Perspektywa temporalna w narracjach o życiu w trakcie pandemii COVID-19 u osób we wczesnej i średniej dorosłości

The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the Polish people’s life. At the same time the development period may also modify a perception of life situation. The paper presents the results of research on temporal perspective in the early (n = 38) and the middle (n = 38) adulthood in a pandemic situation. Participants of the study wrote a narrative about their life. The obtained narratives were analyzed according to the categories distinguished by Zimbardo and Boyd and coded: past positive perspective, past negative perspective, present fatalistic perspective, present hedonistic perspective, future perspective. Some extra categories of perspectives were also used: the neutral dimension (in relation to the past, present and future) and axiological (in relation to present). Results showed dominance of present perspective in both groups, wherein it was more frequent in the early adulthood. There were statistically significant differences in present fatalistic perspective – in the early adulthood it occurred more frequently. No significant differences between groups were noticed in reference to other perspectives. The obtained material probably captures a part of the process of incorporating atypical life situations into the internal narrative scheme. It also seems that the pandemic crisis triggered the need to focus on maintaining the current level of functioning in the face of new challenges.