Understanding future thinking among school-age children : A review of studies

• Published in: European journal of developmental psychology Vol. 19; no. 4; pp. 566 - 584
• Main Authors: Loose, Tianna, Vásquez-Echeverría, Alejandro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hove Routledge 04.07.2022; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Age; Cognitive Ability; Cognitive Processes; Elementary School Students; episodic foresight; future orientation; future thinking; future time perspective; Futures (of Society); Imagination; Literature review; Literature Reviews; school age children; Student Attitudes; Time Perspective
• ISSN: 1740-5629; 1740-5610
• DOI: 10.1080/17405629.2021.1932457

Interest in research on future thinking has surged over the last two decades but studies carried out among school age children would be lacking. Future thinking can be viewed as a cognitive function or a disposition, impacting a wide variety of behaviours across the lifespan. Future thinking would undergo developmental milestones in the school age years, but there is no comprehensive review of research on the subject. By focusing on the school age years, we argued that future thinking would first emerge as a cognitive capacity to imagine future scenarios and then as an individual difference reflecting a disposition to take the future into account. Our review of 33 articles to allowed us to better understand the scope, trends and lacunas of extent research of future thinking. Our study helped nuance the constructs underlying future thinking, their measurement and relationships with wide-spread outcomes. We found support for an articulation between a cognitive capacity and disposition. Understanding and cultivating future thinking would optimize child development and positive trajectories later in life. Research on school age children was lacking and needs to be developed.