Temporal Focus Profiles in the College and the Workplace: Exploration and Relationships with Well-being Constructs in Mexico

Abstract

Subjective time is fundamental to understanding individuals’ experience of happiness and well-being. More specifically, temporal focus is an individual difference that, as separate dimensions, refers to the attention that people pay to their psychological past, present, and future. Taken together, temporal foci form profiles that are likely to influence well-being across a person´s lifespan. In this context, there is a paucity of research about the influence of temporal focus profiles on many cognitive, affective, and trait-like constructs that are relevant to well-being, in different population segments, and alternative (non-Anglo-Saxon) cultures. To address this void in research, we conducted two cross-sectional, survey-based studies in Mexico. We used two-step cluster analysis to uncover initial temporal focus profiles in undergraduate students (Study 1), and highly educated employees (Study 2). We tested the differences across the profiles that we uncovered in five well-being-related constructs that are relevant to each population segment. Comparing and contrasting the results of the two studies, less variety of temporal focus profiles was found in employees than in students. Also, whereas temporal focus profiles in students exhibited larger differences in affective outcomes (e.g., positive and negative affective well-being), the profiles showed larger differences in cognitive constructs in employees (e.g., occupational self-efficacy, core self-evaluations, and life satisfaction). Overall, the results highlight the importance of identifying and characterizing temporal focus profiles in different population segments, and in different cultures, so as to enable the implementation of nuanced strategies to improve well-being.