COVID-Related Perceptions of the Future and Well-Being Among Older Canadian Women

Socioemotional Selectivity Theory (SST; Carstensen, 1993) posits that time horizons - or Future Time Perspective (FTP) - change with age and/or the priming of endings. Fung and Carstensen (2006) found that SARS-CoV in 2003 naturalistically primed fragility, with consequences for both FTP and well-being. The current SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic provides a similar context: During the early months of COVID-19, age and time horizon were related to greater emotional well-being for American adults (Carstensen et al., 2020); Dozois (2020) found that, for Canadian adults, anxiety and depression rose. The current study examines relationships between FTP, COVID-19 impact, and psychological well-being in older Canadian women (N = 190; Mage = 70.38). We found that COVID-19 impact and FTP were both related to well-being; additionally, COVID-19 impact moderated the relationship between FTP and well-being. The complexity of what remains or becomes increasingly important for older women during a global health crisis is discussed.

Perceiving More Age-Related Losses? The Role of General Control Beliefs and Daily Disturbance to Plans

We examined daily fluctuations in future time perspective within the daily stress and awareness of aging processes. Awareness of age-related change (AARC) focuses on everyday experiences that highlight changes in behavior and functioning as a result of growing older. We integrated individual differences in control beliefs because those with higher control tend to be more resilient to stressors. We conducted a daily diary study of 112 older adults (aged 60-90) who completed measures of control beliefs at baseline and then daily measures of stressor exposure, appraisal (e.g., threats to future plans), and AARC for eight consecutive days. Increases in threats to future plans were associated with increases in AARC losses, and those with low control were especially vulnerable to increases in threats to future plans. With a constricted future time perspective, any threats to future plans may be especially harmful for older adults who are low in control beliefs.

New Developments in Views on Aging Research: Variability, Innovative Concepts, and Contextual Perspectives

Views on aging (VoA) such as attitudes toward own aging, awareness of aging or subjective age, have a large impact on outcomes related to positive development in later life. Recent research in this domain has focused on complex research designs and inter-systemic linkages at different levels. Indicators of short-term variability of VoA have increasingly been investigated, linking the respective findings with performance indicators, biomarkers, and trait-like data. In addition, bidirectional relationships of VoA and outcomes over time as well as data contextualizing VoA across historical time may offer new insights on the plasticity of VoA seen in bio-cultural co-construction. The symposium will showcase these recent trends with studies from the U.S. and Germany. First, Zhu and Neupert extend previous studies by linking established VoA indicators with future time perspective, all assessed by means of a daily diary study with 60-90 year-old adults. Kornadt et al. examined the variability of subjective age within a day and the relationship with trait subjective age and cortisol levels. Mejia et al. extend VoA to the area of subjective awareness of fall risks in daily life and links them with physical performance. Wettstein et al. investigate the bidirectional relationship of VoA indicators and perceived stress over time. Finally, we move from the micro to a macro-micro design in Wahl et al.’s presentation addressing historical change in VoA across 20 years in the Berlin Aging Study and in MIDUS. Susanne Wurm will discuss how different levels of VoA analysis will find better interlinkage in the future.

Financial Planning for Retirement: Developing an Integrated Model

With higher life expectancy of the aging population, retirees nowadays will spend a prolonged period of time after retirement. Yet, past studies have consistently revealed a lack of retirement savings among working adults, implying an inadequacy to maintain the quality of life in late adulthood. This study therefore aims to identify the factors influencing the working adults’ intention to purchase financial products for retirement (such as deferred annuity and voluntary contribution to retirement fund) and develop an integrated model of financial planning for retirement. A total of 598 Hong Kong Chinese working adults from diverse age and income groups completed an online survey on intentions to save and purchase specific financial products for retirement. The results of MANCOVA reveal that compared to older workers, younger workers had lower intentions to save and purchase financial products for their retirement even after controlling for their monthly income [F(16,1797)=2.24, p=.003, partial n2=.015]. An integrated model of financial planning for retirement is proposed by incorporating the concepts of the interdisciplinary psycho-motivation model and Theory of Reasoned Actions (χ2 = 40.42, p<.001, CFI = .99, RMSEA = .07, SRMR = .02). In particular, the positive effects of financial literacy, subjective norms, social support, and future time perspective on intention to save and purchase financial products for retirement have been found to be mediated by retirement goal clarity but not attitudes towards retirement. Future direction on promoting younger and older workers’ retirement planning especially in the financial domain will also be discussed in the presentation.

Future time perspective and trust in government: The mediation of the consideration of future consequences

Evidence suggests that college students’ future-related feelings and cognition may influence their trust in government. This study aims to explore whether the association between college students’ future time perspective and trust in government is mediated through the consideration of future consequences (CFC). A cross-sectional survey was used to collect data from 1,617 college students (86.6% women) aged 17 to 31 years in China via an online questionnaire. The results showed that the students’ positive, negative and confused future orientation was positively associated with their trust in government. The consideration of far- future consequences positively mediated the relationship between a positive future orientation and trust in government. These findings support the possibility to evaluate college students’ government trust level according to their future orientation, which will improve their positive political participation.

Time Perspective, Hope and Self-Regulation among Preparatory Year University Students: Exploring the Connections

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between time perspective, hope and self-regulation among foundation year students at a Malaysian public university. A survey questionnaire on the three constructs was completed by 118 Malay students aged between 18 to 21. The findings showed a significant positive correlation between the future time perspective and self-regulation (r = 0.251, p = 0.007). However, the association is a weak one. Likewise, a significant relationship was found between hope and two of the temporal orientations, i.e., the future orientation (r = 0.399, p = 0.001) and the past positive at r = 0.271, p = 0.003., which is also considered a weak relationship. However, no significant association was observed between the past positive time perspective and students’ self-regulation. On the contrary, the past negative and present-fatalistic time orientations have a significant negative relation with hope at r = - 0.308, p = 0.001 and r = - 0.207, p = 0.028, respectively. A similar result was obtained for the association between self-regulation and the PN orientation at r = - 0.290, p = 0.002. It was also found that hope and students’ self-regulation are strongly correlated (r = 0.268, p = 0.004). In essence, the results imply that students with a high future time orientation are likely to have high levels of hope and self-regulation. Therefore, time perspective, especially the future orientation, and self-regulation skills could be important intervention factors for addressing students’ academic obstacles. The findings of this study are beneficial for counselors, educators, and supervisors in designing intervention programs to help students become more positive and optimistic individuals.

Adult children’s goals as predictors of communication satisfaction with their parent: The moderating roles of inferences of the parent’s goals and future time perspective of the parent

Adult children ( N = 245, MAge = 50.55 years, 62.0% women, 80.0% European American) reported on their own prosocial goals during typical interactions with their parent, inferences of their parent’s prosocial goals, assessment of their parent’s future, and general communication satisfaction in their relationship with their parent. Prosocial goals were considered as social support goals and relationship protection goals. The study examined how children’s own prosocial goals predicted children’s general communication satisfaction, as well as how children’s inferences of their parent’s goals and future time perspective of their parent moderated these associations. The associations between children’s own goals and children’s communication satisfaction were positive (1) when children inferred that their parent held the same goals and perceived their parent’s future as restricted, or (2) when children inferred that their parent held relatively low levels of the goals and perceived their parent’s future as expansive. The study illuminates the contingencies under which children’s goals predict children’s general communication satisfaction.