Consideration of future consequences: evidence of weekly fluctuations and domain-specificity in association with health, academic, and work outcomes

Consideration of future consequences (CFC) was originally proposed to be a stable personality trait that describes the degree to which individuals consider the immediate versus distant results of their actions. Recent studies debate whether CFC fluctuates over short periods of time and whether it is a domain-specific construct. The present study aims to explore the fluctuation of CFC scale scores over a weekly interval and explore how this variability is associated with three relevant outcomes. For this purpose, the general CFC scale was adapted to three domain-specific scales: health, academic, and work. A total of 737 adults (Mage = 36.58, SD = 14.73) participated and completed the questionnaires over eight waves of data collection separated by one week. The results indicate that CFC scale scores fluctuates at weekly intervals. Healthy eating, academic engagement, and innovation at work at the intra-individual level were associated with fluctuations in the corresponding domain-specific scales over and above the general CFC scale. The results suggest that CFC is, to some extent, variable within short periods of time. Furthermore, we found evidence in favour of the reliability and validity of all CFC scales in Spanish used in this study. These findings may be useful for public policies that depend on people's future orientation.