Personality, motivation, and the construction of goals during the transition to adulthood

The authors examined the personality and motivational underpinnings of goal construction among Israeli young adults participating in a preparatory academic program (N = 236). Participants with a strong sense of efficacy reported elevated project investment and intrinsic and identified motivation, a positive project appraisal, and reduced amotivation. In contrast, self-critical participants reported reduced intrinsic motivation and elevated amotivation, and a negative project appraisal. These findings emphasize the role of personality and motivation in goal construction during young adulthood, and confirm conceptualizations of efficacy and self-criticism as respectively representing adaptive and maladaptive aspects of self-definition.