Assessing Procrastination
Dimensionality and Measurement Invariance of the General Procrastination Scale – Screening (GPS-S) in a Representative Sample
Abstract
Abstract. The short form of the General Procrastination Scale (GPS-K; Klingsieck & Fries, 2012; Lay, 1986) is a reliable self-report scale measuring general procrastination. The presumed one-dimensional factor structure of the scale, however, has never been examined. Thus, the purposes of this representative study were to examine its dimensionality and factorial invariance across age and sex, and to provide norm values of the German general population. The GPS-K was administered to a representative community sample (N = 2,527; age range 14–95 years). A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted. To explore convergent validity, standardized scales of distress and life satisfaction were used. Measurement invariance across sex and age was tested. The CFA revealed an unsatisfactory model fit of the presumed unidimensional factor structure of the GPS-K. Therefore, a 5-item one-dimensional version of the scale was suggested (General Procrastination Scale – Screening; GPS-S). Correlations between GPS-S, distress and reduced life satisfaction provide evidence on its convergent validity. The one-dimensional GPS-S can be assumed to be scalar invariant across sex and for participants older than 29 years. The scale can be administered in only a few minutes providing an economic screening for research and practice.
References
2000). Correlates and consequences of behavioral procrastination: The effects of academic procrastination, self-consciousness, self-esteem and self-handicapping. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 15, 3–13.
(2016). Procrastination, distress and life satisfaction across the age range – A German Representative Community Study. PloS One, 11, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0148054
(2000). Putting off until tomorrow what is better done today: Academic procrastination as a function of motivation toward college work. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 15, 15–34.
(2002). Evaluating goodness-of-fit indexes for testing measurement invariance. Structural Equation Modeling, 9, 233–255. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15328007SEM0902_5
(2005). Rethinking procrastination: Positive effects of “active” procrastination behavior on attitudes and performance. The Journal of Social Psychology, 145, 245–264. https://doi.org/10.3200/SOCP.145.3.245-264
(1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24, 385–396.
(2011). Alters- und geschlechtspezifische Neunormierung der Fragen zur Lebenszufriedenheit (FLZM) für die Altersspanne von 14 bis 64 Jahre
([Age and gender specific new normative data for the Questions on Life Satisfaction Questionnaire for 14–64 year olds] . Zeitschrift für Klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie, 40, 172–178. https://doi.org/10.1026/1616-3443/a0000992006). Factorial structure of three procrastination scales with a Spanish adult population. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 22, 132–137. https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759.22.2.132
(2010). Still procrastinating: The no regrets guide to getting it done. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
(2006). Do self-report instruments allow meaningful comparisons across diverse population groups? Testing measurement invariance using the confirmatory factor analysis framework. Medical Care, 44, 78–94. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.mlr.0000245454.12228.8f
(2011). Restriction of working time as a method in the treatment of procrastination. Verhaltenstherapie, 21, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1159/000333392
(2013). Procrastination when good things don’t come to those who wait. European Psychologist, 18, 24–34. https://doi.org/10.1027/1016-9040/a000138
. (2012). Allgemeine Prokrastination: Entwicklung und Validierung einer deutschsprachigen Kurzskala der General Procrastination Scale (Lay, 1986)
([Development and validation of the German Short Scale of the General Procrastination Scale (Lay, 1986)] . Diagnostica, 58, 182–193. https://doi.org/10.1026/0012-1924/a000060.2000).
(ADM-Design und Einwohnermelderegister-Stichprobe. Stichproben bei mündlichen Bevoelkerungsumfragen [ADM Design and sampling based on residents’ register. Samples for population based face to face surveys] . In S. GablerJ. Hoffmeyer-ZlotnikEds., Stichproben in der Umfragepraxis (pp. 99–116). Opladen, Germany: Westdeutscher Verlag.2005).
(The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory: A new tool for the assessment of burnout . Work & Stress, 19, 192–207). https://doi.org/10.1080/026783705002977201986). At last, my research article on procrastination. Journal of Research in Personality, 20, 474–495. https://doi.org/10.1016/0092-6566(86)90127-3
(2012). Method effects: The problem with negatively versus positively keyed items. Journal of Personality Assessment, 94, 196–204. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2011.645936
(2006). A non-arbitrary method of identifying and scaling latent variables in SEM and MACS models. Structural Equation Modeling, 13, 59–72. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15328007sem1301_3
(2010). A 4-item measure of depression and anxiety: validation and standardization of the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4) in the general population. Journal of Affective Disorders, 122, 86–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2009.06.019
(2013). Procrastination’s impact in the workplace and the workplace’s impact on procrastination. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 21, 388–399. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijsa.12048
(2014). Validation of a French version of the Pure Procrastination Scale (PPS). Comprehensive Psychiatry, 55, 1442–1447. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comppsych.2014.04.024
(2015). Cognitive, emotional, and motivational factors related to procrastination: A cluster analytic approach. Personality and Individual Differences, 76, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.11.044
(2014). Understanding and treating procrastination: A review of a common self-regulatory failure. Psychology, 5, 1488–1502. https://doi.org/10.4236/psych.2014.513160
(2003). Evaluating the fit of structural equation models: Tests of significance and descriptive goodness-of-fit measures. Methods of Psychological Research Online, 8, 23–74.
(2007). “I’ll look after my health, later”: A replication and extension of the procrastination-health model with community-dwelling adults. Personality and Individual Differences, 43, 15–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2006.11.003
(2015). Is procrastination a vulnerability factor for hypertension and cardiovascular disease? Testing an extension of the procrastination-health model. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 38, 578–589. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-015-9629-2
(2010). “I’ll go to therapy, eventually”: Procrastination, stress and mental health. Personality and Individual Differences, 49, 175–180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2010.03.028
(2007). The nature of procrastination: A meta-analytic and theoretical review of quintessential self-regulatory failure. Psychological Bulletin, 133, 65–94. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.133.1.65
(2010). Arousal, avoidant and decisional procrastinators: Do they exist? Personality and Individual Differences, 48, 926–934. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2010.02.025
(2013). Sex, education and procrastination: An epidemiological study of procrastinators’ characteristics from a global sample. European Journal of Personality, 27, 51–58. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.1851
(2016). On the measurement of procrastination: Comparing two scales in six European countries. Frontiers Psychology, 7, 1307. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01307
(1991). The development and concurrent validity of the procrastination scale. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 51, 473–480.
(2005). Relations of academic procrastination, rationalizations, and performance in a web course with deadlines. Psychological Reports, 96, 1015–1021. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.96.3c.1015-1021
(2015). The core self-evaluation scale: Psychometric properties of the German version in a representative sample. Journal of Personality Assessment, 97, 310–318. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2014.989367
(