Tracks and Transitions—A Comparison of Adolescent Future‐oriented Goals, Explorations, and Commitments in Australia, Israel, and Finland

Abstract

It has been suggested that age‐related normative demands and institutional tracks play an important role in the development of adolescent future orientation, identity explorations, and commitments. In order to study this, 71 Australian boys and 49 girls, 23 Israeli boys and 23 girls, and 36 Finnish boys and 66 girls aged between 16 and 17 were investigated. They filled in the Hopes and Fears Questionnaire measuring the content and temporal extension of goals, and the Exploration and Commitment Inventory. The results showed that developmental tasks, role transitions, and institutional tracks play an important role in the development of adolescent future orientation, explorations, and commitments. Due to earlier school transitions, Australian adolescents expected that their hopes related to education and work, and education‐related concerns, would be realized earlier than Finnish and Israeli youths. In turn, because of military service commitments of several years, Israeli youths expected that both their hopes and fears concerning education would be realized later in life than Australian adolescents. On the other hand, Finnish adolescents expected goals concerning their future family to be actualized earlier than Australian and Israeli youths. They also showed more exploration and commitment concerning their future family than did Australian adolescents.

Adolescent goal content and pursuit: A review of the literature from the past 16 years

“…Goal meaning and attribution of success should, therefore, be viewed in the light of the ethnic background of the adolescent (Grant & Dweck, 2001;Phinney, 1990). In addition to ethnic membership, the country in which research is conducted necessarily influences the goal pursuit process via national institutional structures such as conscription and the educational system (Malmberg & Trempała, 1997;Nurmi et al, 1995). Further, the socio-political climate of the country is likely to shape perception of goal possibilities; however research in this area is scarce.…”

“…Girls report greater exploration of, commitment to (Nurmi et al, 1995) and prioritization of educational goals (Chang et al, 2006). They also believe that they are more likely to attain their educational goals than boys do (Malmberg & Trempała, 1997).…”

“…Many gender differences in adolescent goal content have been reported. Girls commonly report a greater number or greater importance of interpersonal goals/hopes (Anderman & Anderman, 1999;Chang et al, 2006;Kasser & Ryan, 1993;Kasser, Ryan, Zax & Sameroff, 1995;Lanz & Rosnati, 2002;Malmberg & Norrgård, 1999;Nurmi, 1994;Nurmi & Pulliainen, 1991;Nurmi et al, 1999), and fears (Knox et al, 2000;Nurmi, Poole & Seginer, 1995). Conversely, boys rate social status (Ander-man & Anderman, 1999), becoming successful (Nurmi et al, 1999) and financial aspirations as more important (Kasser & Ryan, 1993).…”

“…Conversely, boys rate social status (Ander-man & Anderman, 1999), becoming successful (Nurmi et al, 1999) and financial aspirations as more important (Kasser & Ryan, 1993). In the area of schooling, girls report and endorse educational goals to a greater extent than boys (Honora, 2002;Marjoribanks, 2002a;Mau & Bikos, 2000;Nurmi, 1994;Nurmi et al, 1995;Yowell, 2000). A disproportionate number of girls are found to endorse possible academic selves in arts and humanities compared to boys who endorse more academic possible selves in business and mathematics (Lips, 2004).…”

“…Despite this developmental delay, the temporal ordering for goal attainment remained the same and conformed to the common 'cultural prototype' (Nurmi, 1991). Factors which play an important role in the timing of adolescents' goals include national institutional tracks such as length of education and conscription (Malmberg & Trempała, 1997;Nurmi et al, 1995). For example, goal cognitions and timing of developmental trajectories with regards to the family and occupational goals have been shown to differ between adolescents from Poland and Germany (Schönpflug & Jansen, 1995) and Poland and Finland respectively (Malmberg & Trempała, 1997).…”