Longitudinal Associations Between Meaning in Life and Health Behavior Procrastination Among Chinese Medical Undergraduates: A Three-Wave Cross-Lagged Study

Health behavior procrastination (e.g., exercise procrastination and bedtime procrastination), which has been linked to self-control failure, has attracted increasing attention in health psychology. Given evidence that meaning in life is positively associated with self-control, the present study aimed to examine the associations between meaning in life and health behavior procrastination via self-control. Three waves of data, with one-month intervals between assessments, were collected from 713 undergraduate students from a medical department in China. The Three-dimensional Meaning in Life Scale, Brief Self-Control Scale, Exercise Procrastination Scale, and Bedtime Procrastination Scale were used to assess meaning in life, self-control, and health behavior procrastination. Cross-lagged analyses indicated that Time 1 meaning in life positively predicted Time 2 self-control, which, in turn, negatively predicted exercise procrastination and bedtime procrastination at Time 3. A small indirect longitudinal association between Time 1 meaning in life and Time 3 health behavior procrastination through Time 2 self-control was also observed. The present study provides support for the longitudinal association between meaning in life and health behavior procrastination, although the evidence was more limited support for exercise procrastination. It also provides statistical evidence for a small indirect longitudinal association through self-control. These findings contribute to understanding the longitudinal associations between meaning in life and health behavior procrastination.