Adolescent Future Orientation: The Role of Identity Discovery in Self-Defining Activities and Context in Two Rural Samples

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Adolescent Future Orientation:The Role of Identity Discoveryin Self-Defining Activities andContext in Two Rural SamplesErin Hiley Sharp a & J. Douglas Coatsworth ba University of New Hampshireb The Pennsylvania State UniversityPublished online: 01 May 2012.

To cite this article: Erin Hiley Sharp & J. Douglas Coatsworth (2012) AdolescentFuture Orientation: The Role of Identity Discovery in Self-Defining Activities andContext in Two Rural Samples, Identity: An International Journal of Theory andResearch, 12:2, 129-156, DOI: 10.1080/15283488.2012.668731

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Adolescent Future Orientation:The Role of Identity Discovery

in Self-Defining Activities and Contextin Two Rural Samples

Erin Hiley SharpUniversity of New Hampshire

J. Douglas CoatsworthThe Pennsylvania State University

This study, using data from two samples of rural adolescents, examined howidentity experiences in a self-defining activity and perception of access toopportunities were related to four dimensions of adolescent future orientationand whether the relationship between identity experiences in a self-definingactivity buffered the effects of limited opportunities on future orientation.Adolescents’ identity experiences in a self-defining activity emerged as havinga significant, positive association with most dimensions of future orientationin both samples and were found to be the strongest predictors of future orien-tation in Sample 1. In the more racially diverse Sample 2, perception of limitedopportunities was the strongest and most consistent predictor of future orien-tation. In Sample 1, results also indicated that the strength of the negativerelationship between limited opportunity and optimism is attenuated foradolescents reporting high levels of personal expressiveness compared to ado-lescents with low personal expressiveness. The findings suggest that interven-tions designed to target adolescents’ time use and leisure-related identityexperiences may have an impact on adolescent future orientation.

Address correspondence to Erin Hiley Sharp, University of New Hampshire, Department of

Family Studies, Pettee Hall, Room 202, 55 College Road, Durham, NH 03824-3599, USA.

E-mail: [email protected]

Identity: An International Journal of Theory

and Research, 12:129–156, 2012

Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

ISSN: 1528-3488 print=1532-706X online

DOI: 10.1080/15283488.2012.668731

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Adolescence is a period of the life span when youth begin to prepare for thetransition to adult roles and responsibilities (Erikson, 1968; Meeus, 2011;Steinberg & Morris, 2001). Successful preparation is marked by adolescents’effective negotiation of salient developmental tasks such as developing acoherent self-definition, academic competence, healthy intimate relation-ships, and autonomy from parents (Erikson, 1968; Havighurst, 1948;Roisman, Masten, Coatsworth, & Tellegen, 2004). Theory and research sug-gest that each of the developmental tasks of this period may influence andbe influenced by adolescents’ future orientation. Future orientation is a mul-tidimensional concept that includes how individuals think about, feel about,and prepare for the future (Nurmi, 1991; Steinberg et al., 2009). Studieshave documented significant relations between adolescent future orientationand higher levels of motivation (Bandura, 1986; Nurmi, 1991), reductions indelinquency and substance use (Keough, Zimbardo, & Boyd, 1999; Kogan,Luo, Murry, & Brody, 2005), and positive adaptation in adolescence andearly adulthood (Clausen, 1991; Masten et al., 2004; Werner & Smith,1992; Wyman, Cowen, Work, & Kerley, 1993). There is limited research,however, on the experiences and settings that facilitate the development offuture orientation in adolescents.

Drawing from studies that have explored adolescent development acrossdifferent settings, results suggest that, compared to other settings of dailylife (e.g., school or work), leisure and out-of-school activities offer aunique context for adolescents to work on a host of developmental tasks(Coatsworth, Palen, Sharp, & Ferrer-Wreder, 2006; Dworkin, Larson, &Hansen, 2003; Larson, 2000). Some scholars have argued that participationin out-of-school activities may provide the most natural context for stimu-lating adolescents to think about their future and develop a sense of direc-tion (Hansen, Larson, & Dworkin, 2003; Kleiber & Kirshnit, 1991;Mortimer, Zimmer-Gembeck, Holmes, & Shanahan, 2002; Scales, Benson,& Roehlkepartain, 2011). However, an EBSCO host PsychInfo searchrevealed only four publications in peer-reviewed journals that even margin-ally addressed the empirical association between activity involvement andfuture orientation1 (see Asakawa & Csikszentmihalyi, 1998; Beal &Crockett, 2010; Jacobs, Finken, Griffin, & Wright, 1998; Peetsma & vander Veen, 2011). In this study, we used data from two samples of high schoolstudents from different rural communities to begin to fill this gap in theliterature by examining the relations between identity experiences in aself-defining activity and adolescent future orientation. Guided by an

1Searches were conducted using the key words: ‘‘future and activities,’’ ‘‘activity involve-

ment,’’ ‘‘extracurricular activities,’’ and ‘‘leisure.’’

130 SHARP AND COATSWORTH

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ecological approach, we also explored associations with adolescents’ percep-tion of access to educational and career opportunities in their community.

Future Orientation

Future orientation is a broad construct that is thought to involve cognitive,affective, and behavioral dimensions (Nurmi, 1993; Steinberg et al., 2009;Trommsdorff, 1983). Nurmi’s (1991) process model of future orientationoffers the most comprehensive model for guiding the identification of thekey dimensions relevant to the study of future orientation. This modelemphasizes three interrelated processes; motivation, planning, and evalu-ation. The motivational component of the model suggests that developingincreasing clarity about one’s future interests and goals will lead to greatermotivation toward the future. For example, an adolescent may discover aninterest in, and talent for, working with children during a service learningexperience. This may lead to the development of a goal of working with chil-dren in the future. This clarity related to future goals may in turn providethe motivational basis for developing and acting on strategies to realize thisgoal. The second process in the model is planning, which concerns how indi-viduals take action and prepare for the realization of their goals and inter-ests. Planning involves several steps including collecting information, settingsubgoals, constructing plans, deciding on the most efficient and realisticplan, and executing the plans and strategies that are developed. The thirdprocess described in the model is evaluation, which involves how individualsassess whether their goals and plans can be realized. Individual adolescentsmay be more focused on different dimensions of future orientation at differ-ent times. Some adolescents may be focused on clarifying their interests andgoals whereas other adolescents may be focused on developing specific stra-tegies for reaching their goals. For this reason, we incorporated four dimen-sions of future perspective in our study: (a) clarity of future goals and plans,(b) importance of future goals and plans, (c) optimism toward the future,and (d) preparation for the future.

