Purpose but not future time perspective predicts momentary affective well-being.

Abstract

Socioemotional selectivity theory suggests that a primary reason older adults have better affective well-being is due to their focus on goals and motives that prioritize their emotional experiences due to a more limited future time perspective (FTP) toward the end of life. There is mixed evidence on whether daily FTP is tied to daily affect and whether this effect remains above and beyond sense of purpose. The present study uses ecological momentary assessment data from 145 older adults residing in Zurich, Switzerland (age: M = 73.33, SD = 5.52, range = 65-91; 48% men, 52% women; all White). Participants completed up to seven momentary surveys throughout the day over 15 days; they reported on purpose at baseline, FTP every evening, and affect throughout the day. Multilevel models indicated that daily FTP was not associated with positive or negative affect at the between- or within-person level, though there were individual differences in these within-person associations. Higher dispositional sense of purpose predicted higher average positive affect and lower average negative affect. These findings highlight that the connection between short-term changes in daily FTP may not matter for many older adults' affective well-being, but older adults' dispositional sense of purpose does. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).