Adolescents’ self-concordance, school engagement, and burnout predict their educational trajectories.

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.

[1]  K. Salmela‐Aro,et al.  Does School Matter? The Role of School Context in Adolescents' School-Related Burnout * , 2008 .

[2]  Kennon M. Sheldon,et al.  Goal striving, need satisfaction, and longitudinal well-being: the self-concordance model. , 1999, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[3]  T. J. Berndt,et al.  Expectancies, values, and achievement in junior high school. , 1990 .

[4]  B. Leadbeater,et al.  Gender-Linked Vulnerabilities to Depressive Symptoms, Stress, and Problem Behaviors in Adolescents , 1995 .

[5]  L. Steinberg,et al.  Handbook of adolescent psychology , 2009 .

[6]  C. Dwyer,et al.  Grades, accomplishments, and correlates. , 1997 .

[7]  P. Näätänen,et al.  The role of work-related personal projects during two burnout interventions: a longitudinal study , 2004 .

[8]  Brian R. Little,et al.  Personal Projects , 1983, The Wiley Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences.

[9]  A. Bakker,et al.  Burnout and Engagement in University Students , 2002 .

[10]  Markku Niemivirta,et al.  Achievement Goal Orientations and Subjective Well-Being: A Person-Centred Analysis. , 2008 .

[11]  Katariina Salmela-Aro,et al.  Peer Group Influence and Selection in Adolescents' School Burnout: A Longitudinal Study , 2008 .

[12]  K. Salmela‐Aro,et al.  Goal construction, reconstruction and depressive symptoms in a life-span context: the transition from school to work. , 2002, Journal of personality.

[13]  Vladimir B. Skorikov,et al.  Continuity in Adolescent Career Preparation and Its Effects on Adjustment. , 2007 .

[14]  R. Koestner,et al.  Attaining personal goals: self-concordance plus implementation intentions equals success. , 2002, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[15]  Timothy L. Seifert,et al.  Understanding student motivation , 2004 .

[16]  S. Nolen-Hoeksema,et al.  The emergence of gender differences in depression during adolescence. , 1994, Psychological bulletin.

[17]  R. Ryan,et al.  Further Examining the American Dream: Differential Correlates of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Goals , 1996 .

[18]  J. T. Austin,et al.  Goal constructs in psychology: Structure, process, and content. , 1996 .

[19]  K. Salmela‐Aro,et al.  The role of educational track in adolescents' school burnout: a longitudinal study. , 2008, The British journal of educational psychology.

[20]  P. Gollwitzer,et al.  Effects of failure on subsequent performance: the importance of self-defining goals. , 1996, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[21]  R. Schulz,et al.  Selectivity in life-span development: Biological and societal canalizations and individuals' developmental goals , 1999 .

[22]  Kennon M. Sheldon,et al.  The Independent Effects of Goal Contents and Motives on Well-Being: It’s Both What You Pursue and Why You Pursue It , 2004, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[23]  R. Ryan,et al.  Perceived locus of causality and internalization: Examining reasons for acting in two domains. , 1989 .

[24]  F. Lorenz,et al.  Trajectories of Stressful Life Events and Depressive Symptoms during Adolescence. , 1994 .

[25]  Kennon M. Sheldon,et al.  The self-concordance model of healthy goal striving: When personal goals correctly represent the person. , 2002 .

[26]  Robert A Emmons.  Personal strivings: An approach to personality and subjective well-being. , 1986 .

[27]  K. Salmela‐Aro,et al.  School-Burnout Inventory (SBI) Reliability and Validity , 2009 .

[28]  Edward L. Deci,et al.  Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behavior , 1975, Perspectives in Social Psychology.

[29]  Kennon M. Sheldon,et al.  Pursuing Personal Goals: Skills Enable Progress, but Not all Progress is Beneficial , 1998 .

[30]  Todd E Bodner,et al.  Integrating top-down and bottom-up structural models of subjective well-being: A longitudinal investigation. , 1995 .

[31]  J. Nurmi.  Planning, motivation, and evaluation in orientation to the future: a latent structure analysis. , 1989, Scandinavian journal of psychology.

[32]  Kennon M. Sheldon,et al.  Self-concordance, goal attainment, and the pursuit of happiness: can there be an upward spiral? , 2001, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[33]  P. Niedenthal,et al.  Life Tasks, Self-Concept Ideals, and Cognitive Strategies in a Life Transition , 1987 .

[34]  N. Cole,et al.  Gender and fair assessment , 1997 .

[35]  E. Bru,et al.  School-Related Stress and Psychosomatic Symptoms among Norwegian Adolescents , 2004 .

[36]  A. Ryan,et al.  The peer group as a context for the development of young adolescent motivation and achievement. , 2001, Child development.

[37]  David Dunning,et al.  Society for Personality and Social Psychology , 2010 .

[38]  A. Bakker,et al.  The Measurement of Work Engagement With a Short Questionnaire , 2006 .

[39]  E. Deci,et al.  Handbook of Self-Determination Research , 2002 .

[40]  E. Deci,et al.  The "What" and "Why" of Goal Pursuits: Human Needs and the Self-Determination of Behavior , 2000 .

[41]  E. Pomerantz,et al.  Making the Grade but Feeling Distressed: Gender Differences in Academic Performance and Internal Distress , 2002 .

[42]  Kennon M. Sheldon,et al.  Not all Personal Goals are Personal: Comparing Autonomous and Controlled Reasons for Goals as Predictors of Effort and Attainment , 1998 .

[43]  C. Haase,et al.  Goal Engagement during the School-Work Transition: Beneficial for All, Particularly for Girls. , 2008 .

[44]  Katariina Salmela-Aro,et al.  Goal Contents, Well-being, and Life Context During Transition to University: A Longitudinal Study , 1997 .

[45]  E. A. Locke,et al.  Core self-evaluations and job and life satisfaction: the role of self-concordance and goal attainment. , 2005, The Journal of applied psychology.