The relationship between time attitudes and different aspects of adolescent and young adult well-being: a scoping review of current foreign studies

Context and relevance. Adolescents' time perspective and attitudes toward time are key psychological resources for well-being during maturation. The theoretical framework of this review integrates contemporary approaches to analyzing adolescent TP, grounded in Philip Zimbardo’s five-factor model and the six-factor model by Z. Mello and F. Worrell. Objective. To examine the relationship between adolescents’ time attitudes and various aspects of their well-being, based on recent international studies. Hypothesis. Positive attitudes towards the past, present, and future will correlate with proactive, health-promoting behaviors, higher academic motivation, and better mental health, while negative time attitudes will associate with psychological distress symptoms. Methods and materials. This scope review (PRISMA-guided) analyzes 19 peer-reviewed studies (2019—2024), selected from 697 sources. Results.Adolescents with a totally positive time attitude profile (positive views of past, present, and future) demonstrated more adaptive behaviors than those with negative or ambivalent profiles (e.g., positive future/present but negative past). Some studies highlighted maladaptive effects of excessive fantasizing about an idealized future. Conclusions. Time perspective and time attitudes are important psychological resources of adolescents. The findings underscore the potential of psychoeducational interventions to foster holistic positive time attitudes, enhancing adolescent well-being. Further research is needed on youth in adverse life circumstances.

1. ВОЗ. (2024). Психическое здоровье подростков. URL: https://www.who.int/ru/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-mental-health (дата обращения: 29.04.2025).
   WHO. (2024). Adolescent mental health. (In Russ.). URL: https://www.who.int/ru/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-mental-health (viewed: 29.04.2025).
2. Толстых, Н.Н. (2010). Развитие временной перспективы личности: культурно-исторический подход: Автореф. ... д-ра психол. наук. МГППУ. М.
   Tolstykh, N.N. (2010). Development of the individual’s time perspective: a cultural-historical approach: Extended abstr. Diss. Dr. Sci. (Psychol.). MSUPE. Moscow. (In Russ.).
3. Arnett, J.J. (2023). Emerging adulthood: The winding road from the late teens through the twenties. New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197695937.001.0001
4. Diaconu-Gherasim, L.R., Mardari, C.R., Măirean, C. (2023). The relation between time perspectives and well-being: A meta-analysis on research. Current Psychology, 42(7), 5951—5963. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01949-4
5. Durayappah, A. (2011). The 3P Model: A general theory of subjective well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 12(4), 681—716. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-010-9223-9
6. Froiland, J.M., Worrell, F.C., Olenchak, F.R., Kowalski, M.J. (2021). Positive and negative time attitudes, intrinsic motivation, behavioral engagement and substance use among urban adolescents. Addiction Research & Theory, 29(4), 347—357. https://doi.org/10.1080/16066359.2020.1857740
7. Guo, M., Lou, Y., Zhang, N. (2023). Consideration of future consequences and self-control mediate the impact of time perspectives on self-rated health and engagement in healthy lifestyles among young adults. Current Psychology, 42(23), 19670—19680 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03135-6
8. Hutchinson, T., Lau, J.Y.F., Smith, P., Pile, V. (2024). Targeting Anhedonia in Adolescents: A single case series of a positive imagery-based early intervention. International Journal of Cognitive Therapy, 17(3), 429—465. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41811-024-00202-7
9. Kirtley, O.J., Lafit, G., Vaessen, T., Decoster, J., Derom, C., Gülöksüz, S., De Hert, M., Jacobs, N., Menne-Lothmann, C., Rutten, B.P.F., Thiery, E., van Os, J., van Winkel, R., Wichers, M., Myin-Germeys, I. (2022). The relationship between daily positive future thinking and past-week suicidal ideation in youth: An experience sampling study. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13, Article 915007. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.915007
10. Konowalczyk, S., McKay, M.T., Wells, K.E., Cole, J.C. (2018). The influence of time attitudes profile membership on mental well-being and psychosomatic symptomatology: A United Kingdom-based prospective study. Psychiatry Research, 261, 375—382. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2017.12.071
11. Kossewska, J., Tomaszek, K., Macałka, E. (2023). Time perspective latent profile analysis and its meaning for school burnout, depression, and family acceptance in adolescents. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(8), Article 5433. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20085433
