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Current Psychology

, Volume 37, Issue 2, pp 441–444 | Cite as

Procrastinators and Clutter: An Ecological View of Living with Excessive “Stuff”

  • Joseph R. Ferrari
  • Catherine A. Roster
  • Kendall P. Crum
  • Matthew A. Pardo
Article
First Online:

Abstract

In the present study, young adults (n = 346; M age = 21.5 years old) completed self-reported measures of procrastination, self-identity with possessions, clutter, place attachment, and psychological home to provide an ecological understanding of the context in which chronic procrastinators live. Results found behavioral procrastination tendencies related only to clutter (a belief that living spaces have too much “stuff,” feeling overwhelmed with excessive possessions, and that one’s personal life is negatively impacted by many possessions). Clutter in one’s living space, negative emotions, and impaired social ability all predicted high procrastination scores. Clutter was the best predictor of procrastination as determined by multiple regression. Taken together, chronic procrastinators reported too much clutter (possessions, or stuff), and that clutter interferes with a strong quality of their lives.

Keywords

Procrastination Clutter Possessions Ecological context Social relations 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

Authors are grateful to Trina and Angela Dao for presenting this work at the Biennial Procrastination Conference.

Funding

This study was NOT funded by any grant.

Compliance with Ethical Standards

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Conflict of Interest

JR Ferrari declares that he has no conflict of interest. C Roster, K Crum, and M Pardo declare each that they have no conflict of interest.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  • Joseph R. Ferrari
    • 1
  • Catherine A. Roster
    • 2
  • Kendall P. Crum
    • 1
  • Matthew A. Pardo
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of PsychologyDePaul UniversityChicagoUSA
  2. 2.University of New MexicoAlbuquerqueUSA

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