Procrastination in Adult ADHD: Influences of Temporal Perception and Delay Discounting.

• Grant number: 24/20550-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: June 01, 2025
• End date: October 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Cognitive Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Claudia Berlim de Mello
• Grantee: Grace Isaura Durkin
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a widely studied childhood neurodevelopmental disorder that often persists into adulthood. Although adult ADHD is less explored in scientific literature, the symptoms associated with this condition can have a substantial impact on individuals' productivity and quality of life, with procrastination being a behavior frequently reported in this clinical population. This project aims to explore the procrastination profile of adults with ADHD and its associations with cognitive processes of decision-making and temporal perception, comparing them to an age-, gender-, and education-matched control group. The procrastination profile will be assessed using the Pure Procrastination Scale, while participants' temporal perspectives will be analyzed through the Adolescent and Adult Time Inventory (ATI). Additionally, experimental tasks will evaluate delay discounting and temporal perception. Performance parameters in these tasks will be analyzed in relation to the procrastination profile, allowing for a comparative analysis between individuals with and without an ADHD diagnosis. The research aims to fill gaps in understanding procrastination behavior in adult ADHD patients, exploring these different variables and offering new perspectives for the theoretical model of the disorder, as well as potential implications for its diagnosis and treatment.