Rethinking the Relationships Between Time Perspectives and Well-Being: Four Hypothetical Models Conceptualizing the Dynamic Interplay Between Temporal Framing and Mechanisms Boosting Mental Well-Being

Effects of positivity training on character strengths, time perspective, and self-awareness in women with depression

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Depression exerts significant negative impacts across various life domains, including social interactions, occupational functioning, and economic well-being. These effects permeate both personal and interpersonal spheres. However, it seems that character strengths, time perspective, and self-awareness play a critical role in promoting mental well-being. The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of positivity training on character strengths, time perspective, and self-awareness in depressed women.

METHOD

Purposive sampling was employed to select 50 participants with depression based on the cut-off point (a score of 20 or greater) in Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI-II). They were then randomly assigned to a control group (n = 25) and an experimental group (n = 25). This quasi-experimental research adopted a pretest-posttest control group design. The experimental group received eight weekly 90-min sessions of positivity training. The control group participants did not receive any specific intervention related to depression management. The character strength scale, time perspective scale, self-awareness scale, and BDI-II were used to collect data. Data analysis methods included descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (ANCOVA). Data analysis was conducted using SPSS software.

RESULTS

The study included a sample of 50 women diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). The participants' mean age was 38.03 years (SD = 7.96). Positivity training enhanced character strengths in women with depression. Moreover, the positivity intervention affected the time perspective factors of those women. It reduced "past negative" and "present fatalistic" and increased "past positive," "present hedonistic," and "future." Finally, positivity training significantly increased self-awareness in women with depression (p < 0.01).

LIMITATIONS

The sample size was relatively small, which limits the statistical inferences.

CONCLUSIONS

In conclusion, this study provides promising initial evidence for the potential of positivity training as an intervention to improve character strengths, time perspective, and self-awareness in women with MDD. Further research is warranted to confirm and expand upon these findings, ultimately informing the development of more comprehensive treatment approaches for depression.

A pilot study of how the past, present, and future are represented in three-dimensional space

Numerous studies have shown that the representation of temporal concepts is associated with spatial features such as position and size. In a conventional task called the "Circle Test (CT)," participants are asked to express the relative importance of the past, present, and future and to demonstrate relationships among them by drawing three circles representing the past, present, and future. Studies on various participants, including refugees, patients living with serious illnesses, and adolescents, have used it to understand the temporal perspectives of different test takers. On the other hand, several studies have suggested that concepts of time are represented in three-dimensional (3D) space. It is expected that temporal concepts of the past, present, and future could be recorded using a 3D drawing task. Here we created a 3D version of CT (the "Sphere Test [ST]") to investigate the sagittal representation of time and to record the relative time importance and relatedness, allowing for the shielding relationships and the laws of perspective. We conducted experiments with university students to compare the results from the CT and the ST. Our results suggested that not all on-screen overlapping can be interpreted as representing a connection between two time zones in 3D space. We also found correlations between the chosen sizes of the three circles in the CT and ST, i.e., the on-screen sizes of the past and present circles were positively correlated. In contrast, we observed no correlation between the on-screen sizes of the future circles in the two tests. The alignment pattern along the sagittal axis showed different patterns from the horizontal and vertical axes. In conclusion, this study sheds new light on the third dimension of the spatial representation of time and may help us understand the relationship between temporal perspectives and other factors, including mental health.

Role of time perspectives and self-control on well-being and ill-being during the COVID-19 pandemic: A multiple mediation model

BACKGROUND

A growing body of evidence indicates that the outbreak of COVID-19 has had a significant influence on individuals' cognition, emotion, and psychological health. This study aims to explore the effect of the association between time perspectives and self-control on the well-being and ill-being among college students in China during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

We conducted an online survey involving 1,924 participants in mainland China during the outbreak of COVID-19. A series of self-rating questionnaires measuring the perceived impact of COVID-19, time perspectives, self-control, as well as the statuses of well-being and ill-being were administered. Multiple indirect effects of time perspectives and self-control on well-being and ill-being were analysed through structural equation modelling.

