Future time perspective in current and previous injecting drug users

Present hedonism and future time perspectives predicting hypersexuality and problematic pornography use

The Time Perspective (TP) theory (i.e., the psychological experience regarding time) was often examined in association with different addictive behaviors, and the different TPs (i.e., Past Positive, Past Negative, Present Hedonistic, Present Fatalistic, and Future TPs) demonstrated different relationship patterns with them. However, most studies were conducted in relation to substance use-related disorders, leaving crucial knowledge gaps concerning the associations between TPs and potential behavioral addictions. The aim of the present study was to examine the associations between the five TP dimensions, hypersexuality, and problematic pornography use (PPU), considering potential gender differences. Participants from two independent samples (N₁ = 554; N₂ = 453) completed a self-report survey on TPs and sexual behaviors. Structural equation modeling results indicated that the Present Hedonistic TP had a positive, moderate, and the Future TP had a negative, weak association with hypersexuality in both samples. Only the Present Hedonistic TP had a significant, positive, weak-to-moderate association with PPU across the samples. The explained variances of the models were higher in case of hypersexuality (28 and 27%, respectively), than in case of PPU (1 and 14%, respectively). No significant gender differences were observed. In line with previous findings concerning other predictors of hypersexuality and PPU, the results of the present study suggest that hypersexuality and PPU may differ from each other in terms of their TP background. Yet, present hedonism, which is related to impulsivity, may play an important role in both problematic sexual behaviors, suggesting that interventions focusing on this TP might be successful in reducing hypersexuality and PPU.

Neuroanatomical substrates accounting for the effect of present hedonistic time perspective on risk preference: the mediating role of right posterior parietal cortex

The preference for taking risk troubles people across multiple domains including health, economics, and social well-being. Prior research has demonstrated that risk preference can be influenced by time perspective (TP). However, little is known about the neural substrates underlying the effect of TP on risk preference. Here, we used a voxel-based morphometry (VBM) method across two samples to address this question. In Sample 1, the behavioral results showed a positive correlation between present hedonistic TP (PHTP) and gambling rate (the index of risk preference), indicating the higher PHTP, the greater the preference for risk. Subsequently, the whole-brain VBM results found that gambling rate was negatively correlated with the gray matter (GM) volume of a cluster in the right posterior parietal cortex (rPPC). The PHTP score was also negatively related to the GM volume of another cluster in the rPPC. We then examined an overlapping region in the rPPC using a conjunction analysis method. The GM volume of this overlapping brain region was related to both PHTP score and gambling rate. Finally, the mediation analysis found that the GM volume of overlapping region in rPPC played a role in explaining the effect of PHTP on risk preference. This result was also reproduced and validated in another independent sample. Taken together, our findings manifest that the structural variation of rPPC can account for the influence that PHTP has upon the risk preference.

Direct and Indirect Relationships Between Life Satisfaction, Values, and Time Perspectives: Research on a Sample of Polish Students

This study concerned the relationships among personal values (conformity, tradition, benevolence, universality, self-direction, stimulation, hedonism, achievement, power, safety), time perspectives by Zimbardo (past negative, past positive, present hedonistic, present fatalistic, future) and life satisfaction. The main hypothesis stated that value priorities would predict life satisfaction both directly and indirectly through time perspectives. 237 Polish students (120 females) took part in the study. Path analysis demonstrated that life satisfaction was directly and positively predicted by the value of benevolence, and indirectly and negatively by conformity and tradition via the past negative time perspective. Life satisfaction was also indirectly predicted by the values of hedonism and security via the future time perspective - Hedonism was a negative, and security a positive predictor of future time perspective, and the future time perspective was a positive predictor of life satisfaction. The significance of these results for mechanisms and predictors of life satisfaction is discussed.

