Date

2008

Author

Güler Edwards, Ayça

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The aim of the present study was to investigate: (a) self and age related differences in time perspective and future time orientations; (b) age differences in adaptive self-regulation; and (c) the contribution of future and self orientations and adaptive self-regulation to well-being. A questionnaire consisting of measures concerning future outlook and time perspective, adaptive self-regulation, self-construals, goals and subjective well-being variables was administered to 404 adults (191 young, 128 middle-aged, 85 older). Also, short structured interviews about time, future, end of life and age were conducted for descriptive and exploratory purposes with nine individuals, three individuals from each age group. On the basis of the results, it was concluded that, (1) older adults had less open and planful, but more anxious future outlook than younger adults, and middle-aged adults had a time perspective more like older adults’; (2) there is a difference in the content of the goals reported by each age group, and total number of goals reported by older adults was lower than the number of goals reported by young and middle-aged adults; (3) for all age groups, balanced type (i.e., related-individuated, as defined by the Balanced Integration and Differentiation, BID, model) individuals had the most favourable future outlook, and only balanced-type individuals at young, middle and older ages did not differ from each other in terms of having the most favourable future outlook; (4) balanced type individuals reengaged into other goals more than the unbalanced type individuals when they were faced with an unattainable goal; (5) goal reengagement increased with having more open future time perspective, and the contribution of open future time perspective to goal reengagement was much more for middle-aged and older adults than younger adults; (6) self orientations, future time perspective and goal reengagement contribute to well-being, and contributions of future time perspective and goal reengagement to well-being after the contribution of self orientations were considerable only for young and middle-aged adults; (7) gender was not found to have a significant effect on goal reengagement and well-being, but women had slightly more anxious and fatalistic future attitudes than men.

Subject Keywords

Psychology., Personality., Psychology Phd thesis

URI

http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/3/12609593/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/18278

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis