Diskuze v psychologii 2022, 4(1):9-16 | DOI: 10.5507/dvp.2023.001

Do young adults want what society expects from them? Content of achieved goals in area of education, work, relationships, and personal growth

Bibiána Kováčová Holevová, Monika Hricová, Ladislav Lovaš

Goals are very important in a person's life, especially during developmental transitions. The third decade of life is characterized by social expectations that young people will meet (also) specific developmental milestones. The aim of the study is to offer a data-based description of the content of the goals of young adults from Slovakia in the area of these expected milestones: 1. education, 2. work, 3. relationships and family, as well as in the area of 4. personal growth. Based on a representative research sample of 899 Slovak respondents aged 19-30, their current goals in the mentioned areas were collected by questionnaire. Through a qualitative content analysis with an inductive approach, a coding framework was created. A total of 35 categories were identified. Depending on the area, 26-39 % of young people missed the goals in the mentioned milestones (mostly in education and personal growth). The most dominant goals were those related to work and relationships & family, which were mentioned by almost three quarters of young people. Goals varied in individual areas. The lowest number of categories was for education (6), the highest for personal growth (10). In the field of education, goals related to completing studies dominated, only a quarter of young people formulated these goals more broadly, outside of this framework. Goals in the area of personal growth were the most heterogeneous. Sport was mentioned most often, the more numerous categories also related to developmental milestones, especially in the field of education or work. Goals in the field of work mainly related to finding/keeping a job, income or career growth. The goals from the area of relationships & family mainly concerned finding a partner and/or taking care of children/family. The variety of identified categories in individual areas indicates the heterogeneity of the group of young people in Slovakia in relation to their goals and the need for a deeper examination of them.

Keywords: mladá dospelosť, ciele, vývinové míľniky

Received: July 27, 2022; Revised: December 23, 2022; Accepted: January 6, 2023; Published: September 7, 2023  Show citation

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Kováčová Holevová B, Hricová M, Lovaš L. Do young adults want what society expects from them? Content of achieved goals in area of education, work, relationships, and personal growth. Diskuze v psychologii. 2022;4(1):9-16. doi: 10.5507/dvp.2023.001.
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