The Relationship Between Future Time Perspective and Self-Esteem: A Cross-Cultural Study of Chinese and American College Students

Five-week of solution-focused group counseling successfully reduces internet addiction among college students: A pilot study

Background and Aims

In the digital age, Internet addiction (IA) was deemed an epidemic and few treatments had been effectively developed for it. Here, we proposed a solution-focused group counseling (SFGC) as a potentially solution to reduce Internet addiction among college students. The present study examined the short- and long-term effect of a five-week solution-focused group counseling intervention on Internet addiction.

Methods

Thirty-two participants were recruited and randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group, and twenty-six participants completed the whole intervention. The experimental group (n = 14) received the intervention, while control group (n = 12) did not. The revised version of the Chinese Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS-R), the Future Time Perspective, and resting-state EEG were administered pre-intervention, post-intervention, and at two follow-up tests (one month and six months after intervention).

Results

The results showed that the scores of the CIAS-R in the experimental group were significantly decreased after intervention, and these effects could be sustained for one month and six months follow-ups. Additionally, the intervention conducted an increase in future time perspective. EEG results further suggested that the alpha, beta, and gamma absolute power decreased after the intervention.

Conclusion

These results from the pilot-study primarily suggested that solution-focused group counseling could be an effective intervention for Internet addiction.

Exploring Deviation from Time Perspective in Patients with Major Depressive Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder: A Comparative Analysis in the Clinical Context

Objective: A growing body of research stresses the effect of time perspective (TP) on the genesis and maintenance of psychological disorders. However, the variations in the TP configuration of individuals with different disorders have not yet been completely investigated. We aimed to compare the differences in TP among patients with three common psychiatric disorders. Method : We recruited 30 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), 30 with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and 30 with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Participants completed Zimbardo's Time Perspective Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory, Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale, Maudsley Obsessive Compulsive Inventory, and Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 (SCID-5). The one-way MANOVA was utilized for the comparison of TP dimensions among the three disordered groups. Results: The results showed that TP was significantly affected in all three clinical groups. The effect of the disorder on time perspective was significant for Past Negative (PN) (F (2, 84) = 11.86, P < 0.01), Past Positive (PP) (F (2, 84) = 6.66, P < 0.01), Present Fatalistic (PF) (F (2, 84) = 7.08, P < 0.01) and Future (F) (F (2, 84) = 26.40, P < 0.01), but not for Present Hedonistic (PH). The findings revealed that the MDD group scored the highest on PN, with the GAD group scoring higher than the OCD group. The GAD and OCD groups reported higher PP than the MDD group. In addition, the MDD group scored higher than both the GAD and OCD groups on PF. Finally, the GAD patients reported higher scores than both the MDD and OCD patients on the F dimension, while the OCD patients scored higher than the MDD patients. Conclusion: Individuals with MDD tend to obtain higher scores in PN and PF time perspective, whereas those with GAD and OCD showed higher PP and F scores. These findings demonstrate the significance of examining TP in clinical patients and prompt further research into the association between TP and the disorders being studied. Perspectives on therapy are also explored.

The Effect of Future Time Perspective on Internet Dependence Among College Students in Pandemic Time: A Moderated Mediation Analysis

Purpose

Social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly increased the probability of Internet dependence. This study sought to examine the relation between future time perspective and college students' Internet dependence, as well as the mediating role of boredom proneness and the moderating effect of self-control in the link between boredom proneness and Internet dependence.

Materials and Methods

A questionnaire survey was carried out among college students from two universities in China. A sample of 448 participants varying from freshmen to seniors completed questionnaires on future time perspective, Internet dependence, boredom proneness and self-control.

Results

Results indicated that college students with high future time perspective were less likely to fall into Internet dependence and boredom proneness mediated this relationship. The relation between boredom proneness and Internet dependence was moderated by self-control. Boredom proneness had a greater impact on Internet dependence for students with low self-control.

Conclusion

Future time perspective could influence Internet dependence through the mediating role of boredom proneness, which is moderated by self-control. The results advanced our understanding of how future time perspective affected college students' Internet dependence, revealing that intervention strategies which could improve students' self-control would be instrumental in reducing Internet dependence.

