Psychometric properties of an Arabic translation of the briefest version of the Zimbardo time perspective inventory (ZTPI-15)

BACKGROUND

Self-perceived temporal perspectives has been shown to vary across cultures. Although cross-cultural differences may be blurred by the globalization, accelerated pace-of-life worldwide and spread of multitasking; the way Arab individuals deal with time has its specificities. However, research in this area is scant in the Arab world. One of the main reasons for this scarcity of research is the lack of psychometrically sound and convenient-to-use measures. We aimed to examine the psychometric properties of an Arabic translation of the briefest version of the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZPTI-15).

METHODS

A sample of community Arabic-speaking Adults from Lebanon (N = 423, 68.6% females, mean age 29.19 ± 12.54 years) were administered the Arabic ZPTI-15. The forward and backward translation method was adopted.

RESULTS

Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA) revealed that the five-factor model exhibited a good fit to the data. The five ZTPI-15 subscales yielded a McDonald's omega ranging from 0.43 to 0.84. Multi-group CFA ascertained the invariance of the Arabic ZTPI-15 across gender at the configural, metric, and scalar levels. Our findings support divergent validity of the scale by showing positive correlations between past negative, present fatalistic, present hedonistic dimensions, and psychological distress; as well as negative correlations between past positive, future focused dimensions, and distress.

CONCLUSION

The Arabic ZTPI-15 is easy-to-use, valid, reliable, and will hopefully enable the conduction of future research in the field to purposively provide comprehensive insight into the time perspective patterns and correlates in Arab countries, and the broad Arabic-speaking community globally.

Time perspective differences between depressed patients and non-depressed participants, and their relationships with depressive and anxiety symptoms

BACKGROUND

Time perspective (TP) can be described as an individual's attitude towards his personal past, present and future. Literature suggests that it plays a role in several areas of psychological functioning (self-efficacy, coping) and impacts actual thoughts and behaviors. However, TP has seldom been studied in mental health, despite previous studies suggesting that the temporal profile is altered in depressed patients. This study investigates the differences of TP between depressed patients and non-depressed participants, and its relationship with depressive and anxiety symptoms.

METHODS

45 patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder were compared to 43 non-depressed participants recruited in the general population. Participants were asked to answer time perspective (ZTPI), depression (BDI-13) and anxiety (STAI-Y) self-report inventories. Statistical analysis included comparisons of scores between depressed patients and non-depressed participants, correlation and regression analysis.

RESULTS

Results indicate that TP is significantly altered in depressed patients. They display a more negative view of their past, a less hedonistic perspective towards their present, and a more fatalistic perspective when compared to non-depressed participants. Regression analysis shows that depressive and anxiety symptoms are associated with negative past and fatalistic present, and similar results are found with correlation analysis.

LIMITATIONS

The size of the sample was small, and longitudinal studies are needed to understand the dynamics and causal relationship between TP and depression.

CONCLUSIONS

These results underline the importance of considering TP in depressed patients, and encourage an in depth study of the relationship between TP and mood disorders. Therapeutic perspectives are discussed.

Changes in natural language use as an indicator of psychotherapeutic change in personality disorders

Word use has been shown to reflect various psychological processes and psychological change. This study examines the self-view in personality disorders (PDs) and its change over the course of therapy using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count analysis procedure. A sample of 299 participants with PDs and 108 community control participants wrote short essays about their lives. Patients repeated the assignment three times over two years and completed assessments of PD-pathology, general psychopathology, PD-beliefs, and quality of life. Results show that as hypothesized the use of words in the 1st Person Singular Pronouns, Negative Emotion, Causation, Past and Future Tense Verbs categories significantly declines over the course of treatment, while the use of Present Tense Verbs and Positive Emotion increases. These categories tend to distinguish patients from non-patients prior to treatment. We also found 12 additional word categories changing over time, including Word Count and Negations. Change in word use statistically predicts better treatment outcome on all outcome measures (p < .001). Reductions in the use of Negative Emotion Words and Negations are the strongest predictors of outcome. The non-hypothesized role of Negations was explored and seemed to reflect that PD-patients miss a lot in their lives. Reduction of what they miss seems central to recovery. This issue seems relatively neglected in theoretical and treatment models of PDs. An increased focus on what patients miss in their lives might improve our understanding and treatment of PDs. In sum, Negative Emotion and Negation word categories appear to reflect key treatment targets.