THE MARITAL STATUS AS PREDICTOR OF DIFFERENCES IN TIME PERSPECTIVE AND OPTIMISTIC-PESSIMISTIC ATTITUDES AMONG WOMEN

Abstract

The search for relations, dependencies, and influences between marital status and mental phenomena outlines an accurate and clear picture not only of the family status as a social phenomenon but also as a mental field, where our awareness as individuals is directly or indirectly linked. In this sense, the differences among women with different marital context and the optimistic and pessimistic attitudes as well as the expectations regarding the past, present, and future that were investigated in this research. Four different marital status groups were identified and are shown the differences in time perspective and optimistic-pessimistic attitudes between them. The survey was conducted with 140 women aged between 32 and 67 years M=41.09 SD=6.58. The research methods are Method of evaluation of optimism and negative expectations, published by Velichkov and Radoslavova (2005) and Time perspective Questionnaire by Philip Zimbardo, adapted by Slavchov and Virmozelova (2008). The results verify the supposition that there are statistically significant (p<.05) differences between the four groups of women with different marital status, with regard to their attitudes to optimism and pessimism as well as to their time perspective. The group of married women shows the highest result in Past-positive time perspective and Future time perspective, in comparison with the divorced that have the lowest scores on the same factors Past-positive time perspective and Future time perspective. At the same time, the divorced women experience the highest level of optimism compared to the other groups. Keywords: time perspective, optimism - pessimism, marital status.