 and May 2018. A mediational framework was utilized to examine the associations among procrastination, EFs, and four ADHD symptoms domains. Results: Results indicated that both procrastination and GPA correlated with EFs and three ADHD symptom domains. While EFs mediated the association between procrastination and ADHD symptoms, follow-up analyses suggested that self-management of time and organization/problem-solving are the specific pathways through which procrastination is indirectly associated with ADHD symptoms. Conclusions: Promising areas for future research and potential intervention targets are discussed.

Keywords:

• ADHD
• procrastination
• executive functions

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of the University of Tennessee Knoxville.