Adolescent, Handling, Cocaine

1
Time Perspective, Curiosity, and Psychological
Distress


Patty Zorbas, Christine B. Plummer, Melissa
Birnbeck, and Todd B. Kashdan
INTRODUCTION
CURRENT STUDY
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Zero-order relations between TPs, curiosity, and
general distress. 1 2
3 4 5 6 7 1.
Curiosity ---- -.00 .16
.37 .22 .14 -.01 2. General
Distress ---- -.36 .20
-.33 .46 .39 3. Past
Positive ---- .31 .36
-.27 -.04 4. Present Hedonistic
---- -.14 .21 .41 5.
Future ---- -.08 -.28 6.
Past Negative ---- .43 7.
Present Fatalistic ---- Note
p lt .01, p lt .05. Bolded variables denote
positive time orientations.
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• We live in a time of challenging circumstances
  (economic recession, war and terrorism, natural
  disasters) which call on our resources to cope
  and adapt. How we deal with the challenges in
  the present and prepare for the future may be
  important determinants of our well-being.
• One approach to understanding human coping is to
  focus on how people deal with their two most
  finite and precious resources Time and Energy. A
  way to achieve this could be to examine profiles
  of time perspectives. Time Perspective (TP) is
  the organizing of experiences into temporal
  frameworks (past, present, future) that when
  active, influence decisions and actions. Time
  orientations can be both positively and
  negatively valenced.
• 1. Past Negative
• Focus on negative personal experiences that
  still have the power to be upsetting Can lead
  to feelings of bitterness and regret.
• Past Positive
• Nostalgic view of the past Can lead to a more
  cautious safer than sorry approach
• Present Fatalistic
• Feel trapped in the present (instead of feeling
  alive and self- determined) Feel unable to
  change the inevitability of the future Can lead
  to anxiety, depression, and risk-taking
• Present Hedonistic
• Dominated by tendencies to feel fully alive in
  the present, extracting pleasure and meaning
  Risk-taking is common.
• Future Focused
• Highly ambitious and focused on strivings
• Balance in TP may also be an important
  determinant of well-being. A balanced TP allows
  flexibility to use information from each
  time-orientation. When an individual becomes
  temporally biased they take a narrow focus, thus
  limiting their time and energy resources.

• This study examined relations between the five
  time perspectives, time balance, and the traits
  of curiosity and general distress.
• RESEARCH QUESTIONS
• How do curiosity and general distress relate to
  time balance?
• 2. Is there some degree of independence between
  the positive and negative TPs?
• 3. Are trait curiosity and general distress
  related to a specific profile of time
  perspectives (positive, negative, past, present,
  and future)?

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• Positive and negative TPs were largely
  dependent.
• Independent TP relationship included those
  between
• Past Positive and Present Fatalistic
• Past Negative and Future

METHOD

• TRAIT CURIOSITY
• More strongly related to living in the present
  compared with savoring the past or being hopeful
  about the future.
• Unrelated to negative TPs
• GENERAL DISTRESS
• Strongly related to negative TPs
• Minimal relationship to living in the present and
  was inversely related to past positive and future
  time-orientations.

• Participants
• 100 undergraduate students from a Northeastern
  University
• 75 Female, 25 Male, and 2 did not report
  gender
• Age range 18 - 49 (M 24.28, SD 7.16)
• Measures
• Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (Zimbardo
  Boyd, 1999)
• 56-items assessing the five time perspectives on
  a 5-point Likert scale
• Curiosity and Exploration Inventory (CEI Kashdan
  et al., 2004)
• 7-items assessing preference for novelty and
  challenge and propensity to be deeply absorbed
  in activities. Rated on a 7-point Likert scale.
• Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire (MASQ-GD
  Watson Clark, 1991)
• 90-items rated on a 5-point Likert scale
  assessing symptoms related to anxiety and mood
  disorders
• The 15-item General Distress subscale assesses
  non-specific symptoms common to both anxiety
  and mood disorders
• Analyses
• Time balance was computed by creating and summing
  absolute difference scores between the TPs.
  This was done separately for positive and
  negative TPs.
• Pearson correlation coefficients were used to
  assess the relationships between TP, time
  balance, trait curiosity, and general distress.

• Although curiosity and general distress were both
  related to the present-hedonistic TP, analysis of
  the items on the present-hedonistic subscale
  indicate that curiosity and general distress are
  related to different items. Curiosity is
  correlated with items related to openness to
  experience, seeking pleasure and excitement in
  life and relationships, and immersion. General
  distress is related to items highlighting
  impulsivity.

DISCUSSION
Curiosity was related to the ability to recognize
the value and benefits of past experiences, savor
past positive events, and to capitalize on
opportunities for pleasure and meaning-making,
but not to the ability to create multiple avenues
for securing rewards in the future. Those high in
general distress showed a profile mirroring their
negativity bias in which there was a focus on
negative experiences, impulsivity, and a global
absence of positive TP. Changing perceptions of
time can have a profound impact on the ability to
adapt to and flourish when faced with challenging
circumstances. One way by which time perception
could be altered is by enhancing openness to
experiences. These findings also suggest that
interventions targeted at changing time
perceptions so that one maintains a balanced TP
with an emphasis on positive TP may help to
combat general distress. In addition, the
results suggest that the present-hedonistic time
orientation may be better understood as two
separate dimensions, one characterized by mindful
awareness and curiosity and the other by
sensation-seeking and impulsivity.
TP and Personality
RESULTS

• TIME BALANCE
• Greater balance within the positive TPs related
  to higher levels of curiosity (r .26, p lt. 01)
• Greater imbalance within the positive TPs
  related to higher levels of general distress (r
  .40, p lt .001)
• Neither curiosity nor general distress were
  related to a negative-orientation time balance

This research was supported by National Institute
of Mental Health grant MH-73937 to Todd B.
Kashdan. Correspondence concerning this article
should be addressed to Todd B. Kashdan, email
tkashdan_at_gmu.edu website http//mason.gmu.edu/t
kashdan