UC Riverside

Getting good grades, making new friends, and losing weight have the potential to increase individuals' well-being, but what factors predict attainment of these outcomes and how does attaining them impact well-being? This study aimed to identify person and contextual factors that predict goal attainment and determine how goal attainment changes well-being. Personality traits, the accumulation of setbacks experienced in an academic year, and goal appraisals (e.g., importance, expected success) were used to predict goal attainment and goal attainment in domains relevant to students (e.g., academics, social relationships) were used to predict changes in well-being. Eighty-nine of 297 students completed questionnaires at the beginning and end of their freshman year of college. At the first assessment, students were asked to describe their personality traits (i.e., the Big Five) and their satisfaction with life. They were also asked to list ten personal goals and evaluate them on dimensions thought to impact goal attainment (e.g., goal importance). At the second assessment, students were asked to reevaluate their goals on various dimensions, one of which assessed goal attainment. They were also asked about the setbacks they experienced over the academic year, using a new setback inventory, and their satisfaction with life. Multi-level models were used to predict goal attainment and correlational analyses were used for examining other associations. Results showed that goal attainment is predicted best by individuals' appraisals of their goals. Higher levels of commitment, motivation, positive emotion, self-efficacy, and perceived opportunity for success were associated with higher levels of goal attainment. Conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness moderated some of these associations. Goal attainment levels were also related to experiencing setbacks. Experiencing academic or occupational setbacks predicted lower levels of goal attainment. This attainment of goals was important to students' well-being. Attaining goals in the academic or occupational, social relationship, and financial domains predicted increases in well-being. Discussion focuses on the importance of positive goal evaluations, the implications of experiencing setbacks in domains relative to one's role (e.g., academics for students), and how well-being is influenced by goal attainment.