Psychopathological symptoms, defense mechanisms and time perspectives among subjects with alcohol dependence (AD) presenting different patterns of coping with stress

Background

The problem of coping with stress is an important one in the context of development and persistence of alcohol dependence. In the literature to date very little attention has been paid to coping patterns construed as a configuration of specific coping styles, particularly as regards the functioning of addicted individuals. The aim of the study was to verify whether individuals with alcohol dependence characterized by different coping patterns differ with respect to the severity of psychopathological symptoms, defense mechanisms and time perspectives.

Methods

Participants were given a battery of psychological tests—Coping Inventory for Stresfull Situations (CISS), Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ 40), Syndrom Checklist (SCL-90) and Short Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (SZPTI-PL). The sample comprised 112 individuals with alcohol dependence, aged 20 to 63 years old, the average age was 37.86; 78 percent were men. There were identified three sub-groups of individuals characterized by a distinctive patterns of coping with stress —“emotional-avoidant”, “task oriented” and a “mixed one”.

Results

Individuals with the predominant emotional-avoidant coping pattern are characterized by significantly higher severity of psychopathological symptoms, less mature defense mechanisms and past time perspectives. Subjects reliant on task-oriented coping pattern were characterized by the highest level of adaptation and the most constructive way of functioning in the face of difficulties.

Conclusion

It is worth regarding the examination of patterns of coping as an indispensable element of collecting medical history from alcohol dependent individuals.

Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises: The role of work engagement in support of people through the recovery process and in preventing relapse in drug and alcohol abuse

BACKGROUND

This study, carried out in five Therapeutic Communities (TCs), aims to evaluate the relationship between social support and sense of community for people with pathological addictions and the personal and professional dimensions of hope, resilience, work engagement, future time perspective, and job performance. Support to the person is attained through social support at work by the supervisor and the person's sense of belonging to the community.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this article is to analyze the relationship between social support, sense of community, hope, resilience, work engagement, future time perspective, and job performance.

METHODS

In order to verify the relations between those variables, structural equation models with observed variables (path analysis) were estimated using LISREL 8.80.

RESULTS

The results show a direct relationship between social support at work by the supervisor and hope, as well as between sense of community and resilience at work, while work engagement plays a mediating role between the two antecedents and the personal and professional variables investigated - hope, resilience, future time perspective and performance at work. Performance was measured through both people's self-perceptions and their supervisors' evaluations. A positive correlation exists between the two assessments.

CONCLUSIONS

The positive consequences of the research entail both theoretical and practical aspects.

[Physical activity during cancer: Can we define participants' profiles?]

INTRODUCTION

Benefits of physical activity during cancer treatment are widely demonstrated, however, most of patients are not active enough. Several studies have analyzed the different variables that would affect the participation to physical activity programs. The aim of our study was to define profiles of patients who agree to participate in a physical activity program in the medical setting according to the hospital structure in which they receive their care, their past and present habits in sports and their temporal perspectives.

METHOD

Forty-six patients treated from two different hospitals (regional hospital denoted CLCC; and local hospital denoted CH), completed a survey consisting of a questionnaire on their past and present habits in physical activity, ZTPI and a demographic questionnaire. Patients could decide to participate or not in a physical activity program in the medical community. T-tests and Chi² were performed to compare the two groups.

RESULTS

Chi² tests have shown that patients cared in CH are significantly more involved in physical activity program than patients cared in CLCC.

DISCUSSION

Our study points out that the past and present patient PA (physical activity) has no influence on their accession to a physical activity program, however the type of hospital providing patient care could influence their participation. These results should lead us to rethink about the different forms of communication made around the physical activity programs in medical contexts, and about different practical arrangements proposed according to each health facility.

Unstuck in time: episodic future thinking reduces delay discounting and cigarette smoking

RATIONALE

Delay discounting, or the devaluation of delayed outcomes, appears to play an etiological role in tobacco and other substance-use disorders.

OBJECTIVES

No human studies to our knowledge have been designed to examine whether experimental reductions in delay discounting produce concomitant reduction in drug use.

METHODS

Using methods from prior studies on delay discounting and obesity, we examined the effects of episodic future thinking (EFT; a form of mental prospection) on delay discounting and cigarette self-administration in smokers.

