The development of time sense in young adulthood

The subjective, intrapsychic experience of time may be traced through life. The development of time sense in young adulthood (ages 20 to 40) is related to the effects of physical aging and important object relationships to spouse, children, parents, and friends. The subjective experience of the temporal modes of past, present, and future are determined by current, phase-specific influences and attitudes toward time from childhood and adolescence. As an individual approaches 40, normal functioning in relation to time implies that he or she has integrated the shift from physical progression in childhood to physical aging in adulthood, begun to deal with the idea of personal death, separated psychologically from parents, and forged new ties that shape current attitudes toward time and give meaning to life.