Drawing on Socioemotional Selectivity Theory, which explains how the future time perspective changes throughout one’s lifetime, we investigated the effect of manipulating time perspective on positive and negative affect, and personal goal selection. An experiment was conducted using an imaginary task that hypothetically and explicitly altered participants’ time perspective. 60 younger adults and 60 older adults (N = 120) were assigned to one of the following experimental conditions: open future time (30 younger adults and 30 older adults) and limited future time (30 younger adults and 30 older adults). Results revealed that positive affect is not modified by alterations in the future time perspective, while negative affect increased. Goal patterns also change, in line with Socioemotional Selectivity Theory. Although younger and older adults in ordinary life circumstances perceive time left to live differently, some emotion and goal patterns emerge when they face explicit hypothetical alterations of time.
The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between perceived maternal and paternal parental behaviours (support and restrictive control) and affective well-being (positive and negative affect) in children. The study involved 166 primary school children (75 girls, 91 boys), aged 8 to 12 years (M = 10.15, SD = 0.86), who completed the Parental Behaviour Questionnaire and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule for Children. The results showed that both maternal and paternal support and restrictive control were significantly correlated with children’s positive and negative affect. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that, after controlling for the child’s age and gender, maternal support and restrictive control significantly predicted children’s positive affect and only maternal restrictive control predicted negative affect. However, when paternal behaviours were included in the analyses, significant predictors of children’s positive affect were maternal and paternal support and paternal restrictive control, while significant predictors of negative affect were only paternal behaviours.
Attachment plays an important role in emotional experience, interaction, and regulation, particularly in close relationships. Specifically, individuals with higher attachment-related anxiety and avoidance tend to report more psychological distress in general compared to more securely attached counterparts, but less is known about their emotional experience in daily life. We employed the experience sampling method to assess whether the individual variability in attachment-related anxiety and avoidance relates to momentary affective experience, stress, and perceived closeness to others in everyday social contexts. The research sample consisted of a total of 44 healthy individuals (23 females and 21 males) between ages 18-40 years. Participants were administered the Experience in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-R) and received a mobile device with pre-installed application that signalled them randomly 10 times per day for 6 days to complete questionnaires about their current experiences and social context. Individuals with higher attachment-related anxiety reported overall increase of negative affective states and stress in daily life. Attachment-related avoidance, on the other hand, was associated with an overall decrease of positive affective states with negative impact on the ability to benefit from proximity to others. These results indicate that a relatively stable attachment dimension translates to mental states fluctuations and social interactions in daily life, thus adding crucial ecological validity to the attachment theory.
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