Human attitude to temporal perspectives as a factor determining the effectiveness of emotional and social adaptation fits into the theoretical framework of Philip G. Zimbardo and John Boyd’s (1999, 2009) model. Research on temporality is undergoing a renaissance, which is visible in Polish and world literature in the area of social sciences. However, among many analyses concerning young people's attitudes to time, the ones that concern the issue of planning one's own future and setting life goals still dominate, as they are part of the basis of identity processes occurring in this period (Czerwińska-Jasiewicz, 1997; Liberska 2007; Mac-Czernik, 2000; Nosal, Bajcar 2004 Stolarski, Fieluaine, van Beek, 2015; Suddendorf, Corballis, 2007 et al.). However, there are few results of studies based on the assumptions of Zimbardo and Boyd’s (1999, 2009) model. Those concerning socially maladjusted youth in YOIs are almost absent. The aim of this article is to present the role of time perspective in the area of increasing effectiveness in designing re-socialisation work with minors through the use of diagnosis and creating, on the basis of its results, profiles of pupils in relation to belonging to time perspectives and their dimensions.