Understanding the relationship between time attitudes and emotion regulation strategies in a sample of young adults: a Latent Profile Analysis

Introduction: time perspective reflects how individuals think and feel about their past, present and future, an age-related process that underlies human behavior that can positively and negatively affect individuals' representations, decisions and choices. Several studies have shown that time attitudes, the affective dimension of time perspective, are associated with mental health outcomes and risky behaviors in young adults. However, still no study has investigated the relationship between time attitudes and how individuals regulate their emotions. The aim of this study was to investigate through a person-centered approach the relationship between time attitudes profiles and the use of emotion regulation strategies (i.e., cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) in a sample of young adults. Methods: the sample included 876 Italian young adults (69.1% females, n = 605) aged 18 to 29 (Mage = 23.8; SDage = 2.56) recruited through snowball sampling and who have completed an online survey. Participants were asked to complete the Adolescent and Adult Time Inventory-Time Attitudes Scale and the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire in a single administration time. A Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) was performed to identify different time attitudes profiles within the participants. Subsequently, two sets of regression analyses were performed to determine how membership to those profiles was mostly associated with different emotion regulation strategies. Results: four profiles emerged, two of which (Positive and Balanced) were significantly associated with higher levels of cognitive reappraisal and lower levels of expressive suppression, two (Present Negative and Negative) which were significantly associated with higher levels of expressive suppression and lower levels of cognitive reappraisal. Discussion: the results of this study provide new insights into how time attitudes affect emotion regulation strategies among young adults. Specifically, individuals with more positive or balanced time attitudes tend to employ more adaptive emotion regulation strategies, such as cognitive reappraisal, and show lower tendencies toward expressive suppression. Conversely, individuals with more negative time attitudes exhibit greater reliance on expressive suppression and less use of cognitive reappraisal. These findings highlight the importance of considering time perspectives in understanding emotional functioning and could inform future interventions aimed at promoting healthier emotional regulation in young adults.