Development of the Temporal Sense Scale (TSS) for General Populations

Abstract

Abstract While measures of the subjective passage of time currently exist, few, if any, have been structured parsimoniously for use in general populations. The purpose of this study was to develop the Temporal Sense Scale (TSS) for general use in any population and test its validity with measures of positive and negative life evaluations in selected samples. Two randomly selected samples were collected in urban China. The first consisted of medical staff from a public hospital (), and the second consisted of heterogeneous nonmedical employees (). A self-administered questionnaire was used to identify demographics, life satisfaction, well-being, and temporal sense in both samples. Reliability and validity tests were performed on the TSS. Further analyses were conducted to examine the extent to which temporal sense was associated with positive psychological outcomes (well-being and life satisfaction) and psychopathologies (depression and suicidal ideation). The TSS showed high validity and strong internal reliability within both samples (Cronbach ). Fast temporal sense was positively associated with well-being and life satisfaction, and negatively associated with depression and suicidal ideation in both groups, even after controlling for age, gender, and other relevant factors. The TSS is presented as a valid measure of a general perception of the passage of time. Further, a general fast passage of time may be seen as an indicator of positive psychological outcomes such as life satisfaction and happiness, while a general negative passage of time is indicative of negative psychological outcomes, including depression and suicidal ideation. The Social Reference Theory is applied to account for the associations.