Nurmi (1991) situated his model of future orientation in an ecologicalframework (e.g., Bronfenbrenner, 1979). Thus, each process (motivation,planning, and evaluation) may be influenced by individual factors, socialinteractions with significant others, experiences in specific settings, andbroader social and cultural factors. This study builds on existing literatureby incorporating individual and contextual factors into one model thatassesses multiple dimensions of future orientation and by focusing onglobal, rather than domain-specific (i.e., education, career, and family),future orientation. Developmental theory suggests that most adolescentsare in the process of actively exploring a wide range of options related to

FUTURE ORIENTATION AND IDENTITY DISCOVERY 131

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the future (Erikson, 1968; Kroger, 2007; Steinberg & Morris, 2001), andempirical evidence indicates that adolescents’ goals may be vague andunstable during this period (Arnett, 2000; Beal & Crockett, 2010). There-fore, we may learn more about adolescents’ future orientation if, rather thanexamining the specific content of their goals or how far into the future theyextend, we examine more general aspects of how thoughtful adolescents areabout the future and whether they have some sense of clarity or optimismregarding their future.

Activity Involvement and Future Orientation

Although there is limited research linking activity involvement to adolescentfuture orientation, several scholars have argued that activities play a criticalrole in stimulating adolescent future orientation (Hansen et al., 2003;Kleiber & Kirshnit, 1991; Larson, 2000; McLoyd, Kaplan, Purtell, &Huston, 2011; Mortimer et al., 2002). Freely chosen activities provide a con-text through which adolescents can assess their interests, talents, and valuesand inform their sense of identity (Adams & Marshall, 1996; Coatsworthet al., 2006; Eccles, Barber, Stone, & Hunt, 2003; Waterman, 2004; Scaleset al., 2011). One of the primary developmental functions of identity is tofacilitate a sense of possibility and direction for the future (Adams &Marshall; Archer & Waterman, 1994). Although identity and future per-spective likely develop in tandem (Luyckx, Lens, Smits, & Goossens,2010; Seginer & Noyman, 2005), theoretically it is thought that settingfuture goals and developing the motivation to strive to reach those goals ori-ginates from a person’s conception of his or her current identity (Erikson,1968; Markus & Nurius, 1986; Nurmi, 1991). In other words, a sense of‘‘who I am’’ may be a necessary driving force behind individual actionand motivation toward the future (Foote, 1951; Levinson, 1978). Partici-pation in activities has been empirically linked with identity exploration(Dworkin et al., 2003; Fredricks et al., 2002; Hansen et al., 2003). However,to our knowledge, empirical research has not investigated the relationsbetween activity involvement, identity experiences, and adolescent futureorientation.

One conceptualization of identity development, eudaimonic identitytheory (Waterman, 1984, 1993a), provides a framework that can guideresearch connecting the growing literature on activity settings as contextsfor adolescent development to identity development and, in turn, futureorientation. Eudaimonic identity theory focuses on the discovery and devel-opment of a person’s best potentials and the choice of personally meaningfulgoals through which those potentials can be expressed. Acting on the basisof such potentials is accompanied by a distinctive set of subjective


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experiences that Waterman (1993b) has termed ‘‘feelings of personal expres-siveness’’ or eudaimonia, a term derived from Aristotelian philosophy. Thismodel focuses on experiences when engaged in activities that areself-defining. Such activities are different from other daily activities in thatthey are strongly representative of who the person is or would like tobecome (Coatsworth, Sharp, Palen, Darling, & Cumsille, 2005; Waterman,2004). Self-defining activities can provide a setting for discovery of anindividual’s core identity (i.e., interests, talents, and potentials) and this dis-covery is thought to create excitement and encourage investment in theirfuture. More recently, Benson (2008) has labeled such experiences as sparks,which he describes as ‘‘hidden flames in your kids that light their proverbialfire, get them excited, tap into their true passions’’ (p. 2).

Eudaimonic identity theory has its foundation in Erikson’s (1968) argumentthat the significance of an identity is more than just its existence; it is the qual-ity of its existence. A high-quality identity is defined as a self-definition that isrooted in an understanding of one’s interests, skills, talents, and potentials(Waterman, 2004). This approach emphasizes affective and cognitive experi-ences in self-defining activities that are thought to contribute to identity devel-opment. The primary experience in this theory is ‘‘personal expressiveness,’’which involves: (a) feelings of intense interest, (b) feelings that ‘‘this is who Iam’’ and ‘‘this is what I was meant to do,’’ and (c) a belief that the activity fitswell with one’s potentials, interests, and talents (Waterman, 2004). Other sub-jective experiences hypothesized to be important within this model are: inter-est, flow, being goal directed, perceptions that the activities promoteself-realization, and feelings of competence. The three key subjective experi-ences in a self-defining activity that we measured in this study were personalexpressiveness, flow, and being goal directed.

Conceptually, the role that personal expressiveness serves in identitydevelopment is to signal to an individual the discovery of core identityelements. Flow experiences and goal-directed behavior are associated withthe motivational and behavioral elements of forming an identity. Flow refersto a set of subjective experiences that individuals feel when they are com-pletely involved in the moment (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990) and it is signaledby feelings of being in control, losing track of time, and having a high levelof concentration in an activity. Flow experiences are thought to increase anindividual’s motivation to take what is learned about their core identity andbegin establishing a coherent self-definition. The third set of experiencesrelated to an expressive identity involves the creation and pursuit of per-sonal identity-related goals. Goal-directed behaviors represent actions takentoward setting goals, making plans, and working toward establishing anidentity (Gollwitzer & Kirchhof, 1998). That is, as individuals discovertalents, abilities, and interests in self-defining activities, they also begin to


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more clearly define themselves in certain ways and seek opportunities tobehave in ways that reflect their emerging identity.

