The Relations Among Attentional Difficulties, Perfectionism, and Procrastination in Young Children

Abstract

Adults with attentional difficulties and adults who display certain aspects of perfectionism both show higher levels of procrastination (Niermann & Scheres, 2014; Sirois et al., 2017). Determining whether these relations are present early in the lifespan is crucial, as this would indicate that children with these tendencies are possibly at risk of experiencing the adverse outcomes of chronic procrastination (e.g., Beutel et al., 2016; Sirois et al., 2003). Therefore, the present study investigated the relations among attentional difficulties, perfectionism, and procrastination in preschool children. We also examined age as a potential moderator of these associations to determine whether they show stability across the preschool period. Finally, we explored whether self-control or emotion regulation mediate these relations, as theories suggest that deficits in these abilities drive adult procrastination (Sirois & Pychyl, 2013; Steel, 2007). Parents of 3- to 6-year-olds (N = 274; Mage = 33.6, SD = 5.8; 168 mothers) completed online questionnaires measuring their child’s procrastination tendencies (Fuke et al., 2023), attentional difficulties (Conners, 2009; McGoey et al., 2007), self-control (Gioia et al., 2003), and emotion regulation (Conners, 2009). Parents also completed a new questionnaire developed for the current study in which they reported on their child’s perfectionism. We found that while attentional difficulties and procrastination were positively correlated with each other, perfectionism and procrastination were negatively correlated with each other. Neither of these associations was moderated by children’s age, suggesting that both relations are relatively stable throughout the preschool years. In addition, the association between attentional difficulties and procrastination was partially mediated by self-control, but neither self-control nor emotion regulation mediated the association between perfectionism and procrastination. Since the current study was cross-sectional, future research should seek to examine these mediational pathways longitudinally. However, our findings provide evidence that children with attentional difficulties may benefit from intervention to reduce their procrastination, whereas children with perfectionistic tendencies may not demonstrate increased procrastination until later in development.