The relationship between balanced and negative time perspectives, and symptoms of anxiety and depression

Previous research has demonstrated how time perspective, and in particular scores on the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI), is significantly related to measures of Anxiety and Depression. However, ZTPI scores have been operationalized in multiple ways, including as composite scores, taking simultaneous account of mean values on all five dimensions. The present study examined if two of these composite approaches, Deviation from a Negative and/or a Balanced Time Perspective (DNTP/DBTP) scores, were significantly related to self-reported symptoms of Anxiety and Depression. Data were in two independent University samples (N = 530; N = 410), including ZTPI data, and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale data. While path models revealed significant relationships between DBTP, DNTP and both HADS-A and HADS-D scores, these did not always survive the inclusion of direct paths between ZTPI dimensions and HADS score. In other words, some individual ZTPI dimensions, in particular past negative, appear to be more important than overall composite score. Scores were self-reported, and both samples were gathered in the same geography, making generalizability of findings difficult. On the basis of these results, further studies across different samples and age groups using DNTP and DBTP are required.