Looking back in order to predict the future: Relative resource assessments and their relationship to future expectations

AbstractIn this research, we investigated how relative resource assessments relate to future expectations. In previous research, resources are typically studied separately, and contextual influences and reference-point dependencies are often ignored. We addressed this in an online survey in which Icelanders (N = 611) assessed their economic, temporal, social, and emotional resources using four reference points (wants, others, past, future). We used exploratory factor analysis to reduce the four resources into three reliable factors: economic, temporal, and socio-emotional resources. Using hierarchical regression we found that assessments of socio-emotional and economic resources were related to future expectations, even after controlling for more objective resource markers, such as income and education. This relationship was strongest when past resources were used as the reference point for assessing current resources. We interpret these findings as suggesting that temporal comparisons to the past become ...