Bidirectional relationships between self‐control and academic procrastination: A longitudinal study from middle childhood to early adolescence

Despite theoretical work suggesting a close link between self-control and academic procrastination, the bidirectional relationship between them remains unclear. The present study used a large sample of Chinese children (N = 6590; 50.9% boys; Mage = 9.48 ± 0.99 years at Time 0), assessed over three six-month waves from third to sixth grade. A random-intercept cross-lagged panel model indicated that self-control was significantly associated with academic procrastination at the between-person level. At the within-person level, decreases in self-control predicted later increases in academic procrastination, while increases in academic procrastination predicted later decreases in self-control. These findings support a bidirectional relationship and suggest that understanding the interaction between self-control and academic procrastination may inform prevention and intervention strategies.