Punctuality as a Personality Characteristic: Issues of Measurement

Measures of punctuality style, along with assessments of personality traits, were administered to 15 men and 22 women. Correlations indicated a relationship between punctuality style and nurturance, depression, and anxiety. Tardy individuals scored higher in both state and trait anxiety than individuals who were typically early or on time. An objective method of measuring punctuality style—using a stopwatch—was found to be reliable and to correlate with real tardiness. The results suggest that punctuality style is a persistent personality characteristic that can be assessed by several methods.