Imagining emotional events benefits future-oriented decisions

How does imagining future events-whether positive or negative-influence our choices in the present? Prior work has shown the simulation of hypothetical future events, dubbed episodic future thinking, can alter the propensity to engage in delay discounting (the tendency to devalue future rewards) and does so in a valence-specific manner. Some research shows that positive episodic future thinking reduces delay discounting, whereas negative future thinking augments it. However, more recent research indicates that both positive and negative episodic future thinking reduce delay discounting, suggesting an effect of episodic future thinking that is independent of valence. In this study, we sought to replicate and extend these latter findings. Here, participants (N = 604; N = 572 after exclusions) completed an online study. In the baseline task, participants completed a delay discounting task. In the experimental task, they engaged in episodic future thinking before completing a second delay discounting task. Participants were randomly assigned to engage in either positive, neutral, or negative episodic future thinking. In accordance with Bulley et al., we found that episodic future thinking, regardless of valence, reduced delay discounting. Although episodic future thinking shifted decision-making in all conditions, the effect was stronger when participants engaged in positive episodic future thinking, even after accounting for personal relevance and vividness of imagined events. These findings suggest that episodic future thinking may promote future-oriented choices by contextualising the future, and this effect is further strengthened when the future is tied to positive emotion.

Future expectations of receiving care and all-cause mortality among older adults in Korea

While demand for care-giving is increasing rapidly among older adults in Korea, there are large unmet care needs. In the face of an elder care crisis, older adults feel uncertain about how and by whom they will be cared for. This study examines the relationship between expectations of receiving care in the future and all-cause mortality among Korean older adults. We explore whether mortality risk differs by sources of care (non-family vs. family caregivers), and further disaggregate different sources of care by family member type (spouse, sons and daughters). Using data from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (N = 3,111 participants aged 65 or older), we estimate Cox proportional hazards regression models predicting all-cause mortality. Expecting to receive care from either non-family or family members is significantly associated with lower mortality risk. Expecting care from a spouse and/or daughter was associated with lower mortality risk, but expecting care from sons was not. After adjusting for covariates, expecting future care from a spouse and/or daughter predicted lower mortality risk (HR = 0.83; 95% CI = 0.71-0.97 [spouse], HR = 0.79; 95% CI = 0.67-0.94 [daughter]), and the coefficient for expectations of formal care from non-family members became statistically insignificant. After controlling for family structure, only the association between expecting care from daughters and mortality remained statistically significant (HR = 0.78; 95% CI = 0.66-0.94). These effects are more pronounced among women than men. Initiatives to support and maintain high-quality family relationships across the life course and remove barriers that obstruct family members from providing care to their elders would improve older adults' longevity.

Does attending elite colleges matter in the relationship between self-esteem and general self-efficacy of students in China?

This study analyzed the reciprocal relationship between self-esteem and general self-efficacy among students from both the elite and non-elite universities in China. Descriptive statistics showed that the levels of general self-efficacy remained stable among Chinese college students albeit with minor fluctuations, while their self-esteem continuously declined during the four academic years; students from elite universities had higher self-esteem than their counterparts from non-elite universities. Moreover, the general self-efficacy of students was significantly and positively correlated with their self-esteem at college. Using a four-wave cross-lagged model, we found that the self-esteem and general self-efficacy among elite university students reinforced each other from the freshman to the junior years, whereas the self-esteem of their equivalents from non-elite universities monodirectionally predicted their subsequent general self-efficacy levels from the sophomore to the senior years. The study adds to the literature by (1) exploring the directionality of the relationship between self-esteem and generalized self-efficacy with four-wave panel data, and (2) discussing the heterogeneity of the relationship among sub-groups of the college students. The study proposed that institutions of different tiers should take targeted interventions to boost students’ self-esteem and general self-efficacy.

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The general self-efficacy of college students fluctuated over the four years.

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Self-esteem and general self-efficacy were significantly positively correlated.

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The two variables were evidenced to have reciprocal interactions with each other.

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The relationships were heterogeneous regarding the elite university attendance.

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Colleges should take targeted interventions to build general self-efficacy.

Lifetime Alcohol Use Influences the Association Between Future-Oriented Thought and White Matter Microstructure in Adolescents

AIMS

Future orientation, or the ability to plan ahead and anticipate consequences, is a capacity that develops during adolescence, yet its underlying neurobiology is unknown. Previous independent reports suggest that reduced future orientation and altered white matter microstructure are associated with greater alcohol use in adolescents; however, these effects have not been studied in conjunction. This study investigated the association between future orientation and white matter microstructure as a function of lifetime alcohol use.

METHODS

Seventy-seven adolescents (46 female; 15-21 years of age) underwent diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) and completed a fifteen-item Future Orientation Questionnaire. Regression analyses assessed the association between self-reported lifetime alcohol use and future orientation, and the association between future orientation and white matter microstructure, as a function of lifetime alcohol use.

