Procrastination and Task Avoidance

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xx

   PDF

2. An Overview of Procrastination

   • Joseph R. Ferrari, Judith L. Johnson, William G. McCown

   Pages 1-20

3. Procrastination Research

   • Joseph R. Ferrari, Judith L. Johnson, William G. McCown

   Pages 21-46

4. Assessment of Academic and Everyday Procrastination

   • Joseph R. Ferrari, Judith L. Johnson, William G. McCown

   Pages 47-70

5. Academic Procrastination

   • Henri C. Schouwenburg

   Pages 71-96

6. Trait Procrastination, Agitation, Dejection, and Self-Discrepancy

   • Clarry H. Lay

   Pages 97-112

7. Dimensions of Perfectionism and Procrastination

   • Gordon L. Flett, Paul L. Hewitt, Thomas R. Martin

   Pages 113-136

8. Procrastination, Negative Self-Evaluation, and Stress in Depression and Anxiety

   • Gordon L. Flett, Kirk R. Blankstein, Thomas R. Martin

   Pages 137-167

9. The Role of Personality Disorders and Characterological Tendencies in Procrastination

   • Joseph R. Ferrari, Judith L. Johnson, William G. McCown

   Pages 169-186

10. Treatment of Academic Procrastination in College Students

    • Joseph R. Ferrari, Judith L. Johnson, William G. McCown

    Pages 187-210

11. Treating Adult and Atypical Procrastination

    • Joseph R. Ferrari, Judith L. Johnson, William G. McCown

    Pages 211-234

12. Epilogue as Prologue

    • Joseph R. Ferrari, Judith L. Johnson, William G. McCown

    Pages 235-245

13. Back Matter

    Pages 247-268

    PDF

Procrastination is a fascinating, highly complex human phenomenon for which the time has come for systematic theoretical and therapeutic effort. The present volume reflects this effort. It was a labor of love to read this scholarly, timely book-the first of its kind on the topic. It was especially encouraging to find that its authors are remarkably free of the phenomenon they have been investigating. One might have expected the opposite. It has often been argued that people select topics that trouble them and come to understand their problems better by studying or treating them in others. This does not appear to be true of the procrastination researchers represented in this book. I base this conclusion on two simple observations. First, the work is replete with recent refer­ ences and the book itself has reached the reader scarcely a year following its completion. Second, when one considers the remarkable pace of pro­ grammatic research by these contributors during the past decade, it is clear that they are at the healthy end of the procrastination continuum. The fascinating history of the term procrastination is well documented in this book. The term continues to conjure up contrasting, eloquent images-especially for poets. When Edward Young wrote in 1742, "Pro­ crastination is the Thief of Time," he was condemning the waste of the most precious of human commodities.

• Aggression
• Depression
• Evaluation
• assessment
• personality
• stress

• DePaul University, Chicago, USA

  Joseph R. Ferrari

• Villanova University, Villanova, USA

  Judith L. Johnson

• Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, USA

  William G. McCown

Policies and ethics