Positive correlations among these variables have been demonstrated instudies with high school (Coatsworth et al., 2005; Sharp, Coatsworth,Darling, Cumsille, & Ranieri, 2007) and college (Waterman, 2004;Waterman et al., 2003) student samples. Each of these identity experiencesmay differentially influence distinct dimensions of future orientation but,to our knowledge, no prior studies have investigated these relations. Becauseof its emphasis on personal expression and meaning, this model provides auseful conceptualization and methodological framework for investigatingthe associations between identity and adolescents’ future orientation.

Research using the identity status model, one of the most common ways ofassessing identity, has found significant relations between identity and futureorientation. For example, adolescents and young adults in the status of identityachievement (i.e., those who explored and committed to an identity) reportedclearer plans for the future (Kerpelman & Mosher, 2004; Rappaport, Enrich,& Wilson, 1985) and more positive future selves (Dunkel & Anthis, 2001).Adolescents who have explored identity options and have begun to make com-mitments to specific identity choices are also more likely to be future oriented.One limitation of these studies is that the identity status method assesses ident-ity status in a way similar to the measurement of future orientation (i.e., think-ing about options related to the future and setting goals=makingcommitments), making it difficult to distinguish the two concepts.

Identity theorists have suggested that it is the affective experiences asso-ciated with developing an understanding of who one is that willmoststrongly affect an individual’s developing sense of the future (Adams &Marshall, 1996; Erikson, 1968; Foote, 1951; Levinson, 1978; Nurmi,1991). Foote has argued that, if future goals and plans are set before indivi-duals have a strong sense of who they are, actions taken toward reachingthose goals will lack meaning. In other words, when adolescents set futuregoals based on what they love and their interests, abilities, and values, thosefuture goals will be more personally meaningful. Being personally investedand excited about what is in the future is thought to provide adolescentswith the necessary motivation to successfully reach their goals. The eudai-monic identity model we used in this study provides a methodologicalapproach that allows us to examine associations of affective, cognitive,and behavioral experiences with future orientation.

Perceptions of Opportunity and Future Orientation

Ecological theory proposes that social contexts directly and indirectlyinfluence development (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). Consistent with this


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developmental theory, we elected to study how adolescents’ perceptions ofopportunities available within their community potentially influence theirfuture orientation. The participants in this study lived in rural communitiesthat are economically depressed and offer limited education, employment,and positive leisure opportunities. This may restrict the ways that these ado-lescents explore their identities and think about their futures. Nurmi, Poole,and Kalakoski (1996) found that rural adolescents in Finland and Australiaexpressed less interest in their future compared to urban adolescents andattributed this to the lack of career options available in the rural communi-ties. When adolescents perceive limited opportunities in their community(whether this is actually the case or not), they may be less likely to partici-pate in the kinds of activities that help them explore and discover their inter-ests, talents, and potentials and, therefore, develop a less-defined futureperspective. On the other hand, some adolescents may be able to findexpressive activities despite limited opportunities and develop a strongfuture perspective. We were interested in investigating the direct relation-ships between perceptions of opportunity and future orientation andwhether identity experiences in a self-defining activity could buffer againstthe impact that perceptions of limited opportunities might have on futureorientation.

This Study

In this study, we investigated two research questions:

RQ1: How are identity experiences in a self-defining activity and perceptionsof limited opportunities related to four dimensions of adolescent futureorientation: (a) clarity of future goals and plans, (b) importance offuture goals and plans, (c) optimism toward the future, and (d) prep-aration for the future?

RQ2: Is the relationship between identity experiences in a self-definingactivity and future orientation moderated by perceptions of limitedopportunities?

Here, we tested the following hypotheses:

Hypothesis 1: Identity experiences in a self-defining activity would be signifi-cantly and positively related to all four dimensions ofadolescent future orientation.

Hypothesis 2: Perceptions of limited opportunities would predict lower levelsof future orientation.

Hypothesis 3: Associations between identity experiences and future orientationwould vary as a function of adolescents’ perceptions of


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opportunity such that having strong identity experiences in aself-defining activity would decrease the negative impact that per-ceptions of limited opportunities would have on future orientation.

METHOD

Participants and Procedures

This article was based on data from two separate samples of high school stu-dents in rural communities. The surveys that we administered to the sampleswere similar, but not identical. The differences are detailed below.

Sample 1: Parenting for Adolescent Wellness Study

See Coatsworth et al. (2006) with regard to this study. Participants were 111high school adolescents (61% female) from two rural communities and onesuburban community in a northeastern state. We recruited adolescents fromschool and community youth organizations in their respective communitiesand asked them to participate in the study with one of their primary care-givers. Participants ranged in age from 14 to 18 years old (M¼ 16.51,SD¼ 1.14). Adolescents provided all data for this study except for house-hold income and mother’s education, which we collected from a primarycaregiver. Ninety-four percent of the participants identified as White, whichis consistent with the demographics of these communities.

We recruited participants through collaboration with several school andcommunity-based youth organizations; for example, Big Brothers and BigSisters, PULSE,2 and the YMCA. These organizations helped identify youthwho were engaged in a variety of activities as well as adolescents who wereless involved in community and school activities. Recruitment was donethrough letters sent home to parents inviting the adolescents to be part ofthe study, via presentations at the various groups’ organizational meetings,or in a recruitment phone call from a trained research assistant. Informedconsent was obtained from the parents or guardians and informed assentwas obtained from the adolescents. A $15 shopping card was provided ascompensation to each participant.

2People Using Leadership Skills Effectively (PULSE) is a community-facilitated camp pro-

gram that recruits youth through contacts from school personnel and social service workers to

serve adolescents who have been identified as leaders in the school and community and adoles-

cents who have been identified as at risk for problems.


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Sample 2: The Activity Involvement and Youth Adaptation Study

The participants were 250 ninth-grade public school students (Mage¼ 14.78, 50% female, 82% African American) from a rural, low-incomecommunity in the Deep South. Participants represented 90% of the totalninth-grade public school population in this community. Eighty-two percentreceived free or reduced lunch and 44% reported living in a mother-onlyhousehold. Surveys were collected in school by trained undergraduate andgraduate student assistants. On completion of the survey, participants wereentered in a random drawing for 40 $30 gift cards to a national discountchain. Passive parental consent and student assent procedures were used.Parents and guardians of all ninth-grade students enrolled in the commu-nity’s public school received an invitation letter, project description, and awritten informed consent form in the mail. Parents who did not want theirchild to participate in the study could mail back a self-addressed, stampedpostcard; call the school administrative office; or call the principal investi-gator to opt out of the study. Three families chose to opt out of the study.

