Measuring time perspective in Ethiopian young adults using the Adolescent and Adult Time Inventory (AATI)

Abstract

Time perspective is an under-researched social construct in Africa. We examined scores on an Amharic translation of the Adolescent and Adult Time Inventory (AATI) in a sample of 422 young adults attending two types of educational institutions in Ethiopia: preparatory school (n = 191) and university (n = 231). Results indicated that Ethiopian young adults thought about the present and the future more frequently than the past. The modal option for time orientation was present-future, and the modal options for time relation were present-future and linearly related. There were differences in the choice of time orientation options in the two school types. Although the largest group from both school types chose present-future, future and past were the second and third choices for the preparatory school students, and past and present were the second and third choices for the university students. Scores from the AATI supported a six-factor time attitudes model: past positive, past negative, present positive, present negative, future positive, and future negative. The results of this study indicate that the AATI can be used to study time perspective in Ethiopia.