Future time perspective in current and previous injecting drug users

Future time perspective (FTP) is a measure of an individual's ability to conceptualise the future which has been shown to be foreshortened in drug addicts. We studied 100 opiate injecting drug users (IDUs) in New South Wales, Australia, of which half were currently injecting and half were not. There was a significant difference between the two groups on FTP, with those currently injecting having a truncated FTP extension. Factor analysis of the FTP scale suggested that the dimensions of future time may differ between groups, with current injectors having a perspective of loss and isolation compared to the dimension of self-evaluation and self-acceptance in those not currently injecting. These data support previous studies which demonstrated truncated FTP, also demonstrating a difference in currently (as opposed to previously) IDUs and suggest that both extension of FTP and an alteration of the dimensions of FTP are associated with cessation of injecting and entry into treatment.