Time perceptions and time allocation preferences among adolescent boys and girls

How time is allocated between competing directed and nondirected activities can greatly define persona and lifestyle objectives. The important process of learning about time and the consequences of its various uses begins in childhood and adolescence, and provides the foundation for later life. This study examines whether girls differ from boys with regard to certain directed and nondirected types of time allocation preferences. Lifestyle objectives related to personal development (spending time), material achievement (selling time), social acceptance (giving time), and passive entertainment (passing or killing time), are explored using a time allocation preference model that defines a person's time investment portfolio. This study extends recent research by psychologists, sociologists, and anthropologists regarding the allocation and perception of time by examining student time allocation preferences and their association with teacher-observed behaviors in school. It was found that adolescent girls, whether considered by their teachers to exhibit at-risk or normal behaviors, seem to be less inclined toward nondirected activities and more toward other-directed activities. Boys seem to be more inclined toward nondirected activities. Being at risk as a school behavioral classification, is particularly associated with a large amount of nondirected activities in boys and large amounts of other-directed activities in girls.