Driven by the future Future time perspective across life domains and cultures

Contemplating about the future is inevitable for our life and goal strivings. Consequently, Future Time Perspective (FTP) – individuals’ attitudes towards the future as a motivator for attitudes and behaviors – has been researched across disciplines and life domains. However, little is known about the universality of FTP as a motivator and about personality and situational characteristics related to FTP and its outcomes in crucial life domains.
To illuminate the FTP field, I ask: Are people’s present motivation, intentions, and behaviors in education, work, and health affected by their FTP? Next, I integrate FTP with Regulatory Focus (RF) theory – that distinguishes individuals’ orientation to achievements and advancements or to safety and security – to see what causes people to reflect on their FTP. Finally, I cross-culturally test the motivational relevance of adolescents’ RF and FTP.
The results of this dissertation show that FTP is an important driver for human attitudes and behaviors in the education, work and health domains, and across different countries. Moreover, this dissertation confirms that adolescents’ RF strategies and the RF strategies of their parents are determinants of adolescents’ FTP and education and career-planning. Also, I demonstrate that adolescents across different countries are motivated by RF and FTP in the pursuit of their goals and suggest that RF and FTP may function as coping mechanisms for adolescents in countries that face difficult circumstances. These findings may have important implications for FTP and RF theories and for the development of motivational programs in education, work, and health and across countries.