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. 2016 Sep;31(6):558-73.
doi: 10.1037/pag0000097. Epub 2016 Jun 6.

Hour glass half full or half empty? Future time perspective and preoccupation with negative events across the life span

JoNell Strough  1 , Wändi Bruine de Bruin  2 , Andrew M Parker  3 , Philip Lemaster  4 , Nipat Pichayayothin  5 , Rebecca Delaney  1
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Hour glass half full or half empty? Future time perspective and preoccupation with negative events across the life span

JoNell Strough et al. Psychol Aging. 2016 Sep.

Abstract

According to socioemotional selectivity theory, older adults' emotional well-being stems from having a limited future time perspective that motivates them to maximize well-being in the "here and now." Presumably, then, older adults' time horizons are associated with emotional competencies that boost positive affect and dampen negative affect, but little research has addressed this. Using a U.S. adult life-span sample (N = 3,933; 18-93 years), we found that a 2-factor model of future time perspective (future opportunities; limited time) fit the data better than a 1-factor model. Through middle age, people perceived the life-span hourglass as half full-they focused more on future opportunities than limited time. Around Age 60, the balance changed to increasingly perceiving the life-span hourglass as half empty-they focused less on future opportunities and more on limited time, even after accounting for perceived health, self-reported decision-making ability, and retirement status. At all ages, women's time horizons focused more on future opportunities compared with men's, and men's focused more on limited time. Focusing on future opportunities was associated with reporting less preoccupation with negative events, whereas focusing on limited time was associated with reporting more preoccupation. Older adults reported less preoccupation with negative events, and this association was stronger after controlling for their perceptions of limited time and fewer future opportunities, suggesting that other pathways may explain older adults' reports of their ability to disengage from negative events. Insights gained and questions raised by measuring future time perspective as 2 dimensions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Final model with allowed covariances among items. Item numbers correspond to numbers in Table 2.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Future time perspective focused on limited time and future opportunities by age and gender in a cross-sectional sample of adults using LOESS line fit estimation. N = 3,933.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Structural equation model examining direct association between age and avoiding preoccupation with negative events, and indirect associations through focus on future opportunities and limited time. Ovals represent latent variables (items loading on each latent variable are shown in Figure 1).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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