FUTURE TIME PERSPECTIVE AND MEDIATION OF HEALTH: FINDINGS FROM THE KOREAN BABY BOOMER PANEL STUDY

摘要

Korean baby boomers (born between 1955 and 1963) comprise the largest segment of the population approaching old age in Korea. The subjective sense of future time has been associated with the selection and pursuit of social goals, but less is known about its link to changes in individuals’ health. Using 2,580 participants from three waves (2010, 2012, 2014) of the Korea Baby Boomer Panel Study, we examined the extent to which future time perspective at Wave 1 affects changes in growth trajectories of health (i.e., exercise, physical symptoms, chronic conditions), and whether health trajectories, in turn, explain changes in future time perspective at Wave 3. A rate of decline in physical symptoms across the three waves fully mediated the change in future time perspectives. Furthermore, limited future time perspective at Wave 1 was associated with decelerated and accelerated decline in exercise and chronic conditions without the mediation effects, respectively.