To study or not to study? Investigating the link between time perspectives and motivational interference

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore possible synergies between research on motivational interference and time perspectives. A conceptual model relating individual differences in time perspectives to motivational interference during studying and leisure and academic achievement was tested. Filipino college students (N = 385) participated in the study. Results from the path analysis indicated that future time perspective was positively associated with motivational interference during leisure and negatively associated with motivational interference during studying. Moreover, future time perspective also positively predicted academic achievement. Present fatalistic and past negative time perspectives were positively associated with motivational interference during studying. Present hedonistic time perspective negatively predicted motivational interference during leisure. Motivational interference during studying, in turn, was negatively associated with academic achievement. Implications are discussed. Copyright © The Author(s), published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Australian Academic Press Pty Ltd 2013.