Abstract
This ex post facto study examines the differences in bedtime procrastination tendency between males and females. Eighty-seven undergraduate students (36 males, 51 females) completed the Bedtime Procrastination Scale (BPS) which measures the tendency to procrastinate during bedtime. Our hypothesis states that male undergraduates will show a higher bedtime procrastination tendency than female undergraduates. Results showed that our hypothesis was not supported. No significant difference was found in bedtime procrastination between males and females. Implications were discussed in hopes of decreasing bedtime procrastination tendency.
Gender Differences in Bedtime Procrastination
Background and Statement of Problem
The tendency to procrastinate is a norm in life. Individuals are prone to postpone tasks, such as delaying academic work (Klassen, Krawchuk & Rajani, 2008; McCrea, Liberman, Trope & Sherman, 2008; Rebetez, Rochat, Barsics & der Linden, 2016) and delaying bedtime (Kroese, de Ridder, Evers, & Adriaanse, 2014a). While procrastination may be common, it often links to negative consequences (Pychyl & Flett, 2012). Many negative outcomes including stress (Stead, Shanahan, Neufeld, 2010) and insufficient sleep (Kroese, de Ridder, Evers and Adriaanse, 2014a) often affects individuals’ well-being. Lack of sleep is related to obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease (Buxton & Marcelli, 2010) as well as concentration and memory problems (Ram, Seirawan, Kumar & Clark, 2010).
The current study will examine a specific form of procrastination which is bedtime procrastination. It is essential for people to have sufficient sleep in order to function optimally. Despite the fact that majority of research found sleep disturbances or external factors as a result of lack of sleep, we propose that the lesser hours of sleep is due to simply going to bed late. This means that going to bed is a health behaviour that can certainly be delayed and can be procrastinated on. In addition, we consider gender as our independent variable. To our knowledge at least, no one has single-handedly accounted for gender differences in bedtime procrastination.
Literature review and theoretical framework
A survey study by Gröpel and Steel (2008) and a meta-analysis by Steel (2007) found that gender correlated significantly with procrastination (r = .08). A number of research has been investigated on the differences in gender in various circumstances such as risk taking (Charness & Gneezy, 2012), anxiety disorders (McLean, Asnaani, Litz, & Hofmann, 2011), creativity (Baer & Kaufman, 2008) and empathy (Rueckert & Naybar, 2008). However, especially in academic settings, it is difficult to predict this phenomenon. Based on past research, Balkis and Duru (2009) conducted a study on academic procrastination among male and female students found that males are more likely to procrastinate than females. Another study by Rodarte-Luna and Sherry (2008) on anxiety and learning strategies stated that females are more prone to procrastinate more frequently than males. On the other hand, Ozer and Ferrari (2011) found no significant difference in academic procrastination between male and female students. Such inconsistencies suggest the need for further research.
One trait mechanism linked to both gender and bedtime procrastination is self-regulation. Self-regulation is defined as efforts taken to reform their perspective of personal goals (de Ridder & de Wit, 2006). A study by Tangney, Baumeister and Boone (2004) found that people with low self-regulation are procrastinators in academic performance and were reluctant to resist temptations. In accordance to this study, we suggest that they are also prone to delay going to bed even though having good reasons not to. Indeed, a study by researches Kroese, de Ridder, Evers and Adriaanse (2014b) were the first to find a relationship between trait self-regulation and bedtime procrastination and resulted as the strongest predictor on sleep insufficiency (Kroese, de Ridder, Evers & Adriaanse, 2014b). Another study by Bembenutty (2007) investigated the differences in effort-regulation, a subset self-regulation as well as motivation, delay of gratification, and academic performance between 146 males and 210 female students. Results shown that males had significantly lower effort-regulation than females.
