Time Perspective, Meaning in Life, and Psychological Distress Among Young Adults in the Pandemic Context

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic represents a global crisis, which significantly impacted people’s mental health and caused psychological suffering, due to the greater number of stressors with which people had to cope. The current study investigated the relation between time perspectives and psychological distress, and the mediating role of meaning in life in these relations in this challenging pandemic context. A sample of 317 university students ( M age = 20.23, 86.10% female) filled out scales assessing time perspectives (Time Perspective Inventory), meaning in life (Meaning in Life Scale) and psychological distress (Symptoms Checklist-35). The results of path analysis indicated that past negative and future negative time perspectives were positively related to psychological distress. Past positive and present hedonistic time perspectives were positively associated with search for meaning in life. Present hedonistic and future positive perspectives were positively linked with presence of meaning in life, whereas past negative and future negative time perspectives were negatively linked to this dimension of meaning in life. Further, the search for meaning in life mediated the relations of past positive, past negative, and present hedonistic time perspective with psychological distress. The results highlighted meaning in life as a psychological mechanism potentially explaining the links between time perspectives and psychological distress in young adults in the pandemic context. The findings emphasize the need for interventions based on meaning in life and time perspectives in order to reduce psychological distress among young adults.