Adolescents navigate the transition into young adulthood through their pursuit of developmental goals. While societal expectations and institutions provide normed paths to adulthood by shaping decisions on goal identification, individuals take various routes to attain adult-status through different goal prioritization. Using longitudinal data from a U.S. sample of 1,088 adolescents (55.6% female; 25.3% Whites, 19.8% Asians, 30.4% Latinx, 12.6% Multiracial), we identified young adults’ major developmental goal and subgoal trajectories during the transition from adolescence to young adulthood. Participants nominated goals within a 5-year period starting from the final year of secondary school, and responses were categorized into major developmental goals. Results showed moderate goal stability over time. Although career and education goals were initially prioritized, they were less frequently nominated over time while relational and financial goals became more frequent. However, rank-order stability was retained. Findings also showed that individual differences in education and employment status, motivational factors, gender, and ethnicity predicted goal identification in young adulthood. Collectively, findings reveal both general trends and interindividual differences in goals that highlight the interplay between society and individual agency, ultimately leading to different paths taken during the transition to adulthood.

青少年通过追求发展目标来引导他们过渡到年轻成年。社会期望和制度通过塑造目标识别决策提供了成年的规范之路，而个人则通过不同的目标优先次序采取各种途径来达到成年状态。利用美国1088名青少年（女性55.6％；白人25.3％；亚裔19.8％；拉丁裔32.6％；多种族12.6％）的美国样本的纵向数据，我们确定了年轻人从青春期过渡到年轻人的主要发展目标和亚目标轨迹成年。参加者从中学的最后一年开始，在5年内提名了目标，并将回答归类为主要的发展目标。结果显示随着时间的流逝，目标稳定度适中。尽管最初将职业和教育目标放在优先位置，但随着时间的推移，提名的频率越来越少，而关系和财务目标却越来越频繁。但是，保留了等级稳定性。研究结果还表明，受教育程度，就业状况，动机因素，性别和种族的个体差异可预测成年后的目标识别。总的来说，研究结果揭示了总体趋势和目标之间的个体差异，突出了社会与个体代理之间的相互作用，最终导致了向成年过渡的过程采取了不同的途径。研究结果还表明，受教育程度，就业状况，动机因素，性别和种族的个体差异可预测成年后的目标识别。总的来说，研究结果揭示了总体趋势和目标之间的个体差异，突出了社会与个体代理之间的相互作用，最终导致了向成年过渡的过程采取了不同的途径。研究结果还表明，受教育程度，就业状况，动机因素，性别和种族的个体差异可预测成年后的目标识别。总的来说，研究结果揭示了总体趋势和目标之间的个体差异，突出了社会与个体代理之间的相互作用，最终导致了向成年过渡的过程采取了不同的途径。