Future time perspectives and concerns among adolescents in 2022

Abstract

Future time perspectives (FTP) and future-related concerns in adolescence remain underexplored. We aimed to identify factors associated with limited FTP and describe future-related concerns. Data were drawn from a population-based sample of adolescents aged 14-17 participating in the SEROCoV-KIDS cohort study, in Geneva, Switzerland (October 2022). Of 329 adolescents, 56/329 (17%) reported limited FTP; determinants included prior low mental well-being, limited social support, sexual minority identity, academic difficulties and excessive screen time. Adolescents' main future-oriented concerns encompassed failure, education and climate change. These results underscore the need to address future perspectives/concerns among young people and implement interventions that strengthen adolescent resilience.

Keywords: Adolescent Health; Epidemiology; Psychology.

Figure 1

Future-related concerns reported by adolescents. The word cloud illustrates future-related concerns, with each word’s size corresponding to the frequency of the expressed worry. Given the open-label nature of the question, responses were categorised by three distinct experts in a blind procedure, and a consensus was reached in cases of divergence. Further details regarding the classification process can be found in the online supplemental figure S2 and table S2.