Effects of beliefs and expectations about self and others on social images and time perspectives toward the future

Abstract

This study was conducted to examine a model in which the relationships between adult attachment dimensions as beliefs and expectations about self and others and time perspectives toward the future were mediated by social images. A Social Image Scale was developed in a pilot study and Study 1. Participants in Study 2 comprised 571 undergraduates, 590 late-adolescent workers, and 397 early-adult workers. The results showed that there were mean differences on several variables among these three groups. However, correlational analysis revealed that anxiety and avoidance were significantly negatively related to goal-directedness and hopefulness in all three groups. Moreover, the results of a multiple-group analysis of the model revealed that the relationships between anxiety and time perspectives toward the future were mediated by negative social images, and the relationships between avoidance and time perspectives toward the future were mediated by positive and negative social images in the three groups.