For these analyses, participants who could not or did not list at least oneself-defining activity on the Personally Expressive Activity Questionnaire(PEAQ) were removed from the analyses (N¼ 39) leaving a final sampleof 211 participants (53% female).

Measures

Demographics

In both samples, adolescent participants provided information regardingtheir sex, age, and race or ethnicity. We used mother’s education, whichwas reported by the parent in Sample 1 and by the adolescent in Sample2, as an indicator of the adolescents’ socioeconomic status. This was becauseof the large number of missing data for father’s education. Data rangedfrom 10th-grade education to graduate or professional school (M¼ somecollege) in Sample 1 and from grade school or less to graduate orprofessional school (M¼ some college) in Sample 2.

Future Orientation

We assessed the outcome measure, future orientation, using the newlydeveloped Future Perspective Questionnaire (FPQ; Sharp & Coatsworth,2009). The FPQ draws heavily from the Prospective Life Course Question-naire (Seginer, Nurmi, & Poole, 1994) and we adapted it to provide ageneral, rather than domain specific (e.g., education, career, and family),and shorter assessment of future orientation. Adolescents were asked to


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think about their future and respond to 13 items. Ten of the items were inresponse to the question: ‘‘How much do you agree or disagree with thefollowing statements?’’ and were based on a 5-point scale ranging from 1(completely disagree) to 5 (completely agree). Three of the items were inresponse to the question: ‘‘How much are you doing the following thingsto help you reach your future goals?’’ and were measured on a 3-point scalefrom 1 (not doing this at all) to 3 (doing this a lot). Exploratory and con-firmatory factor analysis, using data from adolescents and emerging adults,indicated a four-factor measurement model: (a) Clarity of Future Goals andPlans (three items; e.g., ‘‘I have clear goals about what I want to accomplishin my future,’’ a¼ .90 Sample 1, a¼ .76 Sample 2); (b) Importance of FutureGoals and Plans (four items; e.g., ‘‘I think it is important for me to haveclear goals for the future,’’ a¼ .82 Sample 1, a¼ .81 Sample 2); (c) OptimismToward the Future (three items; e.g., ‘‘I think that things will generally gowell in my future, even if there are a few difficulties,’’ a¼ .74 Sample 1,a¼ .68 Sample 2); and (d) Preparation for the Future (three items; e.g.,‘‘Collecting information from different sources,’’ a¼ .75 Sample 1, a¼ .74Sample 2). These factors were significantly correlated in both samples(r¼ .34 to r¼ .73).

Identity Experiences in a Self-Defining Activity

We measured identity experiences in a self-defining activity using the PEAQ(Waterman, 1993a). The original version asks participants to identify up tofive activities they spend time doing that describe ‘‘who they really are’’ or‘‘what they are really like’’ as a person. For Sample 1, we asked participantsto identify up to four such activities; for Sample 2, we asked for up to twoactivities. We used the modified version of the PEAQ to focus on three sub-jective identity experiences that adolescents reported having in theirself-defining activities: (a) personal expressiveness (eight items; e.g., ‘‘WhenI engage in this activity, I feel like this is who I really am,’’ a¼ .91 Sample 1,a¼ .90 Sample 2); (b) flow experiences (five items; e.g., ‘‘When I engage inthis activity I feel completely involved,’’ a¼ .77 Sample 1, a¼ .71 Sample 2);and (c) goal-directed behavior (four items; e.g., ‘‘I set goals for myself in thisactivity,’’ a¼ .81 Sample 1, a¼ .88 Sample 2). Adolescents responded tothese items using a 7-point scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7(strongly agree).

The PEAQ has been scored in a number of ways (Waterman, 2004). Werequested more than one activity from participants with the purpose of try-ing to find the activity that was most personally expressive for the respon-dent. Because the primary interest in this study was at the person level,we elected to treat the individual as the unit of analysis, rather than the


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activity. Therefore, our analyses were based on information about onlyone activity per participant. (Including data from more than one self-defining activity for each participant would create problems with data non-independence.) We requested multiple activities with the specific objective ofidentifying the self-defining activity with the highest personal expressivenessscore and used the flow experiences and goal-directed behaviors associatedwith that activity. We chose this approach, rather than randomly selectingone of the self-defining activities listed by participants, because some activi-ties provide a greater fit with adolescents’ interests and talents and theseactivities have more potency or ‘‘attainment value’’ (Eccles & Barber,1999) related to development. Selecting the most expressive activity allowedus to examine the self-defining activity most likely to facilitate identitydevelopment. Waterman (personal communication, December, 21, 2009)has noted that respondents do not consistently report their most expressiveactivity first when asked to list self-defining activities. When participantshad equivalent expressiveness scores for all activities, we selected oneactivity randomly. Correlations of the composite scores of personal expres-siveness, flow experiences, and goal-directed behavior were moderate tohigh suggesting that they might be parsimoniously represented by a singlefactor. Since we were interested in examining the relations between eachof the three identity experiences and adolescent future orientation, we usedseparate scores for personal expressiveness, flow, and goal-directed beha-viors in our analyses.

Perception of Limited Opportunity

We used the Limited Access to Opportunity Scale (LAOS; Wall, Covell, &MacIntyre, 1999) to measure adolescents’ perception of limited access toeducational and career opportunities in their neighborhood and community.For these analyses, we included the 10 negatively worded items to indicate aperception of limited opportunity (e.g., ‘‘I’ll never have as much opportunityto succeed as kids from other areas or places’’ and ‘‘Unless my family moves,I won’t be able to succeed,’’ a¼ .85 Sample 1, a¼ .85 Sample 2). Adolescentsresponded to these items using a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (completely dis-agree) to 5 (completely agree). Higher scores indicated a perception thatopportunities for educational and career success were more limited.

Breadth of Activity Involvement

In Sample 1, we used a checklist of 24 possible leisure activities adapted froma list used by McHale, Crouter, and Tucker (2001) to assess adolescentbreadth of activity involvement. The list included a wide range of activitytypes (e.g., sports, dance, hunting or fishing, religious activities). Adolescents


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were asked to check yes or no to indicate whether they currently participatedin each activity. A breadth of activity involvement score was calculated bysumming the yes responses across the 24 activities. The average number ofactivities reported was 12.25 (SD¼ 3.74).

