Anxiety is a negative emotional experience that is intense and diffuse, with changes in physiology and behavior. Excessive anxiety will not only reduce individual learning and work efficiency and affect the quality of life, but more importantly, it may cause neurological diseases.
With the continuous improvement of our country's economy, the current situation of social competition has become more severe and cruel. The pace of people's life and work has also accelerated, and more and more psychological problems have appeared.
Especially today’s post-generation college students, who grew up in a superior material environment, face the rapidly changing social environment, and the aura of college students is gradually disappearing.
Instead, the overall anxiety level is higher due to pressure on interpersonal relationships, academics, etc. The results of the survey on negative emotions among college students show that anxiety is the most important inducing cause. In the face of anxiety, depression and other negative emotional psychological problems among college students, active attention and correct guidance must be given to avoid psychological disorders.
Therefore, researchers should conduct in-depth and systematic research on the causes of anxiety problems among college students. Parenting style refers to a relatively stable behavioral tendency and attitude displayed by parents towards their children in daily education and child-rearing activities. It includes parents’ behavioral tendencies towards their children and their educational concepts towards their children.
Previous research has shown that there is a correlation between parenting styles and anxiety. At the same time, under the independent daily management mode of teaching in various universities, the phenomenon of procrastination among college students is widespread.
The procrastination behavior of college students will interfere with their daily study and life order, and will lead to a serious decline in academic performance. For example, the phenomenon of truancy and boredom will interfere with daily life and even affect the mental health of college students.
Research by foreign scholars shows that 95% of college students procrastinate. Procrastination will not only disrupt the normal life and study order of college students, cause their academic performance to decline, and disrupt their daily routine, but it will also have a serious and far-reaching impact on the physical and mental health of college students.
The factors that affect procrastination mainly include external factors such as the nature of the task and internal factors such as individual differences. As the initial external influencing factor on individual development, family has a direct and far-reaching impact on individual development.
Foreign scholars have found that the evaluation anxiety of procrastinators mostly comes from the influence of their families and important others; there is a significant positive correlation between the parenting style of parents and their children's procrastination behavior. An authoritarian mother's parenting style will lead to children's life procrastination behavior, and an authoritarian father's parenting style will lead to their children's academic procrastination behavior. The research on
has certain significance in theory and practice. In theoretical research at home and abroad, there are discussions on parental education methods, procrastination and anxiety, and there is very little research on parental education methods, procrastination and anxiety. Although some results have been achieved, there are still some debates, so this article reorganizes and studies the three.
By studying parental education methods, the current status of procrastination and anxiety, and the correlation between the three, we can continue to improve related research on anxiety and enrich the theoretical system of anxiety.
In terms of practical value, the study conducted a demographic analysis of the current situation of procrastination and anxiety, which is helpful to help school administrators, teachers and parents understand the current situation of students' procrastination and anxiety in a timely manner, and make them realize the importance of reasonable parental education methods, reducing individual procrastination behavior, and reducing individual anxiety levels.
1. Correlation analysis between parenting styles and procrastination
The procrastination behavior of college students is significantly positively correlated with excessive interference by the father, refusal by the father to deny, refusal by the mother to deny, and severe punishment by the mother.
Procrastination behavior is related to individual motivation. Parents often deny their children, which will reduce their children's motivation to complete tasks. For example, children believe that no matter what they do, they will encounter the same results, so they have insufficient determination and motivation to complete tasks, resulting in procrastination behavior, which in turn leads to an increase in procrastination behavior.
Procrastination behavior is related to the nature of the task, that is, the more difficult the task is beyond the scope of the individual's ability, the more serious the individual's procrastination behavior will be. The mother's harsh punishment method for her children will virtually increase the children's requirements for completing the task and increase the difficulty of the task. When
children face tasks that are difficult to complete, they tend to adopt procrastination behaviors in response, which in turn leads to an increase in procrastination behaviors.
Procrastination behavior is related to external incentives, that is, the more time there is to complete, the more serious the procrastination behavior will be. The father uses excessive interference, which causes the children to take more time to complete the task, and they become dependent on the father when solving problems, which reduces their own motivation to solve problems. It is easy to produce procrastination behavior, which in turn leads to an increase in procrastination behavior.
There is a significant negative correlation between college students’ procrastination behavior and their understanding of father’s emotional warmth. Procrastination behavior is related to self-efficacy , that is, the higher the self-efficacy, the less procrastination behavior. When the father often has a warm and understanding attitude towards his children, the children will receive positive attention from their father when completing tasks.
will not worry about whether the result of completing the task will be punished or rejected by the father, which enhances their self-recognition and improves their self-efficacy, which will reduce the frequency of procrastination in their children.
