Psychological Development and Education ›› 2024, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (4): 601-608.doi: 10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2024.04.14

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A Distant Thought Relieves a Near Sorrow—The Development of Children and Adolescents’ Future Time Perspective and Its Effect Mechanism

DENG Zhijun1, ZHU Xiaoshuang2, ZHANG Heyi3   

  1. 1. School of Child Development and Education, China Women's University, Beijing 100101;
    2. College of Teacher Education, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048;
    3. Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875
  • Published:2024-08-27

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Abstract: Distant thought, which means future time perspective, is a fundamental ability of human development and is crucial for the development of cognitive function. Children’s understanding of future time is closely related to their socialization process, which strongly affects children’s overall development. The ability to think about future events, allowing children to adapt their behavior to situations that have not yet occurred, which is key to both short-term and long-term planning. This review summarized the developmental characteristics of children’s future time perspective, and the relationship between future time perspective and other abilities, including academic achievement, career decision-making, and well-being. We systematically explored its relationship with cognition, behavior, emotion, etc., and explained the mechanism and value of “a distant thought relieves a near sorrow”. This study will improve our understanding of children’s future time perspective, and shed light on how to cultivate children's future time awareness in educational practice.

Key words: children and adolescents, future time perspective, academic achievement, behavior, well-being

CLC Number: 

  • B844
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