A Balanced Time Perspective in Adulthood: Well-being and Developmental Effects

Abstract

This article presents a study that directly replicated the recently developed Balanced Time Perspective Scale (BTPS; J.D. Webster, 2011 ) and included middle-aged and older adults. Participants included 90 younger, 69 middle-aged, and 69 older adults who completed the BTPS and a measure of life satisfaction and happiness. A factor analysis replicated original findings with separate subscales for a past orientation and a future orientation obtaining simple structure (alphas = .94 and .95 respectively). A balanced time perspective predicted higher scores on both measures of well-being replicating the original J.D. Webster ( 2011 ) findings. A chi-square analysis indicated, as predicted, that the percentage of younger adults tended to be higher in the future-focused category, and the percentage of older adults tended to be higher in the past-focused category. Implications of a balanced time perspective on mental health over the life course are discussed.

Developmental trajectory of time perspective: From children to older adults

“…The past‐positive time perspective decreased somewhat with age, which is inconsistent with previous studies (Mello et al, ; Webster et al, ; Webster & Ma, ). As age increases, people may gradually feel less control over life.…”

“…Generally, maladaptive time perspectives were consistently risk factors for an individual's life satisfaction or well‐being (Drake et al, ; Sailer et al, ; Stolarski et al, ; Stolarski, Vowinckel, Jankowski, & Zajenkowski, ; Webster et al, ; Webster & Ma, ; Zhang et al, ). In the current study, older people reported more maladaptive time perspectives, such as a higher level of past‐negative, present‐fatalistic time perspective, and less BTP, which seemed to suggest that Chinese older individuals would show less satisfaction with life than younger people.…”

“…Similarly, Webster, Bohlmeijer, and Westerhof () found that older individuals (60–92 years) were more past‐oriented than middle‐aged (30–59 years) and young (17–29 years) adults. As for BTP, Webster and Ma () adopted the Deviation from the Balanced Time Perspective (DBTP) score as suggested by Stolarski et al () to reflect BTP. They found that DBTP score was not related to age ( r = .08, p > .05).…”

A French version of the Balanced Time Perspective Scale: Factor structure and relation to cognitive reappraisal.

“…As compared with the ZTPI (Zimbardo & Boyd, 1999), the BTPS includes a strong affective component, is relatively short, is not influenced by social desirability, and demonstrates higher subscale reliability (Webster, 2016). An initial set of studies using the BTPS indicated that the two-factor scale exhibited good psychometric properties in two general population samples (Webster, 2011;Webster & Ma, 2013) and showed that a balanced TP was associated with life satisfaction, happiness, self-esteem, and wisdom (Webster, 2016(Webster, , 2011Webster & Ma, 2013;Webster, Bohlmeijer, & Westerhof, 2014). In a lifespan perspective, earlier studies using BTPS showed that younger adults tended to be more future-oriented than older adults, whereas older adults tended to be more past-oriented than younger adults (Webster & Ma, 2013;Webster et al, 2014).…”

Az időperspektíva hazai mérése, személyiségvonásokkal való összefüggéseinek vizsgálata és egy új jövőorientációs mérőeszköz kidolgozása

“…Mind a négy többszörös lineáris regresszió modell eredménye az időperspektívák és az egorugalmasság között szignifikáns volt (11. táblázat Célunk a kiegyensúlyozott időperspektíva profil (KIP) személyiségpszichológiai hátterének meghatározása volt. Korábbi kutatások rámutattak arra, hogy a KIP szubjektív jó közérzethez, boldogsághoz, az élettel való elégedettséghez, a pszichológiai szükségletekkel kapcsolatos elégedettséghez, elszántsághoz, vitalitáshoz, hálaérzethez, érzelmi intelligenciához, a késő jutalmazással szembeni türelemhez, pozitív affektusokhoz, jobb problémamegoldó stratégiákhoz és negatív affektusok mennyiségének csökkenéséhez vezet (Boniwell és mtsai, 2010;Boniwell és Zimbardo, 2004;Drake és mtsai, 2008;Zhang, Howell és Stolarski, 2013;Webster és Ma, 2013). Az eredmények arra utalnak, hogy az egorugalmasság egyike lehet a kiegyensúlyozott időperspektíváért felelős személyiségtényezőknek.…”