The aim of the present study was to investigate: (a) self and age related differences in time perspective and future time orientations / (b) age differences in adaptive self-regulation / and (c) the contribution of future and self orientations and adaptive self-regulation to well-being. A questionnaire consisting of measures concerning future outlook and time perspective, adaptive self-regulation, self-construals, goals and subjective well-being variables was administered to 404 adults (191 young, 128 middle-aged, 85 older). Also, short structured interviews about time, future, end of life and age were conducted for descriptive and exploratory purposes with nine individuals, three individuals from each age group. On the basis of the results, it was concluded that, (1) older adults had less open and planful, but more anxious future outlook than younger adults, and middle-aged adults had a time perspective more like older adults&rsquo / (2) there is a difference in the content of the goals reported by each age group, and total number of goals reported by older adults was lower than the number of goals reported by young and middle-aged adults / (3) for all age groups, balanced type (i.e., related-individuated, as defined by the Balanced Integration and Differentiation, BID, model) individuals had the most favourable future outlook, and only balanced-type individuals at young, middle and older ages did not differ from each other in terms of having the most favourable future outlook / (4) balanced type individuals reengaged into other goals more than the unbalanced type individuals when they were faced with an unattainable goal / (5) goal reengagement increased with having more open future time perspective, and the contribution of open future time perspective to goal reengagement was much more for middle-aged and older adults than younger adults / (6) self orientations, future time perspective and goal reengagement contribute to well-being, and contributions of future time perspective and goal reengagement to well-being after the contribution of self orientations were considerable only for young and middle-aged adults / (7) gender was not found to have a significant effect on goal reengagement and well-being, but women had slightly more anxious and fatalistic future attitudes than men.

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate whether or not perceptions of organizational politics mediate the relationships between accountants' personality and interpersonal traits and their perceptions of a superior's leadership ability and performance. An accountant who has a higher degree of confidence in his or her superior's abilities is more likely to be committed to a given project, resulting in a better project outcome. This benefits the client and ultimately society as a whole. This study contributes to the accounting and psychology literatures because extant research views perceptions of leadership ability and performance from the perspective of the individual agent, with little or no recognition that social action and interaction shape and mold both the individual agent's actions and perceptions of those actions. Perceived leadership and perceived performance are important in accounting for several reasons. First, individuals act in part in relation and response to the expectations of others. Thus, the perception of effective leadership and performance is gained by meeting the expectations of others. Secondly, accountants with reputations for effectiveness have been found to be more successful in their careers. Finally, the reputation for effectiveness in performance and leadership ability has been shown to increase those abilities. This study draws on the adaptive self-regulation framework as well as other theoretical models of perceived performance. The study results indicate that certain manageable personality, interpersonal, and contextual variables affect how accountants view the level of organizational politics within the workplace. In turn, the accountant's view of the organizations' politics is shown to very strongly affect how the accountant perceives his or her superiors' performance and leadership ability.