A Meta-analytic and Conceptual Update on the Associations Between Procrastination and Multidimensional Perfectionism

The equivocal and debated findings from a 2007 meta-analysis, which viewed perfectionism as a unidimensional construct, suggested that perfectionism was unrelated to procrastination. The present meta-analysis aimed to provide a conceptual update and re-analysis of the procrastination-perfectionism association guided by both a multi-dimensional view of perfectionism and self-regulation theory. The random effects meta-analyses revealed a small-to-medium, positive average effect size (r = .23; k = 43, N = 10,000; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) [0.19, 0.27]) for trait procrastination and perfectionistic concerns, and a small-to-medium, negative average effect size (r = -.22; k = 38, N = 9,544; 95% CI: [-0.26, -0.18]) for procrastination and perfectionistic strivings. The average correlations remained significant after statistically accounting for the joint variance between the two perfectionism dimensions via semi-partial correlations. For perfectionistic concerns, but not perfectionistic strivings, the effects depended on the perfectionism measure used. All effects did not vary by the trait procrastination measure used or the respondent’s sex. Our findings confirm that from a multi-dimensional perspective, trait procrastination is both positively and negatively associated with higher order perfectionism dimensions, and further highlight the value of a self-regulation perspective for understanding the cognitive, affective, and behavioural dynamics that characterise these traits.