Direct and Indirect Relationships Between Life Satisfaction, Values, and Time Perspectives: Research on a Sample of Polish Students.

This study concerned the relationships among personal values (conformity, tradition, benevolence,universality, self-direction, stimulation, hedonism, achievement, power, safety), time perspectivesby Zimbardo (past negative, past positive, present hedonistic, present fatalistic, future)and life satisfaction. The main hypothesis stated that value priorities would predict life satisfactionboth directly and indirectly through time perspectives. 237 Polish students (120 females) took partin the study. Path analysis demonstrated that life satisfaction was directly and positively predictedby the value of benevolence, and indirectly and negatively by conformity and tradition via the pastnegative time perspective. Life satisfaction was also indirectly predicted by the values of hedonismand security via the future time perspective - Hedonism was a negative, and security a positivepredictor of future time perspective, and the future time perspective was a positive predictor oflife satisfaction. The significance of these results for mechanisms and predictors of life satisfactionis discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]