Goal integration and well-being: self-regulation through inner resources

Van Dierendonck, Dirk; Álvarez-Bejarano,, Abraham; Rodríguez-Carvajal, Raquel; Moreno-Jiménez, Bernardo; de Rivas, Sara and Quinones-Garcia, Cristina (2011). Goal integration and well-being: self-regulation through inner resources. In: 5th European Conference on Positive Psychology, 23-26 Jun 2010, Copenhagen.

Abstract

Past research and theoretical development have greatly advanced our understanding of the potential benefits of personality integration for individual well-being. Indeed, it has been shown that measures of personality integration predict self-actualization, vitality, openness to experience, self-esteem and subjective well-being. The present study focused on the combined influence of personality integration through the personal-striving goal construct, active-passive approach toward achieving ones goals, and inner resources on well-being. Through a self-questionnaire methodology, the sample consisted of one hundred and fourteen second-year undergraduate psychology students living in Spain, with 36 men (31.6%) and 78 women (68.4%). The mean age was 23.1 years (SD = 3.2). Through an ideographic goal assessment technique, the three-way interaction analysis showed that goal integration was related to more vitality, except when a person had both high inner resources and used active thinking in achieving goals. Here, the level of vitality remained very similar whether goals coherence was low or high. It was showed that inner resources combined with active thinking to function as a buffer for the possible negative effects on vitality. Overall results present active-passive thinking combined with inner resources as an influential factor in the relation between goal integration and well-being.

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