RESULTS

Consistent with prior data, EFT significantly reduced both delay discounting (Cohen's d effect size = 0.65) and the number of cigarette puffs earned in a cigarette self-administration task (d = 0.58).

CONCLUSIONS

The effects of EFT on delay discounting generalize to smokers; EFT also reduces laboratory-based cigarette self-administration. Potential mechanisms of EFT's effects are discussed as well as implications of EFT for clinical treatment of substance-use disorders.

Lived Time Disturbances of Drug Addiction Therapy Newcomers. A Qualitative, Field Phenomenology Case Study at Monar-Markot Center in Poland

The aim of this study was to qualitatively assess the disturbances of lived time in individuals with multiple drug dependencies. The research was conducted at Monar-Markot Center for Humanitarian Aid in Roznowice (Poland) in 2014 through direct, non-disguised observational study in a therapeutic community setting. Overall, 10 clients with multiple drug dependencies forming a newcomers group participated in. They previously abstained from usage for negligible periods of time. The measurements included participant observation of collective time regimes at the center; group discussions; written accounts by clients; Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory; semi-structured interviews. It was found that the clients experienced difficulties in following a strict therapeutic temporal regime, and they also showed a concomitant need to accelerate time as it passed. They also suffered an unpleasant domination by traumatic past within lived time. Their time horizons appeared significantly shortened and their planning capacity impaired, while a distant (dissociated) future was fantasized about in a realistic manner. Altogether, their disturbances of lived time consisted of the propensity to overemphasize their past dimensions at the expense of their future, while a gap between a close and a distant future appeared.

Time perspective and exercise, obesity, and smoking: moderation of associations by age

PURPOSE

Time perspective, a psychological construct denoting subjective orientation to either present or future concerns, has been inconsistently associated with healthy behaviors in adults. We hypothesized that associations would be stronger in young adults, who are first developing independent attitudes, than in older adults.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional survey.

SETTING

The study was conducted in three cities in the Mid-Atlantic region.

SUBJECTS

Subjects were 790 patrons of barber and beauty shops.

MEASURES

Measures used were the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory future, present-fatalistic, and present-hedonistic subscales and current smoking, days per week of recreational exercise, and height and weight, by self-report.

ANALYSIS

We tested if associations between time perspective and exercise, obesity, and current smoking differed by age group (18-24 years, 25-34 years, and 35 years and older) using analysis of variance and logistic regression.

RESULTS

Higher future time perspective scores, indicating greater focus on future events, was associated with more frequent exercise, whereas higher present-fatalistic time perspective scores, indicating more hopelessness, was associated with less frequent exercise in 18- to 24-year-olds, but not in older individuals. Lower future time perspective scores, and higher present-hedonistic time perspective scores, indicating interest in pleasure-seeking, were also associated with obesity only in 18- to 24-year-olds. Current smoking was not related to time perspective in any age group.

CONCLUSION

Time perspective has age-specific associations with exercise and obesity, suggesting stages when time perspective may influence health behavior decision making.

Time perspective and smoking, obesity, and exercise in a community sample

OBJECTIVE

To examine associations between time perspective and smoking, body mass index, and exercise.

METHODS

In this community-based survey, adults reported smoking and exercise habits and weight and height and completed the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory.

RESULTS

Subjects (N=265) who were more future oriented reported more frequent exercise, but were more likely to smoke. Fatalistic and hedonistic present orientations were not associated with smoking, obesity, or exercise.

CONCLUSIONS

Time perspective is not consistently associated with common health behaviors in adults.

