Future Time Perspective and Its Influence on Life Satisfaction through Hope

Article Info ________________ History Articles Received: 5 Mei 2021 Accepted: 11 June 2021 Published: 30 August 2021 ________________


INTRODUCTION
Life satisfaction is a cognitive component of subjective well-being that relates to one's global evaluation of the quality of life. Since life satisfaction is the most stable component of subjective well-being, life satisfaction is often regarded the best indicator of perceived quality of life (Huebner, Suldo, & Gilman, 2006). Life satisfaction is essentially a cognitive appraisal process (Diener et al., 1985) and is a very important aspect of human life since it covers the whole spectrum of functions and reflects one's well-being and psychopathology (Proctor, Linley, and Maltby, 2009) . Life satisfaction has a substantial association with several key academic outcomes . Many studies have shown that high life satisfaction associates with strong academic efficacy (Diseth, Danielsen, & Samdal, 2012;Suldo et al., 2006), positive sociometric status (Martin, Huebner, & Valois, 2008), lower externalizing and internalizing behavior in the classroom (Lyons, Otis, Huebner, & Hills, 2014;Sun & Shek, 2013), and stronger engagement in class (Lewis, Huebner, Malone, & Valois, 2011). Some researchers unfortunately found students' satisfaction low, including Rahmandani et al. (2020) who found that in general, the life satisfaction of 36% students was categorized moderate. Chasanah, Mulawarman, and Murtadho (2020) found 30.4% of students only felt a little satisfied with their lives. Students' low life satisfaction affects their social functioning, physical health, and leads to low academic achievement (Greenspoon & Saklofske, 2001). In a study, Lazarus (1991) regarded life satisfaction a positive appraisal style that can act as a buffer against the effects of stressful life events, helping adolescents avoid problematic behaviors. Overall, positive beliefs about life allow a person to cope with and adjust to stressors and negative occurrences. Positive beliefs about life also relate to one's perspective of the future.
Future time perspective and hope are two separate yet interrelated constructs in assessing and predicting life satisfaction. The future time perspective involves a goal-based cognitive motivational process (Lens, 1986) as well as hope (Synder et al., 2003), which works through perceptions of what is considered valuable or future goals. Both constructs represent relatively stable general expectations about the future, which difference only lies in how they influence behavior. The future time perspective is a cognitive belief and hope for the future where future is seen as a time frame for individual goal determination (De Volder & Lens, 1982;Husman & Lens, 1999). Future time perspective plays an important role for individuals because anticipating the future implications of their current behavior leads to experience lower levels of aggressiveness, stress, and anxiety (McElheran, 2012). It also allows individuals to better understand how their involvement in the present tasks relates to the achievement of desired future goals (Hejazi et al., 2011). This perspective makes present experience meaningful that it leads to greater life satisfaction.
Hope is conceptualized as two interrelated pathways between perceived capacity to make a way for goal achievement and and agency cognition (perceived motivation to use the pathway) (Snyder, 2002;Snyder et al., 1991). Hope associates with life satisfaction (Bailey & Snyder, 2007;Gilman, Dooley, & Florell, 2006). Furthermore, Scioli et al. (1997) regarded expectations an affective variable that sustains action and influences thoughts and behavior. It is an emotion that comes from biological, psychological, and social resources (Scioli, Ricci, Nyugen, & Scioli, 2011). Therefore, expectation can be considered a positive feeling that supports individuals through difficulties and to help them succeed, thereby stimulating greater life satisfaction.
Regarding the background as stated above, this study examined the contribution of hope in intervening the relationship between the future time perspective and life satisfaction among high school students. This study was done based on the suggestions proposed in previous study conducted by Dwivedi & Rastogi (2016), in which future researchers were recommended to involve more respondents and use different dimensions of the future time perspective. The results of this study are expected to generalize the contribution of hope in mediating the future time perspective and life satisfaction of students.
Instruments in this study were backtranslated. The future time perspective was measured using the valace and connectedness subscales of the Future Time Perspective Scale (Husman & Lens, 2008) to assess the attributes of beliefs and perceptions of individuals' imagination about their future. The valance subscale consisted of 7 items; for example, "Instant pleasure is more important than what possibly happen in the future" assessed the importance of determining feasible goals to achieve in the future. High scores indicate that people value the future more than the present and will sacrifice the present for better future. The connectedness subscale consisted of 12 items; for example, "I've been thinking a lot about what I'm going to do in the future") assessed the tendency to make connections between present actions and future goals and outcomes. High scores in these items indicate one's earnestness for the future. Participants were asked to show their agreement using a 5point Likert-type scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). In this study, Cronbach's alpha score obtained was 0.87 for the future time perspective scale.
