title: Change You Can Believe In: Changes in Goal Setting During Emerging and Young Adulthood Predict Later Adult Well-Being.
abstract: A widely held assumption is that changes in one's goals and motives for life during emerging and young adulthood have lasting influences on well-being into adulthood. However, this claim has yet to receive rigorous empirical testing. The current study examined the effects of prosocial and occupational goal change during college on adult well-being in a 17-year study of goal setting (N= 416). Using a latent growth model across three time points, both level and growth in goal setting predicted later well-being. Moreover, goal changes both during college and in young adulthood uniquely predicted adult well-being, controlling for goal levels entering college. These findings suggest that what matters for attaining adult well-being is both how you enter adulthood and how you change in response to it.
authors.affiliation: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA.
authors.forename: Patrick L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.forename: Joshua J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.forename: Brent W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.forename: Daniel K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Lapsley
authors.forename: Jay W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Brandenberger
keywords: adult development; goals; personality; well-being