The breadth of activity involvement measure that we used with Sample 2was adapted from the Community Involvement section of the NationalSurvey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). For school activities, parti-cipants were asked: ‘‘During this school year, how many different kindsof school-based activities (e.g., team sports, cheerleading, choir, band, stu-dent government, school clubs) are you participating in?’’ For communityactivities, participants were asked: ‘‘During this school year, how many dif-ferent kinds of community-based activities (e.g., community volunteeractivities, community recreation sports, community clubs, or communitygroups) are you participating in?’’ For both of these questions, youth couldselect none, one, two, or more than two activities. For school-based activi-ties, 32% of adolescents reported no participation in activities, 37% reportedone activity, 18% reported two activities, and 14% reported more than twoactivities. For community-based activities, 54% of adolescents reported noparticipation in activities, 26% reported one activity, 11% reported twoactivities, and 9% reported participation in more than two activities. Wecomputed one breadth of activity involvement variable from the mean scoreof the school-based and community-based activity measures.

RESULTS

Analytic Strategy

We used zero-order correlations to examine associations between the inde-pendent variables and the four dimensions of adolescent future orientation.We utilized hierarchical linear regression analyses to examine the uniqueand additive contribution of demographic characteristics and control vari-ables (Step 1), identity experiences in a self-defining activity and perceptionof limited opportunities (Step 2), and the interaction between perception oflimited opportunities and expressive identity (Step 3) in the prediction ofadolescent future perspective. In the hierarchical regression analyses, weentered each set of variables (steps) sequentially to test whether each individ-ual block of variables predicted variance in the dimensions of future per-spective above and beyond the previous blocks. Since future orientationcould be a function of age (Nurmi, 1991; Steinberg et al., 2009) and socio-economic status (Cook et al., 1996; Kerpelman & Mosher, 2004), these wereincluded in our analyses as control variables. Likewise, the extent of activity


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participation could be associated with future orientation simply becauseadolescents would be exposed to a range of opportunities to develop rela-tionships and to gain knowledge and skills that may foster thinking abouttheir future (e.g., Eccles, Barber, Stone, & Hunt, 2003). We included anindex of breadth of activities in our model to help more clearly test thehypothesis that it is the identity experiences within the activity that are mostassociated with future perspective. We standardized all variables prior to theregression analyses as recommended by Jaccard, Turrisi, and Wan (1990).For both samples, we conducted separate regression analyses for each ofthe four dimensions of future orientation.

Preliminary Analysis

Means and standard deviations for the study variables are presented inTable 1. Independent samples t tests were used to examine gender differ-ences in the means. We found no significant gender differences in Sample1. In Sample 2, there were significant gender differences in importance offuture goals and plans and perception of limited opportunities, with youngmen reporting greater perceptions of limited opportunities and lower levelsof importance of future goals and plans compared to young women.

Zero-order correlations among all study variables are presented inTable 2. Though there were some important differences between samplesthat we will highlight, many similar patterns of associations did emerge.In general, demographic variables (age, sex, and mother’s education) werenot strongly related to the dimensions of future orientation. In Sample 1,age had a significant, positive association with only the preparation for thefuture dimension of future orientation. Older adolescents reported greaterpreparation toward meeting their future goals and plans. In Sample 2, agehad a significant, negative relationship with optimism toward the future,with older adolescents reporting less optimism. In Sample 2, age also hada significant, positive association with perception of limited opportunities.In Sample 1, mother’s education had a significant, negative association withclarity of future goals and plans, suggesting that adolescents whose mothersobtained less education had greater clarity about their own future goals andplans.

In both samples, breadth of activity involvement had few significant cor-relations with the future orientation dimensions. In Sample 1, breadth ofactivity involvement was positively and significantly related to adolescents’optimism toward the future and preparation for the future. The greaterbreadth of activity involvement, the more optimistic adolescents felt abouttheir futures and the more planning and preparation they reported doingtoward meeting their future goals and plans.


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TABLE 1

Means and Standard Deviations of Study Variables By Gender

Females Males

M SD M SD t

Agea

Sample 1 16.56 1.18 16.46 1.10 �0.44

Sample 2 14.65 0.84 14.79 0.79 1.21

Mother’s educationb

Sample 1 13.68 2.16 13.93 2.15 0.58

Sample 2 4.14 1.45 3.96 1.45 �0.92

Clarity of future goals and plansc

Sample 1 3.92 0.80 4.00 0.85 0.55

Sample 2 4.33 0.69 4.20 0.93 �1.18

Importance of future goals and plansc

Sample 1 4.35 0.61 4.29 0.66 �0.45

Sample 2 4.64 0.49 4.44 0.63 �2.51�

Optimism toward futurec

Sample 1 4.24 0.56 4.15 0.60 �0.79

Sample 2 4.43 0.58 4.37 0.72 �0.63

Preparation for the futured

Sample 1 2.41 0.50 2.30 0.58 �1.08

Sample 2 2.22 0.54 2.20 0.51 �0.16

Personal expressivenesse

Sample 1 6.28 0.81 6.43 0.58 1.00

Sample 2 5.93 1.16 6.07 1.09 0.85

Flow experiencese

Sample 1 5.87 0.98 6.09 0.96 1.14

Sample 2 5.48 1.19 5.66 1.15 1.15

Goal-directed behaviore

Sample 1 6.00 1.08 6.10 0.87 0.46

Sample 2 5.80 1.50 6.10 1.27 1.44

Adolescent perception of limited opportunityc

Sample 1 1.98 0.71 2.04 0.63 0.45

Sample 2 2.03 0.77 2.27 0.86 2.15�

Breadth of activity involvementf

Sample 1 12.26 3.71 12.33 3.64 0.09

Sample 2 0.95 0.83 0.95 0.88 �0.05

aReflects age in years.bFalls within the range of some college.cRange of 1 to 5.dRange of 1 to 3.eFalls within range of 0 to 7.fRange of 0 to 24 activities for Sample 1; range of 0 (none) to 4 (more than 2) for Sample 2.�p< .05.


