Positive and negative time attitudes, intrinsic motivation, behavioral engagement and substance use among urban adolescents

Abstract

Introduction: Behavioral engagement in schools is an important contributor to academic outcomes for adolescents, but may also protect them from substance abuse. Positive and negative attitudes to the past, present, and future have been linked to adaptive and maladaptive behaviors in adolescence, respectively, but there is a need for research that examines whether time attitudes promote behavioral engagement and lower risk for substance use. Methods: Structural equation models involving 1961 diverse high school students were utilized, which controlled for sex, GPA, and alcohol use. Results: Positive time attitudes were positively associated with behavioral engagement and students’ GPA. Girls had stronger levels of behavioral engagement. Positive time attitudes were indirectly associated with less marijuana use via intrinsic motivation, engagement, and less alcohol use. The indirect effect of positive time attitudes on engagement via intrinsic motivation was significant and substantial. In a second structural model, we examined the effects of negative time attitudes, intrinsic motivation, and behavioral engagement on marijuana use. Negative time attitudes and intrinsic motivation were indirectly associated with less marijuana use via behavioral engagement. Both models explained 41% of the variance in engagement and 36% of the variance in marijuana use, suggesting that positive and negative time attitudes are equally valuable in understanding academic engagement and marijuana use among adolescents. A third model indicated that behavioral engagement was negatively related to a latent variable composed of binge drinking and alcohol use. Conclusions: Implications for practice and future research are discussed, as the current findings suggest the importance of positive time attitudes as promotive of behavioral engagement and protective against substance use.