Time perspective and substance use: an examination across three adolescent samples

Abstract

Time perspective is conceptualized as a multidimensional construct that assesses individuals’ feelings and thoughts about the past, present, and future. The current study examined relationships between feelings (time attitudes) and thoughts (time orientation) about time and substance use behaviors across three adolescent samples. Participants included a high-risk sample of adjudicated youth (N = 124; M_age = 15.54, SD = 1.69; 51.61% female) and two general population school samples (N = 777; M_age = 15.82, SD = 1.23; 53.41% female; N = 1873; M_age = 15.87, SD = 1.28; 52.22% female). Cross-sectional survey data were collected from samples in schools during 2010, 2016, and 2011, respectively. Poisson and negative binomial regression analyses indicated that overall, more positive feelings about time were associated with fewer substances used and, conversely, more negative feelings about time were associated with more substances used. These findings were particularly salient for participants with stronger positive and negative feelings toward the past and present time periods. Further, across the three samples, adolescents with a balanced time orientation (i.e. equal emphasis on all three time periods) generally reported less substance use than individuals who emphasized only one or two time periods. Findings highlight relationships between time perspective dimensions and substance use across diverse samples and illustrate opportunities for adapting time perspective-based substance use interventions for adolescents.

Keywords:

• Time perspective
• time attitudes
• time orientation
• substance use
• adolescents

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This research and preparation of this manuscript were supported by Grants P60-AA006282 and K01 AA026854 from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This project was partially supported by funds provided by The Regents of the University of California, Tobacco-Related Diseases Research Program, Grant Number T31IP1855.