The three-dimensional structure of temporal framing in European adults: balancedness in past, future, and present time perspective

Purpose: This study aims to provide evidence on how to best capture balancedness in temporal framing. Balancedness is assumed to be adaptive, predicting well-being and other indicators of mental health. Additionally, time perception is fundamental to human functioning, directing time perspectives (TP) toward past, present, and future orientations. There are various proposals to measure it, differing in both construct dimensionality and operationalization. Analyses are conducted in the broader context of well-being and quality of life, aiming for practical implications in lifespan psychology. This study compares the Balanced Time Perspective Scale (BTPS) with the modified BTPS, addressing methodological issues regarding whether two or three dimensions sufficiently capture time perspective, as well as quantifying explained model variance and its incremental gain from using two compound measures: Deviation from Balanced Time Perspective (DBTP) and Structural Equation Model Coefficient (SEM). Methods: This is an observational study using a cross-sectional design. Neither blinding nor random assignment of subjects was applied. Observations are uniformly distributed across 6 groups 18; 71+ for age and sex. Observations are evenly distributed for balancedness. The accuracy of the model is validated through five-fold cross-validation employing a training and test subset. Adherence to the requirements of the analytical models is ensured. Linear Discriminant Analyses are applied to infer evidence. Results: Balancedness in temporal framing has a three-factorial structure: The share of explained variance in a model that includes the present exceeds that of the past and future; hence, three time perspectives are better than two, i.e., mBTPS outperforms BTPS. DBTP and SEM, two comprehensive indicators for alternate application, further increase the explanatory power beyond the use of three TPs. The overall predictive ability of the model is excellent, ranking in the upper percentile of correct estimations. Specifically, evidence suggests that DBTP is more predictive of the absence of balancedness, whereas SEM better captures its presence. The experience of subjective well-being is, on average, higher in balanced observations. Balancedness does not interact with age or sex. Conclusion: Temporal balancedness has a three-factorial structure, best measured by a composite estimate of the past, future, and present time perspectives. The upper quartile of ratings in experienced Subjective Well-being (SWB) establishes a threshold with clinical implications.