Time Perspective of Substance Abuse Patients: Comparison of the Scales in Stanford Time Perspective Inventory,Beck Depression Inventory,and Beck Hopelessness Scale

This study examined the correlations between the Stanford Time Perspective Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Beck Hopelessness Scale for an in-patient substance-abuse population of 50. Analysis did not support the hypothesis that substance abusers would be more likely to be present-hedonistic and present-fatalistic rather than past- or future-oriented. However, the results modestly supported the hypothesis that future orientation would be negatively correlated with scores on depression and hopelessness measures. In this sample, there was a slight tendency toward the time orientations of future- and present-fatalistic. Correlations among scores on the three measures were generally low (range = .06 to −.38).