Relationship Between Delay Behavior and Time Perspective of College Students

Objective: The purpose of the current research was to explore the relationship between delay behavior and time perspective of college students. Methods: 456 college students (including 135 graduate students), from four Chinese universities, were surveyed with Aitken Procrastination Inventory (API) and Time Perspective Scale for Adolescent. Results: Firstly, there didn’t exist significant difference between different genders and grades; secondly, the scores of API were significantly correlated with length factor of Future Time Perspective (r=0.55, P0.01), attitude factor and definition factor of Present Time Perspective (r=-0.27,-0.43, P0.01), respectively. Finally, the results of multivariate stepwise Regression Analysis indicated that length factor of future time and definition factor of present time were the two most significant factors to predict delay tendency. The two models could explain about 40% variance of procrastination. Conclusion: Characteristics of time perspective could predict the procrastination tendency effectively.