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Downgrading goal-relevant resources in action crises: The moderating role of goal reengagement capacities and effects on well-being

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Abstract

If the pursuit of a goal falls short of expectations, doubts can arise as to whether a followed path should be changed. This decisional conflict is defined as action crisis. In two longitudinal studies of university students, an action crisis resulted in a downgrading of goal-relevant resources among participants with limited goal reengagement capacities, who struggle to identify and commit to new projects when unattainable goals are encountered. Theoretically, this devaluation of goal-relevant resources is explained by a shift from an optimistic towards an unbiased cognitive orientation in action crises. However, an action crisis did not result in a downgrading of resources if unattainable goals, in the past, could generally be replaced with viable alternatives (high goal reengagement capacities). Downgrading goal-relevant resources, furthermore, was identified as a mediating mechanism partly underlying reported effects of action crises on health and well-being. The present article provides new insights into self-regulatory processes during goal striving.

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Notes

  1. All hypotheses of the present article were tested with PROCESS (Hayes 2013), a computational tool for path analysis-based moderation and mediation analysis that “assumes complete data and will exclude cases from the analysis that are missing” (p. 433). As a consequence, for Study 1, we tested for sample selectivity by comparing the subsample relevant to the present report (n = 190) with the total sample of students participating at T1 (n = 336) except for doctoral students (n = 8) and students that had already completed their studies at T3 (n = 13). Therefore, using the AMOS software package (version 22; IBM® SPSS® Statistics Inc., Armonk, NY) and the full information maximum likelihood (FIML) technique, it was evaluated whether the subsample (in comparison to the total sample), with respect to the reported moderation analysis, showed evidence of selectivity. FIML, to minimize any bias in the estimation of model parameters, makes use of all available data, regardless of missing data pattern, and is therefore equivalent to other missing data strategies (e.g., multiple imputation; Graham et al. 2007). In order to statistically evaluate whether the parameter estimates (i.e., regression weights, cf. Table 2) in the two samples differed, we applied the result of the total sample (model 1) to the subsample with complete data (cf. Arbuckle 2013; Byrne 2004). More specifically, the covariances and regression weights of the resulting model 3 (n = 190, df = 3) were fixed to the estimates obtained in model 1. The non-significant Chi square difference (∆X2(3) = 0.001, p = 0.999) between model 3 and the saturated (i.e., just-identified) model 2, in which parameters were freely estimated, indicated no statistical difference (with respect to parameter estimates) between the total sample and the subsample with complete data. Due to the absence of evidence of selectivity, statistical analyses reported for the subsample with complete data may be generalized to the total sample (cf. Fig. 2; Tables 2, 3).

  2. In order pursue your studies successfully you need resources. For all of the resources listed below, please indicate the extent to which you personally believe you currently have these resources compared to the typical student.

  3. Results of Study 1 without control variables The effect of action crisis at T1 on resources at T3, controlled for resources at T2, was statistically significantly moderated by goal reengagement capacities ([standardized] β = 0.137, SE = 0.045, t = 2.456, p = 0.015). The region of significance included values (for goal reengagement capacities) of at least − 0.44 standard deviations below the mean (p = 0.050) and 30.53% (i.e., n = 58 participants) of the sample.

    Results of Study 2 without control variables The effect of action crisis at T1 on resources at T3, controlled for resources at T2, was statistically significantly moderated by goal reengagement capacities ([standardized] β = 0.195, SE = 0.044, t = 3.416, p < 0.001). The region of significance included values (for goal reengagement capacities) below 0.22 standard deviations above the mean (p = 0.050) and 51.08% (i.e., n = 95 participants) of the sample.

  4. For Study 2, the same procedure was applied in order to test for sample selectivity as for Study 1 (cf. footnote 1). The non-significant Chi square difference (∆X2(3) = 0.010, p = 0.999) between model 3 and the saturated (i.e., just-identified) model 2, in which parameters were freely estimated, indicated no statistical difference (with respect to parameter estimates) between the total sample (n = 199)—except for students who had dropped out of university before T3 (n = 8)—and the subsample with complete data (n = 186).

  5. For participants who were average in goal reengagement capacities, action crisis at T1 ([unstandardized] B = − 0.175, p = 0.004, CI [− 0.293/− 0.058]) significantly predicted resources at T3. No (conditional) effect was found for goal reengagement capacities ([unstandardized] B = 0.000, p = 0.999, CI [− 0.122/0.122). The effect of action crisis at T1 on resources at T3, controlled for resources at T1, was statistically significantly moderated by goal reengagement capacities ([unstandardized] B = 0.114, SE = 0.045, t = 2.532, p = 0.012, CI [0.025/0.203]). Furthermore, for participants with goal reengagement capacities values corresponding to the (10th and) 25th percentile, an indirect effect of action crisis on (a) life satisfaction ([unstandardized] indirect effect [25th percentile]: − 0.070, CI [− 0.168/− 0.004]), (b) affect ([unstandardized] indirect effect [25th percentile]: − 0.085, CI [− 0.178/− 0.014]), and (c) health ([unstandardized] indirect effect [25th percentile]: − 0.046, CI [− 0.118/− 0.005]) through resources could be observed.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Antonia Kreibich for her valuable assistance in the preparation of the data reported in this manuscript.

Funding

This research was funded by a grant of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) to Veronika Brandstätter (100014_159389). The SNSF had no role in study design, in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, in the writing of the report, and in the decision to submit the article for publication.

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Correspondence to Marcel Herrmann.

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Both studies were conducted according to the ethical principles of the American Psychological Association (APA) and the guidelines of the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Zurich. With reference to the publication bias (Dickersin 1990), the authors assure that the present research questions were only tested in the two studies presented in this article.

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The article is based on data collected in the context of two larger research projects that, partly, have already been published [cf. Brandstätter and Herrmann 2016 (Study 2); cf.; Herrmann and Brandstätter 2013 (Study 1)]. The present findings do not overlap with previously reported data.

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Herrmann, M., Brandstätter, V. & Wrosch, C. Downgrading goal-relevant resources in action crises: The moderating role of goal reengagement capacities and effects on well-being. Motiv Emot 43, 535–553 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-019-09755-z

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