Effects of Goal Appraisals and Goal Motivation on Dimensions of Identity Development: A Longitudinal Mixed Methods Analysis of European American Emerging Adults

Abstract

In the present study, we investigated the ways in which the ideographic goal descriptions and goal appraisals of European American high school seniors reflect potentials for intentional self-development during emerging adulthood (EA), a lifespan phase characterized by increasing levels of freedom and decreasing age-graded, socially sanctioned developmental norms. Additionally, we investigated whether variation in participants’ goal appraisals and the motivational qualities emergent in their goal descriptions would predict variation in dimensions of identity development, both concurrently at age 18 and prospectively at age 23. Results of an exploratory, mixed method analysis of participants’ ( N = 129, 56.6% male, M age = 18.24, SD = 0.37) goal data revealed diversity in education and work goals, strong potentials for intentional self-development reflected across goal appraisals, and more nuanced reflections of intentional self-development across the motivational qualities emergent in goal descriptions. Results partially supported the hypothesis that goal appraisals and motivational qualities that reflect potentials for intentional self-development would predict kindred processes of identity development across the first five years of EA. These findings contribute to a nascent empirical literature focused on the interrelationship of goal and identity constructs during EA and suggest new avenues for future research. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10804-021-09386-0.

Entrepreneurial Resilience: A Case Study on University Students

“…The characteristics of the university environment and the confluence of emerging adulthood [ 43 ] make it possible for young university students to be subjected to various stressors, such as the exploration of professional identity, family independence, a greater degree of autonomy and responsibility, exacting academic demands, or family and personal expectations [ 44 ]. Furthermore, a study by the World Health Organisation on the prevalence and distribution of mental disorders in first-year university students revealed that 1 in 3 students (31.4%) suffered some mental disorder in the first academic year at university and in 1 out of 5 cases (20.4%) the disorders caused developmental problems, not only at the academic level but also affecting social life, personal relationships and work [ 45 , 46 ].…”