Development of Possible Selves in Adulthood

在整个生命周期的发展文学中，最近一直有兴趣确定个人如何既是活跃的生产者，又是自身发展的产物。可能的自我代表我们的发展目标，并作为自我系统的激励方面。它们是自我的意志成分，在努力有选择地优化整个生命周期的发展过程中出现和改变。可能的自我为研究个体如何有意地构建他们的发展提供了一条途径。然而，关于整个生命周期的发育过程如何体现为可能的自我的理论解释还没有清楚地阐明。因此，本研究的目的是将两种意向发展理论应用于可能自我。具体地说，本研究将考察同化和调节过程以及初级选择性控制和次级补偿控制过程对年轻人、中年人和老年人可能自我的出现和维持的影响。本研究有几个具体目标。首先，确定发育过程对年轻人、中年人和老年人可能自我的影响。第二，确定发展过程和可能的自我之间的影响模式如何影响诸如生活压力、幸福感和生活满意度等心理社会结果。第三，确定发展、个性和社会文化影响如何调节发展过程和可能的自我之间的联系。一个广泛和长期的目标是在目前的横断面试点项目中发展一种成年后自我意识的适应模式，可以在纵向项目中进行经验测试(随后将作为R01提案提交)。目前这项研究的参与者包括192名年轻人、192名中年人和192名老年人，他们来自不同的种族和民族背景。招募将在当地一所大学以及迈阿密-戴德县和布罗沃德县的社区中心、老年中心、宗教组织、医疗保健相关教育项目中进行。建议的结构模型将在两个独立样本上进行顺序测试，每个样本至少有192名受试者，每个样本在三个年龄组中按年龄和性别平均分层。第一个样本(至少192个受试者)将被用来测试和调整所提出的模型，以获得关于至少192个受试者(同样按性别和年龄分层)的第二个样本的最佳拟合数据，然后将被用来测试第一个样本的分析(和剪裁)所产生的模型。将检查不同假设的调节变量的影响，并将测试模型的变化，以明确地检查项目所述的目标。通过确定发展过程对可能自我的影响的模型，我们希望阐明通向最佳发展的途径，并指出当个人在一生中面临发展挑战时，如何更好地应对和变得更有弹性。

Within the life-span developmental literature there has been a recent interest in determining how individuals are both the active producers and the products of their own development. Possible selves represent our developmental goals and serve as the motivational aspect of the self-system. They are the volitional component of self that emerge and change in an effort to selectively optimize development across the life- span. Possible selves offer one avenue for examining how individuals intentionally structure their development. Yet, the theoretical explanation for how developmental processes across the life-span become embodied in possible selves has not been clearly articulated. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to apply two theories of intentional development to possible selves. Specifically, this study will examine the influences of assimilative and accommodative processes and primary selective control and secondary compensatory control processes on the emergence and maintenance of possible selves in young, middle-aged, and older adults. There are several specific aims for the present study. First, to determine the influences of the developmental processes on possible selves in young, middle-aged, and older adults. Second, to determine how the patterns of influence among developmental processes and possible selves influence psychosocial outcomes such as life stress, well-being, and life satisfaction. Third, to determine how developmental, personality, and sociocultural influences may moderate the linkages among developmental processes and possible selves. A broad, long-term objective is to develop in the current cross-sectional pilot project a model of adaptation in sense of self across adulthood that can be empirically tested in a longitudinal project (to be submitted subsequently as an R01 proposal). Participants in the current study will be 192 young, 192 middle-aged, and 192 older adults from a diverse array of racial and ethnic backgrounds. Recruitment will take place at a local University as well as community centers, senior centers, religious organizations, healthcare related educational programs in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties. The proposed structural model will be sequentially tested on two independent samples of at least 192 subjects per sample, with each sample stratified equally by each by age and gender within each of the three age groups. The first sample of at least 192 subjects will be used to test and trim the proposed model to obtain the best fit Data on the second sample of at least 192 subjects (likewise stratified by gender and age), will then be employed to test the model that results from the analysis (and trimming) on the first sample. The influences of different hypothesized moderator variables will be examined, and variations of the model will be tested to explicitly examine the stated aims of the project. By identifying a model of the influences of developmental processes on possible selves we hope to illuminate pathways to optimal development and point to ways individuals can cope better and become more resilient as they face developmental challenges across the life- span.