Future Time Perspective in Mid-to-Later Life: The Role of Personality

Abstract

Objectives Future time perspective (FTP), or the way individuals orient to and consider their futures, is fundamental to motivation and well-being across the life span. There is a relative paucity of studies, however, that explore its contributing factors in mid-to-later life, specifically. Therefore, uncovering which variables contribute to individual differences in FTP, as well as the ways these variables interact, is paramount to developing a strong understanding of this construct during this life-span stage. Method This study used three data mining techniques (ie, elastic net, decision tree, and tree ensemble analyses) to simultaneously test several potential contributors identified in the literature, including the five-factor personality domains, several health indices, and age. Results Personality, especially neuroticism, extraversion, conscientiousness, and agreeableness, had the most influence on FTP. Age and health were not among the most salient FTP contributors in mid-to-later life. Furthermore, decision tree analyses uncovered interactive effects of personality; several profiles of neuroticism, extraversion, and/or conscientiousness were linked with differing FTP levels. Discussion Although the extant literature has indicated that FTP, age, and health are inextricably tied, these results indicate that there is more variability to be explained in FTP, perhaps especially when looking within specific age groups.

Future time perspective and personality trait change during the retirement transition: Insights from a six-wave longitudinal study in Sweden.

“…Research into FTP and personality has been limited in older adulthood, but the current findings were largely aligned with past work showing that a broader perspective was correlated in seemingly adaptive directions with Big Five traits (Kooij et al, 2018;Nelson et al, 2021). The present study advances that literature by demonstrating again the importance of moving beyond a singlefactor assessment of FTP.…”

“…Addressing the need for additional work on FTP and personality in older adulthood (Nelson et al, 2021), the present study examined whether FTP predicted levels and changes on Big Five personality traits over time. First, perceiving more future opportunities was associated with greater extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness initially.…”

“…Several studies on personality and FTP have focused on adolescent and young adult samples. Recent work though has shown that neuroticism and extraversion may be stronger correlates when considering time perspective later in life (Nelson et al, 2021). One reason for these differences, the authors note, is that studies with younger samples often focus on measures less couched within socioemotional selectivity theory.…”

“…The FTP literature has largely viewed personality traits antecedents of FTP, rather than considering how time perspectives predict trait change (e.g., Kooij et al, 2018; Nelson et al, 2021). This omission likely has resulted from two main factors.…”

Future Work Self Salience and Future Time Perspective as Serial Mediators Between Proactive Personality and Career Adaptability

“…This model views career adaptability as a resource that moderates the impact of adaptive preparation (e.g., future orientation) on adaptive outcomes (e.g., positive/negative effects; Savickas and Porfeli, 2012 ; Rudolph et al, 2017 ). Based on this argument, several studies have demonstrated that FTP can predict career adaptability ( Zacher, 2014 ; Jia et al, 2020 ) and personality has also been shown to be a strong predictor of FTP ( Nelson et al, 2019 ). Whether future time perspective mediates the relationship between proactive personality and career adaptability is a question that has not yet been directly studied.…”