Adolescents’ Social Goal Orientations

Abstract: The current study examined the association between adolescents’ social goal orientations (i. e., what they want to achieve or avoid in social interactions with their peers) and their externalizing and prosocial behaviors as well as associations with parenting styles. Adolescents and their parents completed the questionnaires. Based on a path model with the data of 354 adolescents ( Mage = 14.11) and 121 parents from Germany, we found that (1) parental warmth had a direct effect on agentic goals (i. e., desire for authority, power, and appearing confident), (2) parental coercion had a direct effect on communal goals (i. e., desire for affiliation and closeness), (3) agentic goals had a direct effect on prosocial, rule-breaking, and aggressive behavior, and (4) communal goals had a direct effect on prosocial and aggressive behavior. In the discussion, we reflect on how the theoretical and practical significance of social goal orientations can guide future research.