“Procrastination makes easy things hard, hard things harder.” – Mason Cooley

I believe Mr. Cooley sums it up well but try convincing your teenager of this. I have noticed when talking to parents about school work, that one of their most common concerns is that their teens wait until the last minute to begin their studies. This often results in late assignments, poor test results and bleary-eyed and sleep-deprived teens. While most of us can remember our own period of procrastination, recent new studies have shed light on the emotional costs to teens as they enter adulthood.

Let’s first look at some of the reasons teens procrastinate. Here are 7 common ones:

1. Poor time management – Teens commonly overestimate the amount of time they have to complete an assignment and underestimate the time it takes. Developmentally speaking, teens struggle to conceptionalize what is required of them time-wise. Homework, chores, extra-curricular activities and meals are only some of the tasks they must juggle into the span between arriving home from school and bedtime.
2. Today’s teens are busy (perhaps too busy) – Teens do better with consistency and set routines. But asking teens and families to develop afterschool routines and patterns is nearly impossible due to the enormous number of afterschool activities today’s kids are involved in.
3. They are adolescents – Executive brain functions do not fully develop until around age 25. When I was in college I regularly started my studies around midnight. Five years later, in graduate school, my studies were complete most nights by 10:00 pm. I was simply more mature in all areas from time management to managing distractions.
4. Difficulty regulating emotions – boredom, anxiety (perfectionism), fatigue and frustration are only a few of the emotions which cause the teen to delay addressing the demands of the day.
5. Task is overwhelming – Often the sheer amount of work that needs to be done can seem overwhelming to the teen. Other times teens are not sure what is being asked of them or cannot grasp how best to organize or approach the task (projects, for example).
6. Distractions – Social media is the prime culprit here. Show me a teen who does not study without a phone, tablet or gaming system within arm’s reach.
7. Passive aggressiveness towards parents – We know that procrastination is partly rooted in the developmental task of separation and individuation. Teens strive and need to learn to manage their time and responsibilities. This often results though in power struggles between the teen and the parents. Pressure from the parent is often met with delay.

The potential negative impact on adolescents from procrastination does not seem to raise concerns among parents. Either the behavior is normalized or it is simply seen as an inconvienience associated with raising kids. But recent studies have shed light on the various costs of procrastination for teens as they enter adulthood. A study published in Adaptive Learning ( Hillary Green-Lerman, March 4, 2015) looked at 5,000 college chemistry students and found that those who began work on assignments 3 days before the due date scored measurably better than those who began work one day before. An interview published in Psychology Today (Hara Estroff Marano, June 9, 2016) with two of the world’s leading experts on procrastination reported that students who consistently procrastinate had evidence of compromised immune systems such as more colds and flu and higher rates of gastrointestinal problems and insomnia. Finally, the Procrastination Research Group at Carleton University in Canada conducted a survey of students to determine the effect of procrastination on happiness; 46% of 2,700 responding students stated that procrastination negatively affected them “quite a bit” or “very much” while 18% reported that it was “extreme.”

So what can you as parents do to help? Here are several strategies:

1. Initially, let your teen experience the natural consequences of procrastination. Resist the urge to rescue them from penalties for handing an assignment in late, low grades due to shoddy last-minute work or poor test grades due to fatigue from staying up too late. Consequences are designed to teach.
2. If they do appear to chronically procrastinate, identify the reasons and step in. Never assume the teen is lazy or does not care.
3. Encourage your teen to have a discussion with you at the beginning of each week about the demands ahead. Help them develop a clear idea about what needs to be done and how best to accomplish it.
4. If they are over-scheduled, talk with them about their activities and commitments and help them reduce the demands on their time.
5. Ask them to do their work in a clutter free, social media-free and distraction-free environment.
6. Provide clear expectations and guidelines. These may be related to bedtimes, chores, extra-curricular activities or school work.

Setting limits on your teen is never fun or well-received. Remember though that one of your primary responsibilities is to prepare your teen for adulthood. Entering their post- high school years understanding the importance of planning, organization, sleep, balance, time management and the perils of distraction will greatly reduce the stress and worry of early adulthood.