Gallery Presentation International Positive Psychology Association 7th IPPA World Congress 2021

Meaningful life in time frames: The relationship between meaning in life and time perspective in younger and older adults (#188)

Nicole Long Ki Fung 1 , Helene Hoi-lam Fung 1
  1. Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Our life consists of the past, present and future. Previous research has shown that past and future time perspectives positively predict meaning in life (Przepiorka, 2012). As the socioemotional selectivity theory suggests that we become more present-oriented when we get older (Carstensen et al., 1999), a positive present time perspective may become more important to meaning in life in old age. This study investigates how different time perspectives associate with meaning in life in younger and older adults. We recruited 241 younger adults (Mage= 18.72, SD=1.50, 36.5% male) and 118 older adults (Mage=65.08, SD=5.98, 51.7% male) from Hong Kong to fill out an online questionnaire. They filled out the meaning in life questionnaire (MLQ; Steger et al., 2006) and the modified balanced time perspective scale (BTPS; Webster, 2011; Vowinckel et al., 2017). The presence subscale (α= .87) of MLQ measures participants’ subjective sense of meaning in life. The modified BTPS contains three subscales that measure the time perspectives towards the past (α= .91), present (α= .90), and future (α= .94). We regressed meaning in life on the three time perspective scores. In younger adults, meaning in life was positively associated with past (β= 0.25, p<.01) and future time perspective (β= 0.62, p<.001). Present time perspective did not predict meaning in life (β= 0.082, p=.42). Conversely in older adults, meaning in life was positively associated with present time perspective only (β= 0.96, p<.001). Meaning in life was not significantly associated with past (β= 0.14, p=0.41) and future time perspective (β= 0.11, p=0.45). This study demonstrated that perspectives towards the past, present and future could have different effects on meaning in life for people of different age. Future studies could explore whether age will moderate the effect of temporality-related attributes on meaning in life, such as nostalgia (past), mindfulness (present) and hopeful thinking (future).

  1. Przepiorka, A. (2012). The relationship between attitude toward time and the presence of meaning in life. International Journal of Applied Psychology, 2(3), 22-30.
  2. Carstensen, L. L., Isaacowitz, D. M., & Charles, S. T. (1999). Taking time seriously: A theory of socioemotional selectivity. American Psychologist, 54(3), 165–181. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.54.3.165
  3. Steger, M. F., Frazier, P., Oishi, S., & Kaler, M. (2006). The meaning in life questionnaire: Assessing the presence of and search for meaning in life. Journal of counseling psychology, 53(1), 80-93.
  4. Webster, J. D. (2011). A new measure of time perspective: Initial psychometric findings for the Balanced Time Perspective Scale (BTPS). Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 43(2), 111–118. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022801
  5. Vowinckel, J. C., Westerhof, G. J., Bohlmeijer, E. T., & Webster, J. D. (2017). Flourishing in the now: Initial validation of a present-eudaimonic time perspective scale. Time & Society, 26(2), 203-226.
  • Keywords: Aging, Life span development, Meaning and Purpose