Abstract
This study investigated whether self-concordance of adolescents’ achievement-related goal predicts their school engagement and lack of burnout during upper secondary school as well as their subsequent educational trajectories. We also examined whether goal effort and progress mediate these associations. The sample consisted of 614 17-year-old upper secondary school students, who were surveyed three times: (1) in the second grade of upper secondary, (2) in the third grade of upper secondary school, and (3) one year later. The results showed that when adolescents pursued their achievement-related goal for internal reasons, they also invested effort in their goal, which was reflected in a high level of goal progress. Among girls, goal progress predicted a high level of school engagement during upper secondary school and, subsequently, success in the educational transition after upper secondary school, whereas low goal progress was related to school burnout, which in turn was reflected later on in delay in studies and low educational aspirations.
References
1996). Goal construction in psychology: Structure, process and content. Psychological Bulletin, 120, 338–375.
(1990). Expectancies, values, and achievement in junior high school. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 319–326.
(1996). Effects of failure on subsequent performance: The importance of self-defining goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 395–407.
(1987). Life-tasks, self-concept ideals and cognitive strategies in a life transition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 1178–1191.
(2007). School statistics. Retrieved December 20, 2007, from www.stat.fi/index_en.html
. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York: Plenum.
(2000). The “what” and “why” of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11, 227–268.
(1997). Grades, accomplishments, and correlates. In , Gender and fair assessment (pp. 127–156). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
(1986). Personal strivings: An approach to personality and subjective well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1058–1068.
(1995). Integrating top-down and bottom-up structural models of subjective well-being: A longitudinal investigation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 138–150.
(1994). Trajectories of stressful life events and depressive symptoms during adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 30, 467–483.
(2008). Goal engagement during the school-work transition: Beneficial for all, particularly for girls. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 18, 671–698.
(1999). Biological and societal canalizations and individuals’ developmental goals. In , Action and self-development: Theory and research through the lifespan (pp. 67–103). London: Sage.
(2005). Core self-evaluations and job and life satisfaction: The role of self-concordance and goal attainment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 257–268.
(1996). Further examining the American dream: Differential correlates of intrinsic and extrinsic goals. Personality and social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 280–287.
(2008). Peer group influence and selection in adolescents’ school burnout: A longitudinal study. Merrill Palmer Quarterly, 54, 23–55.
(2002). Attaining personal goals: Self-concordance plus implementation intentions equal success. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 231–244.
(1995). Gender-linked vulnerabilities to depressive symptoms, stress, and problem behaviors in adolescents. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 5, 1–29.
(1983). Personal projects: A rationale and method for investigation. Environment and Behavior, 15, 273–309.
(1993). Personal projects and the distributed self: Aspects of a conative psychology. In , The self in social perspective: Psychological perspectives on the self (pp. 157–185). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
(1986). Possible selves. American Psychologist, 41, 954–969.
(2004). School-related stress and psychosomatic symptoms among Norwegian adolescents. School Psychology International, 25, 317–332.
(1998). Mplus user’s guide. Los Angeles, CA: Muthén & Muthén.
(1994). The emergence of gender differences in depression during adolescence. Psychological Bulletin, 115, 424–443.
(1989). Planning, motivation, and evaluation in orientation to the future: A latent structure analysis. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 30, 64–71.
(2004). Socialization and self-development. Channeling, selection, adjustment, and reflection. In , Handbook of adolescent psychology (pp. 85–124). New York: Wiley.
(2002). Goal construction, reconstruction and depressive symptoms in a life-span context: The transition from school to work. Journal of Personality, 70, 385–420.
(2002). Making the grade but feeling distressed: Gender differences in academic performance and internal distress. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94, 396–404.
(2001). The peer group as a context for the development of young adolescent motivation and achievement. Child Development, 72, 1135–1150.
(1989). Perceived locus of causality and internalization: Examining reasons for acting in two domains. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 749–761.
(2002). Motivaation mittaaminen. Esimerkkinä Brian Littlen henkilökohtaisten projektien menetelmä [
(Measurement of motivation. Brian Little’s personal project analysis as an example ]. In , Mikä meitä liikuttaa. Modernin motivaatiopsykologian perusteet [What moves us? Basics of modern psychology of motivation ] (pp. 28–39). PS-kustannus. Keuruu: Otavan kirjapaino.2005). BBI-10. Nuorten koulu-uupumusmenetelmä [
(Adolescents’ school burnout method ]. Helsinki, Finland: Edita.1997). Goal contents, well-being and life context during transition to university: A longitudinal study. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 20, 471–491.
(2009). School Burnout Inventory: Reliability and validity. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 25, 48–57.
(2009). The role of educational track in adolescents’ school burnout: A longitudinal study. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 78, 663–689.
(2008). Does school matter? The role of school context in adolescents’ school-related burnout. European Psychologist, 13, 1–13.
(2006). The measurement of work engagement with a short questionnaire: A cross-national study. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 66, 701–716.
(2002). Burnout and engagement in university students: A cross-national study. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 33, 464–481.
(2004). Understanding student motivation. Educational Research, 46, 137–149.
(2002). The self-concordance model of healthy goal-striving: When personal goals correctly represent the person. In , Handbook of self-determination research (pp. 65–86). Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press.
(1998). Not all personal goals are personal: Comparing autonomous and controlled reasons for goals as predictors of effort and attainment. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 546–557.
(1999). Goal striving, need satisfaction, and longitudinal well-being: The self-concordance model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 482–497.
(2001). Self-concordance, goal-attainment, and the pursuit of happiness: Can there be an upward spiral? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 152–165.
(1998). Pursuing personal goals: Skills enable progress, but not all progress is beneficial. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 1319–1331.
(2004). The independent effect of coal contents and motives on well-being: It’s both what you pursue and why you pursue it. Society for Personality and Social Psychology, 30, 475–486.
(2006). Continuity in adolescent career preparation and its effects on adjustment. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 70, 8–24.
(2008). Achievement goal orientations and subjective well-being: A person-centered analysis. Learning and Instruction, 18, 251–266.
(