Does future time perspective predict motivation to learn?

Outstanding high-school students in Israel are presented with the option of postponing their mandatory military service to pursue academic studies. The current paper focuses on female students aged 16–18 who are faced with this option, and compares those who are motivated to pursue academic studies to those who are more inclined to join the army immediately after high school. Through this comparison, we try to assess the impact of the students’ Future Time Perspective (FTP), as well as their demographic data, on their motivation to learn. The results demonstrated that FTP in the group of students who were motivated to learn was significantly higher compared to the group of students who were not interested in enrolling into academic studies before military service. These findings point to a positive relationship between FTP and motivation to learn immediately after high school, and perhaps even learning motivation in general.