Time management is also another principle associated with both gender and bedtime procrastination. Time management is generally defined as a behaviour which increases productivity and reduces stress (Lay & Schouwenburg, 1993). According to Adebayo (2015), it involves prioritizing and allocating tasks based on demands since time cannot wait and cannot be stored. A study on effect of time management on students’ academic performance (planning, procrastination, prioritization) was used and found that there was significant relationship between procrastination and academic performance. The result may be unable to meet deadlines and having the mindset that time can wait which will result in getting insufficient sleep due to unorganized tasks and worry (Adebayo, 2015). In accordance to minimal sleep, researches Nawrot and Doucet (2014) introduced a massive open online courses (MOCC) and analysed withdrawal reasons. Results showed that poor time management is the main factor of high MOOC withdrawal rate due to minimal sleep affecting cognitive functions. Besides, significant gender differences existed in time management in relation to academic stress (Misra & McKean, 2000; Al Khatib, 2014) and time organization and management skills (Covic, Adamson, Lincoln & Kench, 2003), whereby females had more effective time management behaviours than males.
Details of study
The present study seeks to expand knowledge of a specific type of procrastination and its implications in the context of gender by examining the difference in bedtime procrastination tendency between male and female undergraduates. Operationally, gender is the distinction between male and female associated with social and cultural differences, in which are our respondents. On the other hand, bedtime procrastination is operationally defined as delaying bedtime with no external reason to do so (Kroese, de Ridder, Evers, & Adriaanse, 2014a). Given the framework of self-regulation and time-management on male significance in bedtime procrastination (Bembenutty, 2007; Misra & McKean, 2000; Covic, Adamson, Lincoln & Kench, 2003; Al Khatib, 2014), we hypothesized that male undergraduates will show a higher bedtime procrastination tendency than female undergraduates. Finally, touching upon practical implications, we anticipate that this study would raise awareness to all individuals of the detrimental effects of delaying bedtime on gender differences.
Method
Design
Ex Post Facto design was used as our research design. Our experiment consists of one subject variable which is gender with levels male and female as well as one dependent variable which is bedtime procrastination. The operational definition of our dependent variable is the total score on Bedtime Procrastination Scale (BPS) (Kroese, de Ridder, Evers & Adriaanse, 2014) (See Appendix A), where higher total score indicates higher bedtime procrastination tendency.
Participants
Eighty-seven psychology undergraduates in Malaysia (36 males and 51 females) were recruited from a private university. Due to incomplete data (eg., failure to provide demographic data, did not sign consent form, did not return questionnaire), 4 participants were excluded. The mean age of the sample for females was 20.37 years (SD = 1.25, range = 18–26) and for males was 20.89 years (SD = 8.23, range = 18-46). Participants completed a questionnaire on bedtime procrastination before, after and during breaks of lectures using convenience sampling. The study was approved by the local Ethics Committee prior data collection and participation was voluntary and anonymous.
Materials
Demographics including age and gender were used to provide general information for the study (Appendix B). The Bedtime Procrastination Scale (Kroese, de Ridder, Evers, & Adriaanse, 2014a) was used to measure individual’s score on bedtime procrastination. Sample items are “I go to bed later than I had intended.” and “I easily get distracted by things when I actually would like to go to bed.” Four statements were reverse-coded. Items were answered on 5-Point Likert Scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always). Items were summed to obtain a total score, with higher scores indicating more bedtime procrastination (Cronbach’s α = .882).
Procedure
Participants were given two copies of informed consent form (See Appendix C) and one set of questionnaires each. Once participants are finished, one copy of informed consent form and the set of questionnaires will be given back to us for records. Later, we thanked them for their participation.
Results
Data collation and descriptive statistics
SPSS version 19 was used to process descriptive data and an independent t-test was run to look at the association between bedtime procrastination tendency and gender. Data from each participant of the Bedtime Procrastination Scale (BPS) were summed to obtain a total score. Results showed that male (M = 32.42, SD = 8.23, range = 18-46) have higher bedtime procrastination tendency than females (M = 32.31, SD = 6.60, range = 18-26) (See Appendix D, Table 1).
Test of normality
Shapiro-Wilk test is used to test if a random sample comes from a normal distribution for sample size less than 2000. Results indicated that normality for males was not normally distributed (Shapiro-Wilk(36) = .92, p= .015), while normality for females was normally distributed (Shapiro-Wilk(51) = .96, p = .129). Therefore, the assumption of normality was not met (See Appendix D, Table 2).
