Estimate indicate that 80%-95% of college students engage in procrastination(O’brien, 2002). In addition to being endemic during college, procrastination is also widespread in the general population, chronically affecting some 15%-20% of adults(Harriott & Ferrari, 1996). In general, people who are in anxiety state tend to exaggerate and twist the events that they experience by overrating them(Genctan, 1981). Crites(1974) suggested that high levels of anxiety may hinder effective career decision making and development. In another study showed students with higher levels of anxiety experienced higher indecision(Hawkins, Bradley & White, 1974).
The purpose of this study is to examine the difference in procrastination and anxiety as a personality trait according to gender and the cognitive regulatory focus of university students. In this study, we would like to answer the following questions: First, is there any difference in procrastination according to gender and regulatory focus? Second, is there any difference in anxiety according to gender and regulatory focus?
The participants of this study comprised of 434 university students(171 male, 263 female), studying at 4 universities in South Korea. To examine whether the relative strength of promotion and prevention focus would differ across sex groups, we conducted a 2X2 mixed factorial analysis of variance(ANOVA) with sex category(male or female) as the between-subjects variable, and regulatory focus type(promotion or prevention) as the within subjects variable.
From the results, The following conclusion were: First, there were significant difference in procrastination according to gender and regulatory focus, but there were no interaction effect between gender and regulatory focus. Second, there were significant difference in trait anxiety according to gender and regulatory focus, but there were no interaction effect between gender and regulatory focus.
This study found that procrastination and anxiety as a personality trait is differ depending on gender and regulatory focus(promotion focus and prevention focus). These findings have meanings that regulatory focus theory which mainly dealt in the field of social psychology was extended to the counseling scene.