The Relation between Commitment and a Balanced Time Orientation in Adulthood: Differences between and within Individuals

We studied the relation between time perspective and commitment formation. These concepts are part of a complex dynamic system, in which individual transitional experiences are relevant. Individual development may proceed along different pathways. Based on theory and research we expected that this relation will firstly differ between individuals, and secondly may change within an individual with increasing age during adulthood. We expected stronger within-individual correlations in emerging adulthood than in adulthood because emerging adults have to meet the demands of a transition from school to job places while adult participants in general are either settled in a more stable life pattern with work and their own family or experience idiosyncratic life transitions. For 48 individuals we collected time series of 21 yearly measurements between age 20 and age 40. We found strong differences among these individuals in the within-individual relation between a balanced time perspective and commitment formation. As expected, the relationship in emerging adults was stronger than in later ages. These findings strengthen the notion, based on the concept of non-ergodicity, that if we want to gain knowledge about individual development, we should focus on within-individual longitudinal relations.