Stressful events compromise control strivings during a major life transition |
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| Authors: | Michael J. Poulin Jutta Heckhausen |
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| Affiliation: | (1) Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, 3340 Social Ecology II, Irvine, CA 92697, USA;(2) Center for Behavioral and Decision Sciences in Medicine, University of Michigan and VA Ann Arbor, 300 N. Ingalls, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA |
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| Abstract: | Prior research on stressful events has largely ignored their potential impact on motivational processes. This study prospectively examined the association of a stressful event with control strivings in the school-to-work transition. Five waves of data on stressful events, control strategies, and potential mediating variables were collected from an adolescent sample in Berlin (N = 420) during the year before high school graduation. The occurrence of a stressful event (death of family member, parent divorce) predicted a decline in general career-related and specific apprenticeship-related control strivings. This association was mediated by a decline in control-related means-ends beliefs. Proximity to the deadline of graduation exacerbated this association for apprenticeship-seeking control strivings, but this effect was buffered by usage of selective secondary control strategies (cognitive strategies to enhance commitment to a goal). Thus, stressful events can exacerbate challenges and require additional means of control striving. |
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| Keywords: | Stressful events Control striving Control beliefs Transitions Goals |
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