The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) (Diener et al., 1985) consists of five items assessing individual's global life satisfaction, for instance, ''I am satisfied with my life".
Participants were asked to rate how they relate to the items on 7 points from 1 (not strong) to 7 (strongest). In this study, Cronbach's score of 0.80 for satisfaction with life scale was obtained. The Snyder Hope Scale (SHS) developed by Snyder et al (1991) consisting of 10 statements was used. Seven items contain statements related to expectations and three items are fillers. Three items assessing two dimensions of hope (agency; "I go for my goals") and four items (pathways; "I can solve problems"). The three filler items reflect other constructs unrelated to hope. Responses were four-point Likert scale from 1 "strongly disagree" to 4 "strongly agree". ). In this study, Cronbach's alpha score was 0.76 for the Synder Hope Scale. Regression analysis was administered to analyze the data, while bootstrap bias corrected with N = 5000 and 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to examine the moderating function.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Regarding the descriptive statistics, the mean and standard deviation of each variable for future time perspective (M = 76.42 SD = 9.58), hope (M = 21.90; SD = 3.21), and life satisfaction (M = 22.70; SD = 5.18) as presented in Table 1.    The analysis on the mediating role of hope shows that it mediates the relationship between the future time perspective and life satisfaction (β = 2.59, SE = 0.01; LLCI (95%) = 0.04; ULC (95%) = 0.09). The detailed results of the regression and mediation analysis can be seen in Table 3 and visualized in Figure 1.
As expected, hope fully mediates the positive relationship between the future time perspective and life satisfaction, indicating that hope is a strong intervening variable in the relationship between the future time perspective and life satisfaction. It implies that individuals' life satisfaction as a whole is not directly influenced by their future time perspective, yet it is indirectly influenced by their hope.
The results of this study conform the findings of previous studies that confirmed the presence of relationship between hope and life satisfaction (Dwivedi & Rastogi, 2016). Several prior longitudinal studies have shown that adolescents' perceived agency capacities regarding important domains of human functioning contribute to young adults' satisfaction with life (Caprara et al. 2006;Vecchio et al. 2007). Future-oriented youth, who are aware of the consequences and possible outcomes of current decisions and actions, can be satisfied with life only if they see themselves capable of building bright future for themselves. In this case the future time perspective is completed by hope; otherwise, a hopeless future may lead to anxiety and worry instead of life satisfaction.
Hope is defined as the perceived ability to generate a route to a desired goal which also reflects the perceived attainment of this goal (Synder 1991). Hope is also described as a positive  (Snyder et al. 1991). Because expectations relate to future goals, future time perspective is a source or predictor that strengthens these expectations. The future time perspective enables individuals to better understand that their present involvement in completing tasks is essentially related to the achievement of their future goals (Hejazi et al., 2011).
The future time perspective is related to life satisfaction because individuals can deal with difficulties through openness, confidence, and belief that they can achieve their goals (Pallini et al., 2018). Hope is an important aspect of human behavior since it helps overcome obstacles. Both hope and planning are positively related to ones' well-being or progress. The belief in the capability of achieving the predetermined goals is important driver of life satisfaction, regardless of whether the strategy to achieve the goals has been set.
Adolescents who are satisfied with their lives show lesser signs of depression and anxiety; higher self-esteem, better physical, mental, and social health; pleasant social life; more physical activity; quality sleep; and fewer stressful life events (Parkerson, Broadhead & Tse, 1990). Adolescents who show bad attitudes including criminal behaviors, addiction to certain substances, reckless driving, and promiscuity are not only prioritizing instant satisfaction, (Jovanovi and Vesna Gavrilov-Jerkovi, 2014;Schwartz et al., 2011;Swain et al., 2012), but their present conditions also affect it, such as hopelessness and disbelief that they can achieve their future goals. The absence of positive activities triggers self-destructive or antisocial tendencies (Damon 2004;Pallini et al. 2011).
This study proposed a guidance for counselors and adolescent in the field of education. Educators and counselors should strive to raise the expectations of future-oriented youth. This study also found that future time perspective is related to future planning, besides career decision making self-efficacy (Enstin, Japar, & Sunawan, 2020). Through proper counseling services, counselors can improve students' future time perspective and raise their hope which will enable them to see, create and find ways to achieve their goals. Such intervention can prevent students from being involved in negative behaviors that could harm their present and their future. In addition, increasing students' future time perspective and hope can increase students' eustress that will help them to have greater life satisfaction (Rupita, Puji Sugiharto, & Sunawan, 2020