Predicting stress : the roles of optimism, procrastination and morningness-eveningness

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore to what extent individual differences in procrastination, optimism and morningness-eveningness give rise to variances in perceptions of stress. This was a correlational study using an online survey and the participants were a snowball sample of Irish adults (n = 118). The independent variables were procrastination, optimism and morningness-eveningness and the dependent variable was stress. Optimism, procrastination and gender were found to be strong predictors of stress amongst this sample. Procrastination was also found to be significantly correlated with morningness-eveningness and significant differences across age groups were found in the dependent and independent variables. The study concludes that further research into procrastination in particular is recommended to enhance understanding of the predictors of stress and the development of interventions to help reduce stress.