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Identity Processes and Intrinsic and Extrinsic Goal Pursuits: Directionality of Effects in College Students

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Abstract

Identity research has mainly focused on the degree to which adolescents and emerging adults engage in exploration and commitment to identity goals and strivings. Somewhat lacking from this research tradition is an explicit focus on the content of the identity goals that individuals deem important and pursue. The present manuscript describes two longitudinal studies sampling college students in which we examine how exploration and commitment processes relate to intrinsic and extrinsic goal pursuits as defined in Self-Determination Theory. Study 1 was a two-wave longitudinal study spanning 6 months (N = 370; 77.4% women; mean age 18.24 years); Study 2 was a three-wave longitudinal study spanning 6 months (N = 458 students; 84.9% women; mean age 18.25 years). Using cross-lagged path analyses, hypotheses were supported to various degrees of convergence between studies, pointing to the extent of which results were replicated across our two independent longitudinal samples. Whereas an intrinsic goal orientation positively predicted commitment making (Study 1) and identification with commitment over time (Studies 1 and 2), an extrinsic goal orientation positively predicted ruminative exploration over time, which led to decreases in intrinsic orientation over time (Study 2). Further, an intrinsic goal orientation negatively predicted ruminative exploration over time (Study 1). The findings in for pro-active exploration processes were inconsistent across both studies, being prospectively related to both intrinsic (Study 2) and extrinsic goal orientations (Study 1). Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

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Authors’ Contributions

K.L. conceived of the manuscript, conducted the analyses, and coordinated and drafted/revised the manuscript; B.D. conceived of the studies and data collection and critically commented on the manuscript; L.M.G. critically commented on and revised the manuscript; O.N.S. critically commented on and revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Funding

The authors received no external funding to conduct the studies reported in the present manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Tiensestraat 102, 3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Koen Luyckx

  2. Karel De Grote Hogeschool, Antwerpen, Belgium

    Bart Duriez

  3. Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Lindsey M. Green

  4. KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Lindsey M. Green

  5. Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj, Romania

    Oana Negru-Subtirica

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  1. Koen Luyckx
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  2. Bart Duriez
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  4. Oana Negru-Subtirica
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Correspondence to Koen Luyckx.

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All studies were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Luyckx, K., Duriez, B., Green, L.M. et al. Identity Processes and Intrinsic and Extrinsic Goal Pursuits: Directionality of Effects in College Students. J Youth Adolescence 46, 1758–1771 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-016-0626-8

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