2. Correlation analysis between procrastination and anxiety among college students
In Study 4, we found that college students’ procrastination behavior has a significant positive correlation with state anxiety and trait anxiety, indicating that the more serious the individual’s procrastination behavior, the higher the anxiety level.
On the one hand, procrastination among college students mostly occurs when the time required for a task is about to end but the implementation has not yet begun. For example, the summer homework is about to be handed in, but the individual has not yet started to complete it, and the mentality always holds the thought that it is still too late.
As the time for completing the assignment approaches, individuals adopt procrastination behavior to cope with it. In this case, college students who procrastinate will bear huge psychological pressure, worry about not being able to complete the task within the specified time, feel nervous and worried, and then produce state anxiety.
On the other hand, college students with trait anxiety are faced with the pressure of academic and employment issues. They not only want to solve problems well to face pressure, but also have insufficient understanding of their own abilities, resulting in low self-confidence.
In order to escape negative emotions, they are often willing to choose procrastination coping methods to relieve anxiety. However, as the task deadline gets closer, their anxiety levels become higher and higher.
3. Correlation analysis between parenting style and anxiety
In Study 5, we found that state anxiety in college students has a significant negative correlation with understanding of father's emotional warmth and understanding of maternal emotional warmth; college students' trait anxiety has a significant negative correlation with understanding of father's emotional warmth, father's harsh punishment, father's excessive interference, and mother's understanding of emotional warmth, and has a significant positive correlation with mother's refusal to deny and mother's harsh punishment.
Both state anxiety and trait anxiety in college students are significantly negatively correlated with parents' emotional warmth and understanding. That is, the more parents hold an emotionally warm and understanding attitude towards their children, the lower their children's state anxiety level will be.
First of all, state anxiety level is an individual’s anxiety level in a specific situation. Therefore, when their children face pressure or difficulties, parents can provide timely attention, understanding and support, which will enhance college students’ psychological motivation to face pressure and reduce their anxiety level.
Trait anxiety is a relatively stable personality manifestation. If parents adopt an emotionally warm and understanding parenting style for their children from an early age, the probability of their children developing trait anxiety characteristics will be reduced during the personality formation process.
Secondly, parents’ emotionally warm and understanding education method also opens a window of communication for their children. When children encounter some negative emotions, they can communicate with their parents in time to eliminate them, which helps to reasonably relieve anxiety.
Trait anxiety in college students is significantly and positively correlated with maternal denial and harsh maternal punishment. That is, if mothers severely punish and interfere excessively with their children, the more likely their children will develop a personality with trait anxiety characteristics.
Mother is the main source of emotion for her children. When children initially face pressure and setbacks, they may feel anxious out of concern about the possibility of expected results and need emotional support from their mothers. However, if the mother holds an attitude of denial and harsh punishment, it will aggravate the children's worries about expectations, so the degree of anxiety will be more serious.
As people grow up, they continue to face various pressures and setbacks. Under the mother's denial and harsh parenting style, anxiety will fully subside, forming a conditioned reflex and turning into a stable personality trait.
There is a significant negative correlation between trait anxiety in college students and severe father punishment and excessive father interference. That is, the more severe the father punishes and excessively interferes with his children, the more difficult it is for the children to develop a personality with trait anxiety characteristics.
Because the father represents authority in the growth of his children, when his children face pressure and setbacks and worry about expectations, the father will often give possible results. This reduces the children's anxiety about expectations and makes them more confident to challenge the pressure, so the children are less likely to develop trait anxiety.
4. Regression analysis of parenting style and anxiety among college students
From the results of the regression analysis of parenting style on procrastination among college students, parenting style has a significant predictive effect on anxiety, mainly due to maternal emotional warmth and understanding, and maternal denial and rejection factors.
The understanding of maternal emotional warmth has a significant negative predictive effect on state anxiety and trait anxiety. Therefore, we found that mothers are important to their children’s upbringing, that is, their role in the parent-child interaction is very important and has a greater impact on their children’s emotions, especially changes in anxiety levels.
Mothers pay more attention to the emotional changes of their children in daily life. Therefore, mothers who are warm and understanding can easily detect the changes in their children's emotions, relieve their troubles and worries in a timely manner, and reduce their anxiety levels.
On the contrary, maternal denial has a significant positive predictive effect on trait anxiety, that is, the more the mother adopts the rejection-denial parenting style for her children, the higher the trait anxiety level of her children.
Because children’s initial emotional flow is established with their mothers, that is, they are willing to talk to their mothers about their anxiety, but the mother’s attitude of denial and rejection will aggravate the children’s anxiety levels and form part of their personality traits.
