The effects of Present Hedonistic Time Perspective and Past Negative Time Perspective on substance use consequences
Introduction
Problematic substance use results in significant costs to society. Among individuals in the U.S. aged 12 and older, approximately 21.6 million (8.2% of the population aged 12 and older) suffer from a substance use disorder, with 17.3 million having a diagnosis of alcohol abuse or dependence and 6.9 having an illicit drug abuse or dependence diagnosis (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2013). The excessive use of substances can lead to health, familial, economic, and legal consequences (see Chen and Lin, 2009, Rehm et al., 2009, Room et al., 2005, Stuart et al., 2008). For instance, Rehm et al. (2009) found that the U.S. spent approximately 2.7% of its gross domestic product on alcohol associated economic costs (e.g., health costs, law-enforcement costs). The United States Department of Justice (2010) also found that illicit drug use costs the United States an estimated $193 billion in similar expenses. The considerable costs that result from alcohol and illicit drug abuse highlight the need to identify factors that lead to substance use consequences. In doing so, nascent areas of intervention may be identified that could help curb or prevent these costly consequences.
One such factor that has been found to predict risky behaviors, including substance use, is time perspective. Time perspective is a temporally stable individual differences construct that influences the perception of and focus on past, present, or future events (Gonzalez and Zimbardo, 1985, Zimbardo and Boyd, 1999). It is believed that individuals with a high present time perspective focus their attention on what is currently happening in their lives and are less inclined to forecast into the future or relive the past. Those with a high past time perspective tend to relive or perseverate on past events. Finally, individuals with a high future time perspective tend to forecast what may happen in the future. Zimbardo and Boyd (1999) have proposed the existence of five distinct time perspectives that compose these three higher order time perspectives: Past Negative, Past Positive, Present Hedonistic, Present Fatalistic, and Future. They posit that a balanced time orientation “allows individuals to flexibly switch temporal frames among past, future, and present depending on situational demands, resource assessments, or personal and social appraisals” (Zimbardo and Boyd, 1999, p. 1272).
Studies investigating the higher order constructs of time perspective have found individuals with a high present time perspective to be more likely to participate in activities such as risky driving (Zimbardo et al., 1997) and gambling (Hodgins and Engel, 2002) and to have a higher number of sexual partners (Rothspan and Read, 1996). Consistent with this and most relevant for the present report, researchers have found positive associations between substance use and present time perspective (Keough et al., 1999, Petry et al., 1998, Wills et al., 2001). Research investigating the lower order constructs of time perspective has also found associations with substance use. Specifically, studies have found Present Hedonistic Time Perspective (PrHTP) to be positively associated with substance use (Henson et al., 2006, Petry et al., 1998). Zimbardo and Boyd (1999) define PrHTP as an “orientation towards the pleasures of the present without taking into account the possible future consequences” (p. 1275). Accordingly, individuals with a high PrHTP may be more likely to act on impulse and give little thought to the possible future ramifications of their actions (i.e., compulsive gamblers, over-eaters, problematic substance users).
Whereas an orientation towards the present may increase substance use through impulsive reward seeking, an orientation towards the past may also affect substance-related pursuit. Past Negative Time Perspective (PaNTP) is a negative, antipathetic, and ruminative orientation towards the past and people high on this trait are believed to be sullen and overwhelmingly preoccupied with negative past experiences. Although there is a dearth of literature investigating the association between PaNTP and substance use, the associations between related constructs and substance use provides indirect support for such a relationship. PaNTP is associated with increased levels of stress, arousal, and tension (Stolarski et al., 2013), and there is considerable research linking such constructs characterized by negative affectivity to alcohol and substance use and related problems (Kassel et al., 2000, Takagi et al., 2011, Wills et al., 1999). Given the relationship of PaNTP to negative affect oriented dispositions that have been implicated in alcohol and substance use, PaNTP warrants further exploration as an individual differences factor related to alcohol and drug use.
Much of the prior literature has solely investigated the relationship between time perspective and increased substance use and has ignored consequences resulting from substance use. As research has shown that the escalation of substance use, or the increase in use, is associated with consequences for the user (Colder et al., 2002, Henry, 2010, Henry and Thornberry, 2010), the next important step is to extend the literature by showing a link between time perspective and substance use consequences. Therefore, the first aim of the current study was to establish a connection between PrHTP and substance use consequences. Specifically, it was hypothesized that greater PrHTP scores would be associated with more alcohol and illicit drug use consequences.
The second aim of this study was to establish a relationship between PaNTP and substance use consequences. Research investigating PaNTP has found it to be associated with increased distress and tension (Stolarski et al., 2013, van Beek et al., 2011), which are risk factors for increased substance use (Kushner et al., 1996, Rutledge and Sher, 2001). As research has shown increases in substance use to be associated with more consequences related to substance use, it is important for researchers to understand the role of PaNTP in substance use consequences. This study hypothesized that greater PaNTP scores would be associated with greater alcohol and illicit drug use consequences.
Finally, PaNTP and PrHTP are both related to factors (i.e., negative affect, stress, risky behaviors) that are associated with substance use disorders (Chassin et al., 2004; see Sinha, 2008 for review; Sinha and Li, 2007). Understanding the relationships between PaNTP, PrHTP, and consequences related to substance use will allow researchers to identify time perspective as a possible risk factor for substance use consequences. Given Zimbardo and Boyd's (1999) theory on how time perspective operates and the temporal nature of the PaNTP and PrHTP constructs, this study proposed that individuals with a higher PaNTP may develop a stronger PrHTP in an attempt to alleviate the negative feelings and tension associated with a PaNTP. This reliance on a PrHTP may then expose these individuals to an increased risk for substance use consequences. This study hypothesized that PrHTP would indirectly affect the relationship between PaNTP and substance use consequences.
Section snippets
Participants and procedures
Participants were recruited through Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk), which is an online crowdsourcing marketplace. Data collected through MTurk has been shown to be diverse and of good quality (Buhrmester et al., 2011, Paolacci and Chandler, 2014). Studies investigating the characteristics of MTurk samples have found that they typically consist of individuals who are overeducated, underemployed, younger (approximately 30 years old), and predominantly Caucasian and middle class (Berinsky et
Descriptive statistics
Descriptive statistics and correlations for PrHTP, PaNTP, alcohol use consequences, drug use consequences, Constraint, alcohol use frequency and quantity, age, and gender (Constraint, alcohol use frequency and quantity, age and gender were used as covariates) are provided in Table 1. Although latent variables were used in all analyses, scale score means were reported to provide statistics comparable to other studies.
Confirmatory factor analyses
Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to fit a one-factor model of the
Discussion
This study had three aims. The first was to extend previous work that found positive associations between PrHTP and increased substance use (Henson et al., 2006, Petry et al., 1998) by demonstrating a relationship between PrHTP and substance use consequences. Next, this study attempted to establish a connection between PaNTP and greater substance use consequences, as studies focusing on constructs similar to PaNTP have found such associations with substance use (Kassel et al., 2000, Kushner et
Role of funding source
Nothing declared.
Contributors
Jesus Chavarria—Developed idea, assisted with analyses, and wrote the Introduction, Results, Discussion, and Revisions; Nicholas Allan—Assisted with analyses and provided feedback on drafts and revisions of the manuscript; Allison Moltisanti—Wrote the Methods and provided feedback on drafts and revisions of the manuscript; Jeanette Taylor—Designed larger study from which data were drawn, supervised data collection, and provided feedback on all drafts and revisions of the manuscript; All authors
Conflict of interest
No conflict declared.
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