Time for love: Partners’ time perspectives predict relationship satisfaction in romantic heterosexual couples

Abstract

The aim of the present research was to explore the role of individual differences in time perspective (TP) in predicting two relationship quality indicators: general relationship satisfaction and sexual satisfaction, in romantic heterosexual couples. A total amount of 100 dyads took part in the study. Our study revealed that relationship satisfaction indices are predicted by partners’ time perspectives; both actor and partner effects proved significant. For instance, past-negative was related to lower general relationship satisfaction, whereas past-positive proved detrimental to sexual satisfaction. Higher relationship (but not sexual) satisfaction was related to a more balanced time perspective. Moreover, we demonstrated that the role of some time perspective dimensions may change with relationship length, e.g., a relationship between future-positive (FP) time perspective and females’ relationship satisfaction proved to change across relationship course from significantly negative to strongly positive. Contrary to our hypotheses, we found no evidence for assortative mating effects for time perspective dimensions. The present results provide evidence for the role of psychological temporality in relationship functioning and suggests potential utility of time perspective theories in practical interventions aimed to improve romantic relationships’ quality.