Daily Limited Future Time Perspective Is Associated With More Health Behavior Within Older Adults

Cross-sectional studies suggest that individuals who perceive a broader future horizon may be more likely to consider the future consequences of their actions and, as a result, engage in healthy lifestyle behaviors. However, research has yet to consider how this association plays out on the daily level.

The present study used daily diary data from a sample of 198 older adults aged 60 years and older (M = 63.34, SD = 3.29) to investigate the relationship between daily future time perspective (FTP) and daily health behavior. Participants reported on sociodemographic characteristics during baseline surveys and completed daily diary measures of FTP and health behavior (e.g., nutrition, exercise, social/leisure activity) across 14 days. Multilevel modeling was used to examine within- and between-person associations between daily FTP and health behavior.

Daily FTP was significantly associated with daily health behavior at the within- but not at the between-person level. Counter to past cross-sectional work, results revealed that individuals showed increased engagement in health behavior on days when they reported a more limited FTP.

Findings highlight the importance of moving beyond the between-person level to consider how FTP fluctuates from day-to-day and relates to health behavior in everyday life. Older adults who view a more limited time horizon may be motivated to increase that future through healthier activities.