RESULTS

Adolescents with more lifetime alcohol use demonstrated lower future orientation. Voxel-wise DWI analyses revealed two regions, bilateral posterior corona radiata (PCR), where greater future orientation was associated with lower mean diffusivity in those with little or no history of alcohol use; however, this association was diminished with increasing rates of lifetime alcohol use.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings replicate reports of reduced future orientation as a function of greater lifetime alcohol use and demonstrate an association between future orientation and white matter microstructure, in the PCR, a region containing afferent and efferent fibers connecting the cortex to the brain stem, which depends upon lifetime alcohol use. These findings provide novel information regarding the underlying neurobiology of future-oriented thought and how it relates to alcohol use.

Influence of Life Satisfaction on Self-Esteem Among Young Adults: The Mediating Role of Self-Presentation

Background

A comprehensive literature review suggests that self-esteem seems to be contingent on being satisfied in various domains of life. Although there are multiple studies that have addressed the direct relationship between both variables, there is still little known about the psychological mechanisms that underlie this association. Since self-presentation is an important process in young adulthood, the main goal of the present study was to consider self-promotion and self-deprecation as potential mediators between life satisfaction and self-esteem.

Participants, Methods and Data Collection

The study included 328 young adults aged between 18 and 35. Most of them were women (74.1%). The data were collected in Poland through an anonymous self-administered battery of questionnaires on the Internet platform. The participants completed the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and the Self-Presentation Style Questionnaire.

Results

A high and positive correlation coefficient was obtained between self-esteem and life satisfaction (r = 0.73; p < 0.001). The level of self-esteem correlated positively with the style of self-promotion (r = 0.46; p < 0.001) and negatively with the style of self-deprecation (r = −0.63; p < 0.001). Similarly, life satisfaction was positively associated with self-promotion (r = 0.37; p < 0.001) and negatively with self-depreciation (r = −0.42; p < 0.001). Moreover, both self-promotion (β = 0.67; p < 0.001) and self-deprecation (β = 0.58; p < 0.001) acted as mediators between life satisfaction and self-esteem.

Conclusion

The present study increases our knowledge about the mediatory role of self-promotion and self-deprecation. An overall sense of satisfaction with one’s own life can lead to higher self-esteem when young people are aware of their strengths and talents. Likewise, lower life satisfaction can elicit less positive self-esteem when people tend to undervalue their capabilities.

Thinking about the past, present, and future: Time perspective and self-esteem in adolescents, young adults, middle-aged adults, and older adults

We examined time perspective and self-esteem in adolescents, young adults, middle-aged adults, and older adults. Time perspective was measured with scales that assess relative orientations and relationships among the past, present, and future. Age effects were examined with standard analytic strategies to determine categorical differences between age groups and with new statistical techniques designed to show continuous age patterns. Findings indicated that (1) thinking about the future was greatest for adolescents and young adults and lowest for middle-aged and older adults, and thinking about the present increased across ages; (2) fewer adolescents and middle-aged participants perceived that the time periods were interrelated compared to younger and older adults; and (3) across ages, a greater emphasis towards the past compared to other time periods was associated with lower self-esteem, whereas emphasizing the present and the future jointly was associated with higher self-esteem.

The Relationship Between Future Time Perspective and Psychological Violence Among Chinese College Students

Based on early experiences and current conditions, a future time perspective influences college students’ behaviors, while psychological violence critically threatens college students’ health. This study explored the relationship between a future time perspective and the psychological violence of perpetrators based on an online investigation of 1424 college students (87.1% women) aged 17 to 31 in China. The results showed that a future time perspective is significantly positively associated with psychological violence. Positive future orientation is negatively associated with psychological violence. Negative and confused future orientations are positively associated with psychological violence. These findings support the need to introduce an intervention regarding a future time perspective to reduce psychological violence among college students.

Negative urgency and time perspective: interactive associations with anxiety and depression

Time perspective, which refers to a mechanism of automatically assigning experiences into temporal categories (as past, present, and future), is argued to be a fundamental dimension in the construction of psychological time in addition to acting as a vulnerability factor for psychological disorders. Negative urgency is another vulnerability factor for psychological disorders that are characterized by engaging in impulsive actions when one is under the influence of negative emotions. The current study aimed to examine how the interaction of different dimensions of time perspective and negative urgency are connected with anxiety and depression. Data were gathered from 404 (255 women) individuals between ages 18 and 65 through measures of time perspective, negative urgency, anxiety, and depression. The results showed that while the interaction of negative urgency with past negative time perspective was associated with depression, a similar pattern was not observed for other dimensions of time perspective. Particularly, negative urgency appeared to boost the negative impact of being past-oriented. Similarly, only the interaction of future time perspective with negative urgency was associated with anxiety, indicating that tending to focus on the events that are likely to take place in the future is associated with elevated levels of anxiety in individuals with high levels of negative urgency.