An exploratory study on sleep procrastination: bedtime vs. while-in-bed procrastination

Sleep Procrastination literature has focused on the behaviors individuals engage in before going to bed (Bedtime Procrastination) but not on the behaviors individuals engage in after going to bed (While-in-Bed Procrastination). The main goal of this study is to explore whether this While-in-Bed procrastination is a novel phenomenon that adds to the Sleep Procrastination literature. The study was conducted online with 400 high school students (<i>M_age</i> = 16.56; 139 males) recruited through personal contacts and social media. The Bedtime procrastination scale was adapted and validated for this sample, whereas the While-in-Bed Procrastination scale was developed for this study. Data show a low correlation (r = 0.158 **) between Bedtime and While-in-Bed Procrastination scales, suggesting that Sleep Procrastination may be composed of the two facets. Additionally, results showed that more Bedtime Procrastination was related to later waking time and later dinnertime hours, whereas more While-in-Bed Procrastination was linked to being male, later desired time to sleep, and earlier dinnertime hour. Findings indicate that solely assessing Bedtime Procrastination as representing the procrastination of Sleep is limited and overlooks a significant part of this behavior. This exploratory study adds a new perspective to the literature by stressing the role of While-in-Bed Procrastination, thus opening new research pathways.
This study was conducted at the Psychology Research Centre (PSI/01662), School of Psychology,University of Minho. This research was funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technologyand the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education (UID/PSI/01662/2019), through thenational funds (PIDDAC). Additionally, this study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science andTechnology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through national funds (PTDC/PSI-GER/28302/2017), and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnersh Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028302). This study was also supported by the Portuguese Foundation forScience and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, throughthe national funds, within the scope of the Transitory Disposition of the Decree No. 57/2016, of 29th of August,amended by Law No. 57/2017 of 19 July. Lastly, S.T. was supported by a research scholarship awarded by theResearch Center on Psychology (CIPsi), School of Psychology, University of Minho