Developmental Psychologists’ Perspective on Pathways Through School and Beyond
This chapter applies sequence analysis—a method rarely applied by psychologists—to examine the transitional pathways of young people through the Finnish education system from a developmental psychologists’ perspective. Our aims were threefold: First, to identify typical pathways; second, to investigate whether psychological resources, operationalized as career goal appraisal, predict a certain educational trajectory; and, third, to examine the extent to which career goal appraisal shows differential change among young people on different educational pathways. Data analyses were based on the FinEdu study, in which N = 611 Finnish students were followed from age 16 (end of comprehensive schoo…
Career and Romantic Relationship Goals and Concerns During Emerging Adulthood
This study examined emerging adults’ personal goals and concerns in the domains of career (including education, work, and financial issues) and romantic relationship. A particular focus was on goal and concern hierarchies, that is, individuals’ profiles of goals and concerns. A total of 1,052 Finnish emerging adults (63% female) were followed at ages 20 and 23. Latent class analyses yielded goal and concern profiles that were primarily related to career, whereas romantic relationships were less central in individuals’ goal and concern hierarchies. Career and romantic relationship goals and concerns were associated with life status in these domains, especially prioritizing career goals and …
Goal pursuit in young adulthood: The role of personality and motivation for goal appraisal trajectories across 6 years.
The aim of this longitudinal study was to examine changes in the appraisals of personal goals during young adulthood, and to investigate personality and motivation as predictors of goal appraisals. Israeli young adults (N = 284, 46% female) were assessed four times during ages 23�29 and reported on their goal appraisals (goal investment, goal momentum and goal stress), personality (efficacy and self-criticism) and motivation (autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, amotivation). The results showed mean stability for goal investment and momentum, whereas goal stress declined. Efficacy predicted higher goal investment and momentum 6 years later, while self-criticism accounted for indivi…
Introducing the DYNAMICS framework of moment-to-moment development in achievement motivation
This article introduces a new theoretical and psychometric framework describing moment-to-moment development and inter-dependencies of achievement motivation in terms of the situated expectancy-value theory, by introducing dynamical systems concepts into this line of research. As a first empirical example of a study using this framework, we examined whether task values, costs, and success expectancies measured in a learning situation (time point t) predicted themselves and each other at the next situation (t + 1; 27 min later) within a weekly university lecture. Situational task values, expectancies, and costs were assessed using the experience sampling method in 155 university teacher trai…
Career goal-related success expectations across two educational transitions: A seven-year longitudinal study
The purpose of this seven-year longitudinal study was to examine the trajectories of adolescents' career goal-related success expectations during two educational transitions. Altogether 850 (48% female, M Age = 16) participants reported their success expectations for their career-related goals, first in the last year of comprehensive school and four times during the following seven years. Overall, the success expectations showed a significant increase. However, there was considerable heterogeneity in the development of these expectations. Growth Mixture Modeling showed that four trajectories fitted the data best: high-increasing (78%), low-increasing (9%), decreasing (6%) and U-shaped (7%).…
Parents' role in adolescents' decision on a college major: A weekly diary study
Abstract This study examined 39 adolescents during their transition to university. In standardized weekly diaries over several weeks (M = 8.13) adolescents reported on engagement in career exploration (in-breadth and in-depth self and environmental exploration), their parents' transition-related involvement (frequency of conversations, support, and interference), and their satisfaction with how the transition progressed. The results showed that exploration largely fluctuated across weeks, whereas parent involvement was more stable. Family members' engagement varied according to the phase of the application process the adolescent was involved in. The more adolescents explored during a given …
Children evoke similar affective and instructional responses from their teachers and mothers
In the present study, we examined the extent to which the responses of teachers and mothers toward a particular child are similar in respect to their instructional support and affect, and whether child characteristics predict these responses. The data of 373 Finnish child–teacher–mother triads (178 girls, 195 boys) were analysed. Teachers and mothers reported their instructional support and affective responses toward a child in the school/homework context in Grades 1, 2, 3, and 4. At the beginning of Grade 1, the children’s performance in reading and math was tested, and teachers evaluated the children’s externalizing and internalizing problem behaviour. The results demonstrated that mothe…
The role of career values for work engagement during the transition to working life
Abstract The present longitudinal study examined the role of career values for work engagement across the transition from university education to working life. Finnish young adults reported on their career values (intrinsic, rewards, and security values) at the age of 23; and the degree of person–organization fit (value congruence, and congruence between one's education and the job), subjective income and economic stress two years later at the age of 25. Work engagement was assessed at both measurement points. Structural equation modeling results showed, first, that intrinsic but not rewards or security career values were related to work engagement. Second, value congruence and having a job…
The role of daily autonomous and controlled educational goals in students’ academic emotion states: An experience sampling method approach
The present study examines antecedents of university students' academic emotions (Pekrun, Goetz, Titz, & Perry, 2002) in the context of self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985; 2000), using realtime assessment and intra-individual analyses. We investigated whether daily autonomous and controlled-motivated educational goals predicted students' academic emotions. University students (N = 55) completed smartphone diaries over 14 consecutive days. The two-week intensive longitudinal data were organized in a hierarchical three-level structure, with situations (Level 1) nested within days (Level 2) nested within students (Level 3). Students' goal motivation was assessed in morning quest…
Situational expectancies and task values: Associations with students' effort
Abstract According to expectancy-value theory, expectancies and task values are precursors for investing effort into learning. To date, it remains largely unknown (1) to what extent expectancies and values change from one learning situation to another and (2) to what extent inter-individual findings reflect intra-individual motivational processes. We applied an intensive longitudinal design in a sample of 155 pre-service teacher students attending a lecture. Across ten lessons with varying topics, students reported three times per lesson on their situational effort, expectancies, task values (intrinsic, attainment, utility), and cost. We used multilevel structural equation modeling with lea…
Work-related goal appraisals and stress during the transition from education to work
Abstract People's personal goals interact with their life situations in many ways. This study examined the appraisals of personal goals during a transition from education to work and their interplay with stress in different domains of life. Finnish young adults (N = 265, 60% female) reported on their goals in the work domain, and related appraisals of importance, attainability, and progress, and the amount of stress they experienced with regard to economic situation, time, and work. The results showed that those individuals who appraised their work goals as important, attainable and progressing well, benefited from their goal striving as evidenced in less stress in all three domains. Moreov…
Dark shadows of rumination: Finnish young adults' identity profiles, personal goals and concerns
Young adults actively construct their identity by exploring and committing to opportunities through the setting of personal goals. Typically personal goal contents are related to young adults' developmental tasks but sometimes goals are self-focused. This longitudinal study explored personal goal and concern contents in relation to identity profiles among young Finns (N = 577) followed from age 23 to 25. Applying the Dimensions of Identity Development Scale, identity formation was measured at age 23. Latent Profile Analysis yielded five profiles: moderate achievement, moderate diffusion, achievement, diffused diffusion, and reconsidering achievement. Two “dark side” identity profiles, chara…
Intentional Engagement in the Transition to Adulthood
Abstract. During the transition to adulthood, young people need to choose their career and overall life pathway and cope successfully with the transitions they face. The theories of personal identity development ( Luyckx, Goossens, Soenens, & Beyers, 2006 ; Luyckx et al., 2008 ), career development ( Savickas, 2005 ), and goal developmental regulation ( Nurmi, 2004 ; Salmela-Aro, 2009 ) address the question of how people commit and engage in the changes faced during the transition from adolescence to adulthood, and particularly how they deal with educational and occupational transitions. We reviewed how each of these theories discusses both adaptive and maladaptive processes during the…