Temporal Self-Continuity

Short Description: This module assesses perceived self-continuity with a visual scale indicating the degree of overlap between the present self and temporally distant selves. It extends prior research which used single-item measures by assessing self-continuity across three temporal distances (1, 5, and 10 years) and for both past and future.

Methodological Details: The expanded self-continuity measure consists of a set of 6 questions assessing past and future self-continuity measured at one, five, and 10 years into the past and future. The degree of overlap between the present self and temporally distant selves was presented as a series of 7 images showing pairs of circles that vary in the degree of overlap. For each temporal direction (past and future) and temporal distance (1, 5, and 10 years), participants were asked to select the circle that best represents the perceived similarity with their temporally distant self.

Available Papers

• Loeckenhoff, Corinna, and Denis Gerstorf. 2020. Age Differences in Self-Continuity in the German Socioeconomic Panel. Innovation in Aging 4 (Suppl 1), 390-391. (https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igaa057.1257)

Contact	Syear	Respondents	Dataset	Variables	Availability	Field	Method	Replication
Corinna E. Löckenhoff (Cornell University), Denis Gerstorf (Humboldt University of Berlin)	2017	~1800	inno	tempsel5, im_tempsel, tempsel1, tempsel3, tempsel6, tempsel4, tempsel2	04/2020	Psychology	Survey items