RESULTS

The present-hedonistic time perspective (an orientation on immediate impulses of pleasure) meditated the effects of perceived impacts on both well-being and ill-being, and the future time perspective (considering the outcomes of actions and decisions) mediated the effects on well-being. Moreover, the mediating effects were further mediated by self-control. Specifically, the impact of the future time perspective on ill-being was fully mediated by self-control (β = 0.01, p < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

Based on the results, it is evident that the present-hedonistic time perspective, the future time perspective, and self-control are related to higher levels of well-being and lower levels of ill-being, thereby providing further insight into the theoretical framework of time perspectives during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, our findings provide practical implications for psychological interventions during the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the effects of time perspectives and self-control on the well-being and ill-being of different individuals.

Leaving Past Adversities Behind: Gratitude Intervention Compensates for the Undesirable Effects of Past Time Perspectives on Negative Affect

Both gratitude and savoring the moment are considered to be well-established "well-being boosters" (WBBs). Each of them has a salient temporal reference: Gratitude is past-related, whereas savoring the moment refers to the present. The temporal match-mismatch model posits that time perspectives (TPs) moderate the effects of WBBs on well-being if they refer to the same temporal frame (e.g., gratitude and Past-Positive). Our study tested whether TPs moderate the effects of two positive interventions on positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA). The participants (N = 174 individuals, 73% women) completed measures of TPs, PA, and NA, followed by a brief intervention of gratitude (N = 86) or savoring (N = 88). Subsequently, they completed the PA/NA measures again. Both interventions significantly decreased NA but did not foster PA. The magnitude of the shift in NA in the gratitude condition depended on the levels of past TPs: Individuals high in Past-Negative and low in Past-Positive displayed greater baseline NA than their counterparts; however, the difference was leveled after the gratitude intervention. No interaction effects between the present TPs and the savoring intervention were observed. The results suggest that practicing gratitude may diminish the undesirable consequences of negative views of the past.

Seeking Causality in the Links between Time Perspectives and Gratitude, Savoring the Moment and Prioritizing Positivity: Initial Empirical Test of Three Conceptual Models

We provide an initial empirical test of three conceptual models reflecting possible patterns of causality effects in the relationships between time perspective (TP), gratitude, savoring the moment, and prioritizing positivity (referred to as well-being boosters, WBBs), and mental well-being. The first one, trait-behavior model, states trait TPs increase the tendency to use specific WBBs in order to increase mental well-being. The second model, the accumulation model, proposes that a regular practice of particular WBBs fosters adaptive TPs which in turn impact well-being. The third model, the feedback loop, suggests that WBBs and positive TPs reciprocally strengthen one another and together contribute to higher mental well-being. Participants (N = 206; M_age = 30.90, SD = 8.39, 74% females) filled questionnaires measuring TPs, WBBs, and well-being twice, in a one-year interval. Using cross-lagged panel analyses we examined the direction of causation in the relationships among the variables. Past-Positive had a significant cross-lagged effect on gratitude, Present-Fatalistic had a significant effect on savoring. Both Past-Negative and Present-Fatalistic perspectives displayed significant causal effects on well-being. The results partly support the trait-behavior model. However, given that the second wave was conducted shortly after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, further studies are required to better understand the interplay between the studied traits.

The Mediating Effect of Dispositional Gratitude on the Relationship between Religious Struggles and Self-Esteem: Preliminary Results

In comforting or distressing circumstances, individuals tend to have various perceptions of themselves. It seems that religious comfort and religious distress correlate differently with people’s self-esteem. Since the relationship between religiosity and self-esteem is not only direct but can be mediated by other factors that are recognized as buffers against adverse situations, our main goal was to verify whether dispositional gratitude may have an indirect effect on the association between both variables. The research involved data from 254 participants aged 18 to 25 (M = 21.24; SD = 2.09) and included 192 women (76%) and 62 men (24%). To measure the title variables, we used: the Religious Comfort and Strain Scale (RCSS), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), and the Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ-6). The results showed that people who consider religion as a source of comfort express positive attitudes toward the self and recognize others’ kindness, as well. In contrast, people who consider religiosity as a cause of fear, stress, and internal strain tend to display a lower subjective sense of personal worth and lower appreciation of the positivity around them. Moreover, gratitude had a mediatory effect on the relationships between religious comfort/negative emotions toward God and self-esteem.