12. McKay, M.T., Andretta, J.R., Cole, J.C., Konowalczyk, S., Wells, K.E., Worrell, F.C. (2018). Time attitudes profile stability and transitions: An exploratory study of adolescent health behaviours among high school students. Journal of Adolescence, 69, 44—51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2018.09.002
13. McKay, M.T., Clarke, M.C., Donnelly, P., Worrell, F.C. (2024). Time on our side: An exploratory investigation of the relationship between psychiatric disorder and time attitudes. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 170, 27—30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2023.12.010
14. McKay, M.T., Worrell, F.C., Zivkovic, U., Temple, E., Mello, Z.R., Musil, B., Cole, J.C., Andretta, J.R., Perry, J.L. (2019). A balanced time perspective: Is it an exercise in empiricism, and does it relate meaningfully to health and well-being outcomes? International Journal of Psychology, 54(6), 775—785. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12530
15. Mello, Z.R., Worrell, F.C. (2015). The past, the present, and the future: a conceptual model of time perspective in adolescence. In: M. Stolarski, N. Fieulaine, W. van Beek (Eds.), Time Perspective Theory; Review, Research and Application: Essays in Honor of Philip G. Zimbardo (pp. 115—129). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07368-2_7
16. Page, M.J., McKenzie, J.E., Bossuyt, P.M., Boutron, I., Hoffmann, T.C., Mulrow, C.D., Shamseer, L., Tetzlaff, J.M., Akl, E.A., Brennan, S.E., Chou, R., Glanville, J., Grimshaw, J.M., Hróbjartsson, A., Lalu, M.M., Li, T., Loder, E.W., Mayo-Wilson, E., McDonald, S., ... Moher, D. (2021). The PRISMA 2020 statement: An updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews. BMJ, 372, Article n71. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n71
17. Penfold, R. (2020). Using the Lens Database for Staff Publications. Journal of the Medical Library Association , 108(2), 341—344. https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2020.918
18. Rosario-Williams, B., Rombola, C., Miranda, R. (2021). Being certain that negative events will happen or that positive events will not happen: Depressive predictive certainty and change in suicide ideation over time. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 51(6), 1106—1116. https://doi.org/10.1111/sltb.12793
19. Stolarski, M., Fieulaine, N., Zimbardo, P.G. (2018). Putting time in a wider perspective: The past, the present and the future of time perspective theory. In: V. Zeigler-Hill, T.K. Shackelford (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Personality and Individual Differences: Volume I: The Science of Personality and Individual Differences (pp. 592—628). Los Angeles: Sage Reference. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781526470294.n28
20. Tang, P., Kostyrka-Allchorne, K., Butura, A.-M., Phillips-Owen, J., Sonuga-Barke, E. (2024). Reciprocal developmental pathways between future-related thinking and symptoms of adolescent depression and anxiety: A systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Clinical Psychology Review, 112, Article 102465. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2024.102465
21. Tejada-Gallardo, C., Blasco-Belled, A., Alsinet, C. (2021). Feeling positive towards time: How time attitude profiles are related to mental health in adolescents. Journal of Adolescence, 89, 84—94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2021.04.002
22. Tejada-Gallardo, C., Blasco-Belled, A., Alsinet, C. (2022). Impact of a School-Based Multicomponent Positive Psychology Intervention on Adolescents’ Time Attitudes: A Latent Transition Analysis. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 51(5), 1002—1016. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-021-01562-5
23. Wang, J., Sun, Y. (2023). Time flies, but you’re in control: The mediating effect of self-control between time attitude and academic procrastination. BMC Psychology, 11(1), Article 393. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-023-01438-2
24. Worrell, F.C., Andretta, J.R. (2019). Time attitude profiles in American adolescents: Educational and psychological correlates. Research in Human Development, 16(2), 102—118. https://doi.org/10.1080/15427609.2019.1635860
25. Worrell, F.C., Andretta, J.R., Wells, K.E., Cole, J.C., McKay, M.T. (2021). Time attitudes and mental well-being, psychological, and somatic symptomatology in final year high school students. Current Psychology, 40(9), 4541—4552. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-019-00386-8
26. Worrell, F.C., Mello, Z.R., Buhl, M. (2011). Introducing English and German Versions of the Adolescent Time Attitude Scale. Assessment, 20(4), 496—510. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191110396202
27. Wu, Z. (2022). Time perspective in relation to academic performance and subjective well-being among chinese adolescents. International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, 12(4), 258—263. https://doi.org/10.18178/ijssh.2022.12.4.1100