Social goals: relationship to adolescent adjustment and to social problem solving.
Examined the relations between adolescent boys' social goals of dominance, revenge, avoidance, and affiliation and (1) self-reported negative adolescent outcomes; (2) subjective sense of self-esteem; and (3) externalizing, internalizing, and prosocial behaviors, as rated by peers and teachers. Results indicated that social goal values were related to diverse aspects of self-, teacher-, and peer-reported social and behavioral functioning, with a consistent association found between a range of delinquent, substance-using, and behavioral difficulties, and endorsement of high goal values for dominance and revenge and low goal values for affiliation. Results also indicated that teacher-identified aggressive boys differed from nonaggressive boys in the value they placed on social goals, with aggressive boys placing a higher value on goals of dominance and revenge, and lower value on goals for affiliation. Finally social goal choice had a clear relation to the social problem-solving differences of aggressive and nonaggressive boys.
Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710.
J E
JE
Lochman
K K
KK
Wayland
K J
KJ
White
D000293:Adolescent; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010552:Personality Assessment; D011340:Problem Solving; D012419:Runaway Behavior; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012919:Social Behavior; D012951:Socialization; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation