Time Perspective:The Revision Of The Inventory And The Influence On Risky Driving Behavior

Time perspective is one of the dimension of psychological time. TP is defined as ―the often nonconscious process whereby the continual flows of personal and social experiences are assigned to temporal categories, or time frames, that help to give order, coherence, and meaning to those events‖. Also, time perspective is a personality trait, which individual perceive, experience and act about time.Time perspective has three different orientations: past, present and future. Time is limited, the one who has a balanced time perspective, can take the advantage of different time orientation, and feel more happy. The inventory that mostly used to test time perspective is the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory(ZTPI).The revision of ZTPI in Chinese samples was conducted in study 1.The EFA and CFA were conducted to explore the structure of Chinese version of ZTPI. And the reliability and validity were examined in study 2.As a personality trait, time perspective is correlated with many variables, such as, self-esteem, depression, sensation-seeking, risky behaviors, academic achievement. As the private cars amount increase rapidly, the traffic accidents appear much more than ever. And the main reason of the traffic accidents is about the drivers, so in study 3, a research on risky driving behavior is conducted to explore the correlation between the two variables.Combining the results of study1 and study 2, we draw the following conclusions:(1)The Chinese version of ZTPI has five dimensions: Past Negative, Past Positive, Present Impulsive, Present Fatalistic and Future. The ―Present Hedonistic‖ was renamed as ―Present Impulsive‖. The construction of the revised version is consistent with the original one. The results show that ZTPI of Chinese version has a reliable and valid measurement for assessing time perspective.(2) High scorers on PN were more likely to have low self-esteem, lack grit and determination, and experience confusion about their self-concept. Individuals who scored high on PP have high levels of self-esteem and life satisfaction. Those with high F scores tended to be responsible and satisfied with their lives. Individuals with high PI were more likely to be impulsive and aggressive. They tended to have internet addictions. Those with high PF scores tended to be easily depressed and unsatisfied with their lives.(3)Present time perspective has positive correlation with risky driving behavior, and can predict the risky behavior, the Boredom susceptibility and the Disinhibition dimensions have positive correlations with risky driving behavior. Present time perspective has positive correlation with the Boredom susceptibility dimension of sensation seeking.