In control of future time: Sense of control weakens the negative association between age and future time perspective
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In control of future time: Sense of control weakens the negative association between age and future time perspective Tianyuan Li 1
# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Future time perspective has been found to significantly influence people’s cognitive preferences, social choices, and subjective well-being across adulthood. While increasing chronological age is considered as a natural correlate of more limited future time perspective, few studies have investigated other factors related to individual differences in future time perspective. Based on a sample of 372 participants of a wide age range, the current study tested sense of control as an important determinant of future time perspective and a moderator of the association between age and future time perspective. Three different components of future time perspective, extension (FTE), opportunity (FTO), and constraint (FTC), were tested separately. Consistent with the expectation, higher sense of control was related to more open-ended future time perspective (higher FTE and FTO, lower FTC). More importantly, sense of control significantly moderated the associations between age and two components of future time perspective (FTE and FTC). For individuals with high sense of control, older age was no longer related to more limited future time perspective. The results highlight the importance of sense of control in maintaining a positive perception of future time and suggest that psychological resource can interact with chronological age to influence future time perspective. Keywords Age differences . Future time perspective . Sense of control . Socioemotional selectivity theory
Introduction
The Importance of Future Time Perspective
While people’s perception of available future time generally decreases with chronological age, people of similar age can still vary considerably in their future time perspective. As the perception of future time has a powerful impact on individuals’ goal priorities and preferences (Carstensen 2006), it is important to investigate the factors that could influence the link between age and future time perspective. However, most previous studies focused on the consequences of future time perspective instead of its precedents. The current study filled this gap and identified sense of control as an important factor that can interact with age to influence future time perspective.
Future time perspective, defined as “the subjective sense of remaining time until death,” was first proposed in the socioemotional selectivity theory (Carstensen 2006, p. 1913). Based on the definition, chronological age is a natural correlate of future time perspective. People generally perceive future time to be more limited with growing age. The changing future time perspective significantly influences people’s goal priorities across adulthood (Fung and Carstensen 2006). Young adults, facing the expansive future, tend to emphasise future-oriented goals and focus on acquiring knowledge and preparing for the future. With gr
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