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TABLE2

Zero-O

rderCorrelationsAmongStudyVariables

Variable

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

1.Gender

—.04

�.06

�.05

.04

.08

.10

�.10

�.11

�.04

�.04

�.01

2.Age

�.08

—.20�

�.10

�.03

�.05

.22�

.03

�.17

�.01

�.19�

�.05

3.Mother’seducation

.06

�.01

—�.28��

�.09

�.06

�.04

.04

�.09

.00

�.33��

�.07

4.Clarity

offuture

goalsandplans

.08

.02

�.08

—.73��

�.50��

�.36��

�.37��

�.19�

.34��

��.03

.13

5.Im

portance

offuture

goalsand

plans

.17�

�.01

�.11

.74��

�—

.61��

�.37��

�.45��

�.17

.43��

��.19�

.12

6.Optimism

toward

thefuture

.04

�.14�

�.12

.63��

�.68��

�—

.34��

�.49��

�.28��

.45��

��.18�

.22�

7.Preparationforthefuture

.01

�.07

.00

.19��

.16�

.17�

—.41��

�.15

.17

.00

.29��

8.Personalexpressiveness

�.06

.07

.01

.26��

�.22��

�.32��

�.03

—.51��

�.57��

�.05

.06

9.Flow

experiences

�.08

�.09

�.08

.22��

.24��

�.39��

�.09

.43��

�—

.36��

�.02

.06

10.Goal-directedbehavior

�.10

.09

.07

.23��

�.17�

.29��

�.05

.67��

�.45��

�—

�.14

.00

11.Perceptionoflimited

opportunity

�.15�

.35��

�.11

�.26��

��.33��

��.38��

��.01

�.08

�.16�

�.07

—.05

12.Breadth

ofactivityinvolvem

ent

.00

�.09

.10

.07

.12

.13

.03

.21��

.04

.19��

�.10

—

Note.CorrelationsforSample1(n

¼111)are

presentedabovethediagonal;correlationsforSample2(n¼211)are

presentedbelowthediago

nal.

Gender:1¼male;2¼female.

� p<.05.��p<.01.��

� p<.001.

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Adolescents’ identity experiences in a self-defining activity correlatedpositively and significantly with most dimensions of future orientation inboth samples. Adolescent perceptions of limited opportunities correlatedsignificantly with importance of future goals and plans and optimismtoward the future in Sample 1; the greater perception of limited opportu-nities, the less importance of future goals and plans and optimism towardthe future were reported. In Sample 2, adolescent perception of limitedopportunity correlated negatively and significantly with clarity, importance,and optimism toward the future.

Description of Regression Models Predicting Each Dimension ofFuture Orientation

The regression models for each dimension of future orientation for bothsamples are shown in Tables 3 through 6. In general, the overall models werestatistically significant and the independent variables accounted for a

TABLE 3

Summary of Hierarchical Regression Analysis for Variables Predicting Clarity of Future

Goals and Plans

Sample 1 Sample 2

Variable

Bivariate

R DR2 b (SE)

Bivariate

R DR2 b (SE)

Step 1 .11� .01

Age �.10 �.09 (.08) .02 .11 (.10)

Gender �.05 �.03 (.08) .07 .09 (.07)

Mother’s education �.28�� .34�� (.09) �.05 �.03 (.07)

Breadth of activity

involvement

.13 .11 (.08) .05 �.02 (.07)

Step 2 .21�� .13��

Personal expressiveness .37�� .38�� (.11) .25�� .14 (.09)

Goal-directed behavior .40�� .18 (.10) .22�� .09 (.09)

Flow experience .12 �.19 (.10) .21�� .11 (.08)

Perception of opportunity �.03 �.17 (.09) �.26�� .24�� (.07)

Step 3 .00 .01

Limited

opportunity� expressive

identity

.04 .03 (.10) �.07 �.11 (.07)

Total R2¼ .32�� Total R2¼ .16��

Adjusted R2¼ .26�� Adjusted R2¼ .12��

Note. If the block significantly contributed to the overall model, partitioning was done to

examine the unique contribution of each variable within that block.�p< .05. ��p< .01. ��p< .001.


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significant amount of the variance in each of the future orientationdimensions.

Effect of Identity Experiences in a Self-Defining Activity onFuture Perspective

Step 2 in Tables 3 through 6 presents results for the test of our hypothesisthat identity experiences in a self-defining activity would be a significantand positive predictor of all four dimensions of future perspective afteraccounting for the variance associated with demographic characteristicsand breadth of activity involvement (Step 1). Our findings support thishypothesis. In Sample 1, personal expressiveness was the most consistent,positive unique predictor across the four dimensions of future orientation.In the prediction of importance of future goals and plans, goal-directedand flow experiences were also unique predictors in Sample 1. In contrastto our expectations, flow experience was a significant negative predictor

TABLE 4

Summary of Hierarchical Regression Analysis for Variables Predicting Importance of the

Future Goals and Plans

Sample 1 Sample 2

Variable

Bivariate

R DR2 b (SE)

Bivariate

R DR2 b (SE)

Step 1 .03 .05

Age �.03 �.07 (.08) �.01 .12 (.09)

Gender .04 .08 (.08) .15� .16� (.06)

Mother’s education �.09 �.17� (.08) �.07 �.05 (.06)

Breadth of activity

involvement

.12 .07 (.10) .11 .06 (.07)

Step 2 .37�� .15��


Goal-directed behavior .45�� .24� (.09) .17�� .03 (.08)

Flow experience .05 �.27�� (.09) .22�� .15 (.07)

Perception of opportunity �.19� �.30�� (.08) �.34�� .31�� (.06)

Step 3 .01 .01

Limited


identity

.10 .16 (.10) �.04 �.07 (.06)

Total R2¼ .42�� Total R2¼ .20��





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in this model.3 In Sample 1, breadth of activity involvement emerged as aunique contributor only to the prediction of preparation for the future.Although there were many similarities between Samples 1 and 2 in the cor-relations among variables, the findings from the regression analyses were

3This finding is most likely due to a suppressor effect. A suppressor effect can result from the

inclusion in the regression equation of a predictor that has a zero or small correlation with the

outcome variable, but is moderately or strongly correlated with one or more copredictors (i.e.,

multicollinearity; Smith, Ager, & Williams, 1992; Walker, 2003). In the case of this finding, flow

experience was not significantly correlated with importance of future goals and plans, but had a

significant, negative beta weight in the final model. It is difficult to determine whether or not a

suppressor effect is responsible for this kind of contradictory finding, but we did explore the

beta weight for flow experiences predicting importance of future goals and plans with personal

expressiveness and goal-directed behavior removed from the model, and the association direc-

tion reversed (i.e., there was a positive association between flow experiences and importance of

future goals and plans) and became nonsignificant.

