A Time for Being Thankful: Balanced Time Perspective and Gratitude

Abstract

The aim of this report is twofold: 1) to demonstrate how grateful disposition is related to time perspectives in late adolescents and young people in the process of transition into early adulthood; 2) to verify whether age indeed moderates the relationship between the present-hedonistic dimension and gratitude, as well as future and gratitude in such a way that these relationships are stronger in high school students and undergraduates than in graduates. The results provide strong support for the hypothesis that gratitu de is higher in the case of the past-positive, present-hedonistic, and future time perspectives. As regards the reverse correlations, deviation from a balanced time perspective is positively associated with gratitude GQ-6 and IPIP-VIA. This suggests that different types of focus on recalling the past, experiencing the present, and facing the future might predict a grateful disposition and gratitude. Moreover, age moderated the relationship between the present-hedonistic perspective and gratitude.

People with Positive Time Perspective are More Grateful and Happier: Gratitude Mediates the Relationship Between Time Perspective and Life Satisfaction

“…These relationships can be understood in the context of the Pollyanna principle (Matlin and Stang 1978)-a tendency to focus on the positive aspects of events and to ignore negative ones. Positive time perspective is associated precisely with this kind of tendency to focus on the positive aspects of time, and therefore it evokes a feeling of gratitude for them, thus leading to a positive evaluation of life in general (Szczesniak and Timoszyk-Tomczak 2018). Similarly, negative time perspective is linked with the lack of tendency to focus on pleasant aspects of events and to place emphasis on what is unpleasant or painful in life.…”

Future Time Perspective and Perceived Social Support: The Mediating Role of Gratitude

“…The present study aimed to investigate whether future time perspectives, conceptualized as remaining time and opportunities, were associated with perceived social support received from and given to others, directly and indirectly, through the mediation of dispositional gratitude. Although gratitude was associated either with time perspective or social support [ 6 , 7 , 42 ], no study has simultaneously considered all three dimensions, also taking a multidimensional approach to both future time perspectives and perceived social support.…”

“…Time-perspectives, perceived social support, and dispositional gratitude are among the multitude of factors that were found to exert a positive influence on people’s psychological health [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. The associations between these dimensions have been separately investigated, showing a positive link of future time perspective with the composition and perceived quality of social relationships [ 4 , 5 ], and a positive link of dispositional gratitude either with future time perspectives or perceived social support [ 3 , 6 , 7 ]. However, no previous study has simultaneously considered all three dimensions when exploring the link between them; therefore, this study aimed at providing a contribution to fill this gap in the literature.…”

“…As for the dimensions that may influence gratitude, Szczesniak and Timoszyk-Tomczak [ 7 ] found a role for the positive perception of time perspectives. Allemand and Hill [ 6 , 16 ] provided longitudinal evidence that both dimensions of future time perspective (i.e., focus on remaining time and opportunities) were systematically, positively associated with gratitude at the within- and between-person levels.…”

“…First, since there is evidence of a connection between future time perspectives and perception of social support [ 5 , 18 , 19 ], we hypothesized a direct association of greater perceived time and opportunities ahead with higher perceptions of received and given social support. Second, since future time perspective predicted dispositional gratitude on the one hand [ 6 , 7 , 16 , 27 ], and gratitude was linked to social support on the other hand [ 3 , 24 , 25 ], we hypothesized that dispositional gratitude would partially mediate the relationship between future time perspective and perceived social support. Specifically, we expected a positive association of remaining time and opportunities with dispositional gratitude and that dispositional gratitude would be positively associated with received and given social support.…”