In the present study, we investigated the ways in which the ideographic goal descriptions and goal appraisals of European American high school seniors reflect potentials for intentional self-development during emerging adulthood (EA), a lifespan phase characterized by increasing levels of freedom and decreasing age-graded, socially sanctioned developmental norms. Additionally, we investigated whether variation in participants’ goal appraisals and the motivational qualities emergent in their goal descriptions would predict variation in dimensions of identity development, both concurrently at age 18 and prospectively at age 23. Results of an exploratory, mixed method analysis of participants’ (N = 129, 56.6% male, M_age = 18.24, SD = 0.37) goal data revealed diversity in education and work goals, strong potentials for intentional self-development reflected across goal appraisals, and more nuanced reflections of intentional self-development across the motivational qualities emergent in goal descriptions. Results partially supported the hypothesis that goal appraisals and motivational qualities that reflect potentials for intentional self-development would predict kindred processes of identity development across the first five years of EA. These findings contribute to a nascent empirical literature focused on the interrelationship of goal and identity constructs during EA and suggest new avenues for future research.

在本研究中，我们调查了欧美高中生的表意目标描述和目标评估如何反映新兴成年期 (EA) 有意自我发展的潜力，这是一个以自由水平提高和年龄下降为特征的生命阶段-分级的，社会认可的发展规范。此外，我们调查了参与者的目标评估和他们的目标描述中出现的动机品质的变化是否会预测身份发展维度的变化，同时在 18 岁和 23 岁时预测。参与者的探索性混合方法分析的结果' ( N  = 129, 56.6% 男性, M_年龄 = 18.24, SD = 0.37) 目标数据揭示了教育和工作目标的多样性，在目标评估中反映的有意识的自我发展的巨大潜力，以及在目标描述中出现的动机品质中对有意识的自我发展的更细致的反映。结果部分支持了这样一个假设，即反映有意识的自我发展潜力的目标评估和动机品质将预测 EA 前五年身份发展的相似过程。这些发现促成了新兴的实证文献，重点关注 EA 期间目标和身份结构的相互关系，并为未来的研究提出了新的途径。