Toward a psychology of chronic time pressure

Complaints about time shortage permeate contemporary western societies. Many disciplines, from sociology to economics, have been involved in research and theorizing about time shortage, in contrast to the paucity of psychological research. This review of the extant heterogeneous terminology proposes that chronic time pressure (CTP) be used as temporary overarching term, subsuming the objective component of time shortage and the subjective-emotional component of being rushed. Feeling rushed may lead to the perception of time shortage. The review explores how most previous research on CTP used surveys and time-diaries that were developed to assess time allocations and have limited usefulness in examining subjective temporal experience. The recently developed Experience Sampling Method and Daily Reconstruction Method, combined with in-depth interviews, augment existing methods and may provide detailed analyses of the being rushed component of CTP. Conceptual ties to other disciplines and to well-being and stress research are also emphasized.