Time Perspective and Experience of Depression, Stress, and Loneliness Among Adolescents in Youth Educational Centres

Abstract

Time perspective is of key significance in overcoming an identity crisis in adolescence. Research using the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI) was conducted on a group of 311 adolescents (aged 13–18) in several youth educational centres in south-eastern Poland. The research was designed to identify the significance of time perspective when it comes to levels of depression, stress and loneliness experienced in conditions of institutional rehabilitation and education. Linear regression analysis demonstrated the following: a positive past focus reduces the intensity of anxiety and depression; a positive past and future focus results in reduced depression, loneliness and stress; the experience of stress combined with depressionenhances the significance of time perspective for the feeling of loneliness; and a low level of family loneliness reduces depression.