To examine the extent to which personal goals and their appraisals are associated with problems in socialization, 20 young ‘social drop-outs’ (15 men, 5 women) and 21 students from a vocational school (20 men, 1 woman) were interviewed about their personal goals, related views of internality, externality, and likelihood of accomplishing goals. Analysis indicated that young adults who showed problems in socialization mentioned less frequently personal goals related to future education and housing than did the control group. Second, social drop-outs held more external and less internal views and were less optimistic about accomplishing personal goals than was the control group.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
GurneyR. (1982) Leaving school, facing unemployment and making attributions about the cause of unemployment. Journal of Vocational Behaviour, 18, 79–81.
2.
NurmiJ-E. (1991) How do adolescents see their future? A review of the development of future orientation and planning. Developmental Review, 11, 1–59.
3.
NurmiJ-E. (1992) Age differences in adults' life goals, concerns, and their temporal extensions: a life course approach to future-oriented motivation. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 15, 487–508.
4.
OysermanD.MarkusH. (1990) Possible selves and delinquency. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 112–125.
5.
OysermanD.SaltzE. (1993) Competence, delinquency, and attempts to attain possible selves. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 360–374.
