Self-Assessment
Irrational Procrastination Scale (IPS)
Based on Steel's (2010) Procrastination Research
Measure your tendency to delay tasks even when you know it will make things worse.
The Irrational Procrastination Scale measures one specific thing: your tendency to voluntarily postpone tasks despite knowing the delay will likely make things worse for you.
It is one of the most validated procrastination instruments in psychology, tested across 16,000+ people in a global study. Your score will show how your procrastination habits compare to that sample.
What your score means
Strategies that can help
Score interpretation table
Percentile ranges based on a global sample of 16,413 adults (Steel & Ferrari, 2013).
The Research Behind the IPS
The Irrational Procrastination Scale was introduced in 2010 by Dr. Piers Steel, one of the leading researchers on procrastination. Here is what the research tells us.
From the Research
"[Procrastination is] the inclination to voluntarily delay an intended course of action despite expecting to be worse off for the delay."
— Steel, P. (2007). The nature of procrastination: A meta-analytic and theoretical review. Psychological Bulletin, 133(1), 65–94.
The IPS targets what Steel calls "pure" procrastination: the gap between what you intend to do and what you actually do, specifically when the delay is self-defeating. It does not measure strategic delay (waiting on purpose), general time management, or laziness. It measures the behavioral pattern of putting things off when you know that doing so will cost you.
All 9 items load on a single factor. There are no subscales. This means the scale treats procrastination as one unified trait rather than splitting it into types. Steel's 2010 study tested whether "arousal," "avoidant," and "decisional" procrastinators exist as distinct groups and concluded they do not. Procrastination is one thing.
Psychometric Analysis
"Results showed that the IPS had good reliability, content validity, structural validity, and substantive validity, and no gender bias... we conclude that the IPS appears to be a compact scale with unidimensionality... and an appropriate instrument to assess individuals' irrational procrastination."
— Shaw, A. & Zhang, J.J. (2021). A Rasch Analysis of the Irrational Procrastination Scale (IPS). Frontiers in Psychology, 11:615341.
A 2022 study by Vangsness et al. tested 10 different procrastination questionnaires head-to-head. Only two met all quality criteria for reliability, measurement invariance, and ability to predict actual delay behavior. The IPS was one of them.
Steel & Ferrari (2013) administered the IPS to 16,413 adults across multiple countries. Here is how procrastination levels varied by demographic factors in that sample.
Average IPS scores by age group
Young, single men with less education had the highest procrastination scores on average (Steel & Ferrari, 2013). Procrastination tends to decrease with age.
About 20% of adults identify as chronic procrastinators. If you are a younger adult and scored in the "high" range, that score may be more common among your peers than in the general population. The percentile bands on this page are based on the full adult sample, not age-specific norms.
This tool uses the original 9-item Irrational Procrastination Scale as published by Dr. Piers Steel in 2010. Steel has explicitly made the IPS available for research and educational use, stating on his website: "Feel free to use it for any research purpose or clinical purposes and adjust the scale length or anchors as you see fit."
We present the 9 items with the original 5-point Likert anchors (1 = "Very Seldom or Not True of Me" through 5 = "Very Often True of Me"). Three items (2, 5, and 8) are reverse-scored using the standard transformation (score = 6 minus response). The total score is a simple sum of all 9 items after reversal, giving a range of 9 to 45.
The score interpretation bands (bottom 10%, bottom 10–25%, middle 50%, top 25%, top 10%) are drawn from normative data published by Steel & Ferrari (2013), based on a global sample of 16,413 adults. These percentiles are approximate and may not perfectly match every demographic subgroup.
This tool is provided for educational and self-reflection purposes. It is not a clinical diagnostic instrument. We are not affiliated with Dr. Piers Steel or the University of Calgary.
How the IPS compares to other procrastination scales
9 items. Measures the core trait of irrational delay. One of two scales that met all quality criteria in a 2022 head-to-head comparison of 10 procrastination measures (Vangsness et al.).
16 items. Focuses on behavioral self-regulation failures and academic procrastination. The other scale that met all quality criteria in the same comparison study.
Take the Tuckman Scale20 items. Broader coverage of everyday procrastination across domains (social, financial, work). Developed by Lay (1986).
Take the GPSFrequently Asked Questions
This uses items from Dr. Piers Steel's (2010) Irrational Procrastination Scale, shared with his explicit permission for research and educational use. Steel states on his website: "Feel free to use it for any research purpose or clinical purposes and adjust the scale length or anchors as you see fit." We present 9 items with the original 5-point Likert anchors and scoring based on normative data from Steel & Ferrari (2013). We are not affiliated with Dr. Steel or the University of Calgary.
The IPS is one of the shortest validated procrastination measures (9 items) and focuses specifically on irrational delay — postponing despite expecting to be worse off. In a 2022 head-to-head comparison of 10 procrastination measures (Vangsness et al.), the IPS was one of only two scales meeting all psychometric quality criteria. The Tuckman Procrastination Scale (16 items) focuses more on behavioral self-regulation, while the General Procrastination Scale (20 items) covers everyday delay across multiple life domains.
About this assessment
This tool uses the published Irrational Procrastination Scale (Steel, 2010) for educational self-reflection. It is not a diagnostic instrument.
Items and scoring follow the original 9-item IPS as published in Steel, P. (2010), "Arousal, avoidant and decisional procrastinators: Do they exist?" Personality and Individual Differences, 48(8), 926–934. Percentile bands are derived from normative data in Steel, P. & Ferrari, J. (2013), European Journal of Personality, 27(1), 51–58, based on 16,413 adults. Psychometric properties referenced from Shaw & Zhang (2021), Frontiers in Psychology, 11:615341.
This is a self-report educational tool, not a professional psychological evaluation or clinical diagnosis. Procrastination is not a psychiatric condition listed in the DSM. A high score reflects a behavioral tendency, not a permanent trait or a measure of character, intelligence, or ability. Results should be used for personal reflection only.
If procrastination is seriously affecting your daily functioning, relationships, or mental health, consider speaking with a psychologist or counselor. Chronic procrastination can sometimes co-occur with conditions like ADHD, depression, or anxiety. A qualified professional can help identify whether something deeper is contributing and provide strategies tailored to your situation.