Development of psychological time perspective: The types, predictors, and trends

A nationwide sample (N = 2201, aged 15-89) from the Czech Republic was administered the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI) along with demographic, social, and attitudinal questions to reveal developmental shifts in the Future, Present-Hedonistic, Present-Fatalistic, Positive-Past and Negative-Past dimensions. It turned out that age was not the only significant developmental factor (bivariate analyses were scrutinized by multiple linear regression, which yielded additional predictors for individual ZTPI dimensions, such as education, employment, marital status, health, political leaning, or religiousness; some were more significant than age). Latent class analysis (LCA) was then used to identify meaningful time perspective patterns, which corresponded to distinctly different developmental tasks and coping strategies: Hedonic pattern typical for the young (16%), Empowered pattern usual for mid-age adulthood (characterized by high future commitment along with low fatalism and low hedonism; 25%), and two patterns typical for aging – prevalently positive Moderate pattern (39%) and Past-Oriented Fatalism (20%). Predictors for LCA classes and ZTPI dimensions provide leads for fostering healthy time perspective.