ArticlePsychology and aging2016
Hour glass half full or half empty? Future time perspective and preoccupation with negative events across the life span.
Article in Psychology and aging, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 87 citations in OpenAlex.
- Restricting future time perspective reduces failure to act after a missed opportunity.Psychology and aging · 2019Trial
- Predictors of extreme future time perspective change in persons who learn an Alzheimer's disease biomarker test result.Aging & mental health · 2026Article
- Impact of grandchildren on episodic memory and future-time perspective of older adults.Memory & cognition · 2026Article
- Age and Physical Activity Modulate the Spatial Mapping of Time-Related Words.Journal of cognition · 2026Article
- Older Age Is Associated with Fewer Depression and Anxiety Symptoms Following Extreme Weather Adversity.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- "Time without you": Transition to widowhood and its impact on time perspective and attitudes toward the future.European journal of ageing · 2025Article
- Adult age-related differences in susceptibility to social conformity pressures in self-control over daily desires.Psychology and aging · 2024Article
- Blaming the young is always more accessible rather than accusing the older employees: an experimental view over age and health in organizations.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Age differences in social decision-making preferences and perceived ability.Psychology and aging · 2023Article
- Emotion, Aging, and Decision Making: A State of the Art Mini-Review.Advances in geriatric medicine and research · 2023Article
- Age Advantages in Emotional Experience Persist Even Under Threat From the COVID-19 Pandemic.Psychological science · 2020Article
- Age patterns in subjective well-being are partially accounted for by psychological and social factors associated with aging.PloS one · 2020Article
- Focus on Opportunities or Limitations? Their Effects on Older Workers' Conflict Management.Frontiers in psychology · 2020Article
- Taking the Biggest First: Age Differences in Preferences for Monetary and Hedonic Sequences.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2019Article
- Counting down while time flies: implications of age-related time acceleration for goal pursuit across adulthood.Current opinion in psychology · 2019Review
- Creating a Culture of Health in Planning and Implementing Innovative Strategies Addressing Non-communicable Chronic Diseases.Frontiers in sociology · 2019Review
- Future Time Perspective: Time Horizons and Beyond.GeroPsych · 2018Article
- An Experimental Evaluation of Competing Age-Predictions of Future Time Perspective between Workplace and Retirement Domains.Frontiers in psychology · 2017Article
- Time Perspective and Age: A Review of Age Associated Differences.Frontiers in psychology · 2017Review
- What were they thinking? Reducing sunk-cost bias in a life-span sample.Psychology and aging · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
According to socioemotional selectivity theory, older adults' emotional well-being stems from having a limited future time perspective that motivates them to maximize well-being in the "here and now." Presumably, then, older adults' time horizons are associated with emotional competencies that boost positive affect and dampen negative affect, but little research has addressed this. Using a U.S. adult life-span sample (N = 3,933; 18-93 years), we found that a 2-factor model of future time perspective (future opportunities; limited time) fit the data better than a 1-factor model. Through middle age, people perceived the life-span hourglass as half full-they focused more on future opportunities than limited time. Around Age 60, the balance changed to increasingly perceiving the life-span hourglass as half empty-they focused less on future opportunities and more on limited time, even after accounting for perceived health, self-reported decision-making ability, and retirement status. At all ages, women's time horizons focused more on future opportunities compared with men's, and men's focused more on limited time. Focusing on future opportunities was associated with reporting less preoccupation with negative events, whereas focusing on limited time was associated with reporting more preoccupation. Older adults reported less preoccupation with negative events, and this association was stronger after controlling for their perceptions of limited time and fewer future opportunities, suggesting that other pathways may explain older adults' reports of their ability to disengage from negative events. Insights gained and questions raised by measuring future time perspective as 2 dimensions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.