Inferential test
Independent t-test were used to compare the means between two unrelated groups on the dependent variable which is continuous. Levene’s test indicated that the assumption of homogeneity of variances was met, F = 3.99, p = .049. Referring to Table 1, the t-test shows no significant difference in bedtime procrastination between males and females. There was no significant difference in bedtime procrastination tendency between male and female undergraduates, t(85) = .07, p = .949. Male undergraduates (M = 32.42, SD = 8.23) had higher bedtime procrastination tendency than female undergraduates (M = 32.31, SD = 6.61) but there was no significant difference. The hypothesis that male undergraduates will show a higher bedtime procrastination tendency than female undergraduates was not supported. We fail to reject the null hypothesis (See Appendix D, Table 3).
Summary of findings
The purpose of this study is to examine if there is a difference in bedtime procrastination tendency between male and female undergraduates. Our hypothesis was that male undergraduates will show a higher bedtime procrastination tendency than female undergraduates. Results proved that the hypothesis is not supported.
Discussion of findings
Based on the literature, getting sufficient sleep is critical for human health and its wellbeing. Past research mainly emphasized on academic procrastination and gender but overlooked on bedtime procrastination and gender. The current study seeks to anticipate that male students will tend to exhibit bedtime procrastination more than female students. Hence, we predict that males have lower self-regulation and poorer time management than females. Considering that males with low self-regulation skills and poor time-management are less likely to resist temptations and have lower productivity than females, it can be postulated, for instance, that males with low self-regulation and low time-management are more likely to keep watching movies or constantly playing computer games late at night even though they are aware that they might regret it the next morning when they wake up. However, results show that there is no significant difference between males and females students. Our findings on gender difference was consistent with Ozer and Ferrari (2011) reporting no significant gender difference in terms of procrastination. Unfortunately, the lack of literature examining the relationship between gender and bedtime procrastination makes it difficult to compare the findings with Malaysian undergraduate students.
In this regard, we believe that the difference between male students and female students reflected upon social interactions with immediate environment in the Malaysian cultural context. It is believed that the role of parents and school environment plays an essential part in student’s motivation to learn. A study by Kok (2016) with equal samples of gender (160 males, 160 females) found that both genders scored a high percentage of procrastination. This is due to students’ motivation in learning are mostly driven by fear and the bonds of affection with parents and teachers since childhood. These students’ will result in exhibiting either one of externally oriented regulation styles: identified regulation (internalized educational norm and parent expectations) and introjected (inability to internalize social norms and motivated by fear or reward). Therefore, it is not uncommon to hear that Malaysian university students’ degree courses choices were found to be externally oriented based on an online survey by University of Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) Opinion Poll (Kok & Ang, 2013). The results showed that Malaysian students of both genders were mostly introjected which resulted in procrastination.
Limitations and suggestions
As in previous studies, the results of this study are inconclusive of gender differences on bedtime procrastination. Hence, a number of limitations on the current study should be considered. First, this study does not provide information regarding details of participants’ including students’ lifestyle, sleeping schedules or job responsibilities. Second, our study consists of a small sample size, especially a minority of male students. Third, the current study was limited to self-report data which may raise potential inaccuracies with failure to recall events and social desirability bias. To strengthen the study, we suggest future research is needed to investigate other factors related to bedtime. In addition, a wide scope study based on a large population is needed in order to increase the power of the study.
Implications and conclusion
The implications for this study is to implement self-regulation enhancing techniques to prevent from delaying bedtime (eg., sleep hygiene practices). Strategies which does not require a lot of effort expects a success in reducing bedtime procrastination (Kroese, De Ridder, Evers & Adriaanse, 2014). Moreover, to instil the habits of time management such as planned studying and goal-setting will be useful in decreasing bedtime procrastination tendency in students. Therefore, counsellors and parents should emphasize participation in time management and self-regulation programs to decrease bedtime procrastination of students. Lastly, anti-bedtime procrastination campaigns and talks should be conducted to raise awareness of the consequences that will bring harm to one’s wellbeing both physically and mentally.
In conclusion, this study addresses an understudied phenomenon, in which revealed the relationship of bedtime procrastination tendency between male and female undergraduates in Malaysia. Both genders demonstrated similar bedtime procrastination tendency and no significant difference was found. Nevertheless, the qualitative analysis of this study provides insights into how bedtime procrastination tendency contributed to individuals in terms of gender differences. Future research is needed to analyse possible solutions to change this unhealthy behaviour.