[Temporal perspectives: understanding them to take them into account for our health promotion interventions]

Résumé

La modification des habitudes de vie pour adopter des comportements sains repose notamment sur la capacité des individus et des populations à estimer les conséquences à long terme des gestes accomplis aujourd’hui. Cette capacité peut cependant varier d’une personne à l’autre, notamment en raison des perspectives temporelles (PT) adoptées. Les PT réfèrent à la tendance d’une personne ou d’un groupe de personnes à orienter ses décisions en fonction d’une vision tournée vers le passé, le présent ou le futur. Cet article vise à démystifier le concept de PT et à comprendre leur construit, afin d’identifier différentes façons d’en tenir compte dans les interventions en promotion de la santé. L’influence des PT sur la santé est principalement liée à leur capacité d’agir sur la motivation des personnes à adopter et à maintenir certains comportements. Une attention particulière doit être portée aux personnes et aux populations dont les PT sont orientées vers le présent. Elles présenteraient un plus grand risque d’adopter des comportements délétères et seraient susceptibles d’être moins sensibles aux messages qui visent la modification de ces comportements que les personnes qui adoptent une PT orientée vers le futur. En ce qui concerne leur construit, les PT sont le fruit de différentes dynamiques psychologiques et des facteurs individuels (âge, sexe, état de santé) et environnementaux (milieu familial, statut socioéconomique, éducation, culture). Parmi les moyens présentés pour tenir compte des PT dans les interventions en promotion de la santé figurent la mise en valeur des avantages à court terme d’un changement de comportement qui vise des bénéfices à long terme pour la santé, la modulation de l’intensité du soutien à l’empowerment des communautés en fonction des PT adoptées et la permutation d’une PT orientée vers le présent vers une PT orientée vers le futur.

Temporal horizon: modulation by smoking status and gender

Recently, delay discounting has been argued to be conceptually consistent with the notion of temporal horizon [Bickel, W.K., Yi, R., Kowal, B.P., Gatchalian, K.M., 2008. Cigarette smokers discount past and future rewards symmetrically and more than controls: is discounting a measure of impulsivity? Drug Alcohol Depend. 96, 256-262]. Temporal horizon refers to the temporal distance over which behavioral events or objects can influence behavior. Here we examine the results on two putative measures of temporal horizon, future time perspective (FTP) and delay discounting, collected over three separate studies (n=227), to determine the influence of smoking and gender on temporal horizon. By comparing the results on these temporal horizon measures we address our population of interest: women who smoke. One of the measures of FTP indicates that smoking women have a shorter temporal horizon than their nonsmoking counterparts. Additionally, the story completion measures of FTP are positively correlated with delay discounting. In contrast, results of delay discounting measures showed no difference between smoking women and nonsmoking women, while results of delay discounting measures indicated smoking men have a shorter temporal horizon than non-smoking men. Additionally, the results of the FTP story completion measure indicated that lower third income earners had a shortened temporal horizon compared to upper third income earners. A possible explanation for these results is explored, and the implications of the modulation of temporal horizon by gender and smoking are discussed.

On blending practice and research: the search for commonalities in substance abuse treatment

There has been a growing interest in the substance abuse treatment field in bringing together the treatment and research communities. While dialogues about logistical and philosophical issues are important, the development of shared core concepts could potentially be quite helpful in facilitating communication and creating common treatment and research goals. It is the contention of this paper that all psychosocial and, potentially, pharmacological treatments ideally address, in part or in full, three aspects of the self--the capacity to regulate emotional and behavioral expression, the ability to engage in future-oriented, goal-directed behavior, and the development of nonaddict and/or recovery-oriented identities. Examples from the research and treatment literature are provided.

FUTURE TIME ORIENTATION AND RELIGION

The purposes of this study were to evaluate whether Future Time Orientation (FTO) was associated with interest in the future beyond death, and/or with level of belief in religion, and also to validate an instrument aimed at measuring belief in religion in Turkish society. Gjesme's (1979) FTO scale was administered to 244 undergraduate students from Middle East Technical University together with a scale developed to measure Belief Orientations and a single-item measure designed to assess a subject's level of interest in the future beyond death. Results indicated that those who scored high in FTO also tended to score high in level of interest about the future beyond death and level of belief in God (intrinsic religiosity), compared to those who scored low in FTO. Research implications and suggestions for future studies are discussed.