TABLE 5

Summary of Hierarchical Regression Analysis for Variables Predicting Optimism Toward the

Future

Sample 1 Sample 2

Variable

Bivariate

R DR2 b (SE)

Bivariate

R DR2 b (SE)

Step 1 .06 .04

Age �.05 �.08 (.08) �.13� .00 (.08)

Gender .08 .12 (.08) .04 .06 (.06)

Mother’s education �.06 �.13 (.08) �.11 �.07 (.06)

Breadth of activity

involvement

.22�� .18 (.08) .11 .05 (.06)

Step 2 .34�� .25��


Goal-directed behavior .42�� .19� (.10) .29�� .07 (.08)

Flow experience .14 �.16 (.09) .39�� .26�� (.07)

Perception of opportunity �.18� �.30�� (.08) �.38�� .30�� (.06)

Step 3 .03� .00

Limited


identity

.11 .18� (.10) .02 �.04 (.06)

Total R2¼ .42�� Total R2¼ .38��





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different in Sample 2. Although identity experiences were significantlyrelated to future orientation at the bivariate level, because of the sharedvariability among the predictors in the regression analyses personal expres-siveness, goal-directed behavior, and flow experiences failed to emerge assignificant unique predictors in the final regression models.

Effect of Perception of Limited Opportunity on Future Perspective

Our second hypothesis proposed that adolescent’s perceptions of limitedopportunity would be a significant, negative unique predictor of future per-spective. Results presented in Tables 3 through 6 show that perception oflimited opportunity accounted for a significant amount of variance inimportance of future goals and plans and optimism toward the future inSample 1 and in all but one of the dimensions of future orientation inSample 2. For the participants in Sample 2, perception of limited opport-unity was the strongest and most consistent predictor of future orientation.

TABLE 6

Summary of Hierarchical Regression Analysis for Variables Predicting Preparation for the

Future

Sample 1 Sample 2

Variable

Bivariate

R DR2 b (SE)

Bivariate

R DR2b

(SE)

Step 1 .16�� .01

Age .22�� .22� (.08) �.08 �.08 (.11)

Gender .10 .14 (.08) .01 .04 (.07)

Mother’s education �.04 �.12 (.09) �.00 �.01 (.08)

Breadth of activity

involvement

.29�� .26�� (.08) .01 .00 (.07)

Step 2 .17�� .01

Personal expressiveness .41�� .39�� (.12) .02 �.02 (.10)

Goal-directed behavior .32�� .13 (.10) .05 .05 (.10)

Flow experience .11 �.16 (.10) .09 .10 (.09)

Perception of opportunity .00 .10 (.09) �.02 .05 (.08)

Step 3 .00 .02

Limited


identity

�.09 �.07 (.11) �.12� �.14 (.07)

Total R2¼ .33�� Total R2¼ .03

Adjusted R2¼ .27�� Adjusted R2¼ .00




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Adolescents who perceived greater limits in available opportunities reportedlower levels of future orientation.

Interaction Between Level of Personal Expressiveness in aSelf-Defining Activity and Perception of Limited OpportunityPredicting Future Orientation

Results from the regression analyses showed that personal expressiveness andperception of limited opportunity interacted significantly in the explanationof optimism toward the future only in Sample 1. To visualize the interactionbetween personal expressiveness and perception of limited opportunity, weplotted the relationship between perceptions of limited opportunity and opti-mism toward the future for subgroups with high and low levels of personalexpressiveness (Aiken & West, 1991). Results show that the strength of thenegative relationship between limited opportunity and optimism is attenuatedfor adolescents reporting high levels of personal expressiveness compared toadolescents with low personal expressiveness (see Figure 1). The effect of per-sonal expressiveness (high vs. low) wasmost evident at high levels of perceivedlimited opportunities, suggesting a protective effect of expressiveness.

DISCUSSION

In this study, we investigated the relations between adolescent identityexperiences in a self-defining activity and four dimensions of future

FIGURE 1 Interaction between level of personal expressiveness in a self-defining activity

and perception of limited opportunity predicting optimism toward the future (Sample 1):

^� � � � � �^, low levels of personal expressiveness; .- - -., high levels of personal expressiveness.


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orientation and whether those associations varied by context. Two samplesof adolescents from rural, economically declining communities were inclu-ded to determine the generalizability of the relationships across groups dif-fering in racial and economic characteristics. Our results contribute to theliteratures on identity, activity involvement, and future orientation in severalimportant ways. A first contribution of this work is that adolescents’ ident-ity experiences in their most expressive self-defining leisure activity had aparticularly strong relationship with adolescent future orientation. Theore-tically, a coherent self-definition based on a developing sense of one’s inter-ests, skills, and talents is thought to facilitate a sense of possibility anddirection for the future (Adams & Marshall, 1996; Archer & Waterman,1994; Erikson, 1968; Waterman, 1993b). Although preliminary, our resultssuggest that identity discovery within the context of adolescent activitiesmay be a particularly powerful experience for facilitating the developmentof future orientation.

Among the leisure-related identity experiences, personal expressiveness(adolescents’ sense that they have discovered who they are or who theyare meant to be in an activity) was the strongest predictor of how adoles-cents in Sample 1 think about, feel about, and prepare for the future.Although to our knowledge this is the first empirical investigation of therelationship between personal expressiveness and these dimensions of futureorientation, this finding is consistent with theory that suggests that a devel-oping sense of identity may be the necessary driving force behind individualmotivation and action toward the future (Adams & Marshall, 1996; Foote,1951; Larson, 2000; Levinson, 1978). Larson argued that many adolescentsgo through their daily lives without feeling any excitement or energy, butthat their self-chosen activities have the potential to facilitate self-discoveryand create personal excitement and investment in the future. Our resultssuggest that the affective experience of discovering his or her personal inter-ests, talents, and potentials in a self-defining activity may be a criticalelement of an adolescent’s future orientation.

