Forming personal goals is considered one of the key driving forces behind a person’s development. Formation of goals is particularly important during adolescence, since this period marks the transition to more independent, autonomous decisions and behaviors in major life domains. While goals attracted a lot of attention among developmental researchers, a number of questions remain about the factors and processes of adolescent goal formation in a broader social context, specifically, with regard to increasing socio-economic disparities within a society. The current study seeks to investigate the dynamics of personal goal formation during adolescence, as well as the impact of key contextual factors that shape these dynamics, in the context of social inequalities. The key tasks of this project are: (1) to identify the dynamics of personal goal formation during adolescence taking into account the content of goals, the processes and capabilities involved; (2) to assess the effects of the main contextual factors (family, school, peers) and individual characteristics on goal formation during adolescence; (3) to evaluate the effects of objective and subjective aspects of socio-economic background on the content and processes of goal formation during adolescence. This two-year longitudinal study will result in scholarly publications, practical recommendations for the educational sector, as well as seminars for school representatives.
Project funding:
Projects funded by the Research Council of Lithuania (RCL), Projects carried out by researchers’ teams
Project results:
The results of the project are published on the project website: https://tikslulaboratorija.ktu.edu/rezultatai/
Period of project implementation: 2019-05-24 - 2022-06-30
Project coordinator: Kaunas University of Technology
