title: Personal goals and psychological growth: testing an intervention to enhance goal attainment and personality integration.
abstract: We hypothesized that semester goal attainment provides a route to short-term psychological growth. In an attempt to enhance this process, we randomly assigned participants to either a goal-training program or to a control condition. Although there were no main effects of program participation on later goal attainment, important interactions were found. Consistent with a "prepared to benefit" model, participants already high in goal-based measures of personality integration perceived the program as most useful and benefited the most from the program in terms of goal attainment. As a result, they became even more integrated and also increased in their levels of psychosocial well-being and vitality. Implications for theories of short-term growth and positive change are discussed, as is the unanswered question of how to help less-integrated persons grow.
authors.affiliation: University of Missouri-Columbia, USA.
authors.forename: Kennon M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Sheldon
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kasser
authors.forename: Kendra
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Tamara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Share
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006040:Goals; D006803:Human Development; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008923:Missouri; D010553:Personality Development; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D012044:Regression Analysis