FUTURE TIME ORIENTATION IN ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS AND THE MINDING THEORY OF RELATING

The aim of this study was to explore the differences between high and low scorers of Future Time Orientation in Romantic Relationships (FTORR) on the three subscales of the minding scale, namely Acceptance, Knowledge, and Attribution. Undergraduate students (N = 160) from Middle East Technical University were given the FTORR scale developed by Öner (2000b) together with the Minding Scale developed by Omarzu, Whalen and Harvey (2001). Results indicated an interaction effect between subscales of the minding scale and FTORR. In terms of the “Acceptance” subscale, individuals with high FTORR scores were found to score lower than were individuals who had lower FTORR scores – whereas for both “Knowledge” and “Attribution” measures, individuals with higher scores of FTORR scored higher than did individuals who had lower FTORR scores. Detailed analysis of the results and research implications were discussed.

Delay discounting in current and never-before cigarette smokers: similarities and differences across commodity, sign, and magnitude

Research has found that nicotine-dependent individuals delay discount monetary gains at a higher rate than matched controls. Delay discount rates, however, have also been found to vary across within-subject variables such as the magnitude of the outcome (e.g., 10 dollars or 1,000 dollars), whether the outcome constitutes a gain or a loss, and the commodity being evaluated (e.g., money or health). The present study comprehensively investigated the differences in delay discounting between current and never-before cigarette smokers and across these within-subject variables. Both groups exhibited a magnitude, sign, and commodity effect. Current smokers' delay discount rates for monetary outcomes, however, were higher than never-before smokers across all magnitudes and both signs. This trend was also found for delayed health outcomes, but failed to reach significance.

Factors predicting future time orientation for romantic relationships with the opposite sex

The author examines the possible connection of predictors of future time orientation to romantic relationships with the opposite sex using the Future Time Orientation in Romantic Relationships Scale (FTORR; B. Oner, 2000b). The variables suggested as correlates with FTORR scores in B. Oner's (2000a) study were subjected to regression analysis. The results indicated that relationship satisfaction and an eagerness to break up negative relationships were negatively related to FTORR scores, whereas being a woman, experiencing jealousy, and the degree of selectivity in choosing a dating partner were positively related to FTORR scores. Caution and relationship commitment both predicted FTORR scores through the mediating effect of relationship satisfaction. The author discusses the implications of the findings.

Antisocial personality disorder and cocaine dependence: their effects on behavioral and electroencephalographic measures of time estimation

The present study examined time estimation performance and concurrently-recorded electroencephalographic activity among 57 residential treatment program patients previously dependent on either cocaine or cocaine and alcohol. The patients were assigned to one of two subgroups based upon the presence (n=20) versus absence (n=37) of a comorbid diagnosis of Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD). Twenty-six subjects, who had no history of substance abuse and no diagnosis of APD, were also examined. All subjects performed a psychomotor task in which they were asked to press a response key exactly 2 s after the onset of a visual cue. Analyses revealed that cocaine-dependent patients with APD were often premature in their behavioral estimates of time passage. The analysis of a slow EEG potential, viz. the Contingent Negative Variation, recorded over the 2 s time estimation interval, also suggested premature response preparation in the cocaine-dependent, APD-positive group. Correlational analyses revealed that the number of conduct problems reported prior to age 15 was a better predictor of both premature responding and CNV amplitude than either severity of cocaine dependence, alcohol use, or anxious or depressed mood. The potential relevance of these findings for studies of future time orientation and delay discounting behavior are discussed.

Relationship satisfaction and dating experience: factors affecting future time orientation in relationships with the opposite sex

This study was conducted to examine the effects of relationship satisfaction and dating experience on future time orientation in relationships with the opposite sex. Data from a sample of 226 undergraduate students from Middle East Technical University indicated that individuals who were highly satisfied in their relationships with the opposite sex tended to seek temporary relationships more and tended to be less future focused in their relationships than those who were less satisfied. Results also indicated that present dating experience did not show any significant effect on future time orientation; however, previous dating experience did show an effect in the interaction with relationship satisfaction and different factors of future time orientation. Implications of these results are discussed.