Abstract

The present article aims to provide evidence to advance in the comprehension ofthe multiple relationships between temporality and wellbeing by exploring the relationshipbetween time perspectives and subjective wellbeing in Chile. In so doing, it presents a criticalstand of the current operationalisations of the ‘balanced time perspective’ (BTP). This articlesupports the theoretical premise that individuals’ time perspectives possess a contextualnature and that the BTP is socially relative. As a result, the article proposes a novel method todefine and operationalise BTP. Using data from the United Nations Development Pro-gramme’s 2011 Human Development Survey for Chile (N=2,535), an empirical analysis iscarried out on the relationship between time perspectives and vital satisfaction, positiveaffects, negative affects and depressive symptomatology scales. The results show that inChile a negative orientation towards the past exerts the most significant effect on subjectivewellbeing and malaise, and the time perspective which most favours subjective wellbeing inChilean society is that in which there is a low orientation towards Present and Past-Negative, ahigh orientation towards Past-Positive, and a medium orientation towards Future. Thisrelationship between time perspectives and subjective wellbeing constitutes an advance in thestudy of the subjective dimension of temporality in Chile, and contributes to the theoreticaland methodological discussions on time perspectives on an international level.