Goal-directed behavior in the adolescents’ most expressive self-definingactivity was significantly and positively related to each dimension of futureorientation at the bivariate level. However, in the final regression models,goal-directed behavior did not remain significant in the prediction of mostof the dimensions of future orientation. This is somewhat surprising sinceit could be argued that adolescents’ experience with setting goals in the con-text of activities would generalize to setting goals in broader aspects of theirlives (Danish, Taylor, & Fazio, 2003). Goal-directed behavior may not haveemerged as a significant unique predictor in the final regression modelsbecause of the strength of the relationship between other variables andthe dimensions of future orientation. In addition, it is also possible that


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the goals that adolescents set in leisure activities are time limited (e.g., want-ing to win a game) rather than more broadly future oriented.

What might be the process by which identity affects future? This studywas cross-sectional, which precludes any conclusions about the directionof effects associated with the relations between the identity experiences inself-defining activities and future orientation. It is plausible that adolescentswho are more future oriented are more likely to be engaged in activities thatpromote identity experiences (Seginer & Noyman, 2005). Conceptually, ourstudy was guided by the assumption that identity discovery precedes a great-er attention to the future for adolescents. It is likely that the relationsbetween identity and future may occur in a complex iterative process whereidentity and future change sequences over time (Luyckx et al., 2010). Theeudaimonic identity model (Waterman, 2004) guiding this study emphasizesadolescents’ recognition, through cognitive and affective experiences inactivities, that they have discovered important elements of their identity(e.g., interests, abilities, skills). The subjective experiences of personalexpressiveness, flow, and goal-directed behavior in leisure activities maybe the important first step in this iterative process. After adolescents beginto discover elements of their developing self-definition, they may becomemore focused on their futures and gain a stronger future orientation. At thispoint in the process, a stronger future orientation may be necessary to driveadolescents to invest further to develop identity goals and begin to achieve acomprehensive self-definition. Longitudinal studies across adolescence areneeded to understand how identity experiences and future orientation arerelated over time.

The results of this study, although tentative, suggest a strong relationshipbetween adolescents’ subjective identity experiences in a self-definingactivity and their future orientation. These results support arguments madeby Larson (2000) and others (e.g., Hansen et al., 2003; Waterman, 2004) thatidentity development may be a critical mechanism linking activity partici-pation to positive concurrent and longer-term outcomes for youth. It isimportant to note that breadth of activity involvement was not generallyrelated to the four dimensions of future orientation. This result suggests thatit may not be enough to involve adolescents in a range of activities. It seemsthat adolescents will get the greatest benefit from participating in activitiesthat provide a good fit between the activity features and the unique interests,abilities, and potentials of the adolescent.

Adolescents’ perception of limited opportunity in their community was aunique, negative predictor of future orientation, particularly for the parti-cipants in Sample 2. This finding is similar to work by Nurmi and colleagues(1996) that found that adolescents who perceived limited opportunity intheir community expressed less interest in the future. Adolescents’ sense of


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optimism, or the belief that their future goals and plans will be realized, isthought to play a particularly important role in motivation for the future(Nurmi, 1991). If adolescents have positive expectations for their future, itis thought that they will be more likely to develop and follow through withstrategies that will help them actualize their goals and plans. Our results sug-gest that adolescents who perceive educational and vocational opportunitiesin their communities will be more focused on and optimistic about thefuture. Although experiences in a self-defining activity were related to thefuture orientation of the predominantly African American, lower-incomeparticipants in Sample 2, it is clear that they way these adolescents viewthe availability of opportunities for success is a more powerful predictorof how they think and feel about their futures.

A final aim of our study was to explore whether participation in aself-defining activity could help to moderate the association between percep-tions of limited opportunities and future orientation. For Sample 1, ourresults do suggest that participation in a self-defining activity that providesa high level of personal expressiveness may be protective against the nega-tive impact that perceptions of limited opportunities have on an adolescent’ssense of optimism toward the future. For Sample 2, identity experiences in aself-defining activity did not seem to buffer the negative influence of adoles-cents’ perception of limited opportunity on their future orientation.Although identity experiences in a self-defining activity were related posi-tively to how this group of adolescents thinks about, feels about, and pre-pares for the future, identity discovery and affirmation in an activitysetting may not be enough to overcome these adolescents’ sense that oppor-tunities for educational and occupational success do not exist in their schooland community.

Age, gender, and parent education had little impact on the future orien-tation of these adolescents. However, it is worth noting that contrary toexpectations, mothers’ level of education was a significant, negative predic-tor of adolescents’ clarity of future goals and plans in the final model forSample 1. Results of previous research suggest that mother’s education isa particularly powerful, positive predictor of adolescent future orientation(Kerpelman, Shoffner, & Ross Griffin, 2002). Future research is neededto clarify this inconsistency in findings. It may be that adolescents whosemothers have received less education perceive having less choice in theirown futures and, therefore, make decisions about their future earlier thanother adolescents.

Our results also highlight the value of approaching adolescent futureorientation from a multidimensional framework. The findings indicated thatthe individual and contextual predictors of future orientation varied by thedimension studied. The multidimensional measurement model of adolescent


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future orientation that we used in this study included four dimensions: (a)clarity of future goals and plans, (b) importance of future goals and plans,(c) optimism toward the future, and (d) preparation for the future. Identify-ing developmental correlates associated with multiple dimensions offuture orientation offers a greater opportunity to explain individual differ-ences in adolescents’ development of future orientation and to informintervention.

Limitations

There are a few limitations of this study that deserve consideration. First,the study was limited by its exclusive reliance on self-report data. Althoughself-report data may be necessary to assess the internal qualities of identityand future orientation, this may have artificially inflated the associations inthis study. Future research could include other methods and sources ofinformation, particularly when assessing the contextual variables associatedwith resources and community opportunity. Second, as mentioned earlier,the data included in this study were collected at a single timepoint. Longi-tudinal research is needed to confirm the directionality of the relationsand to unravel the full complexity of these processes. Despite these limita-tions, there are important implications from this study.

Implications

There is strong evidence in the literature that adolescent future orientation isrelated to positive developmental trajectories for youth, particularly youthwho live in stressful or difficult environments (Clausen, 1991; Mastenet al., 2004; Werner & Smith, 1992; Wyman et al., 1993). The results of thisstudy, although tentative, have implications for interventions framed in apositive youth development perspective. Increasing adolescents’ futureorientation is one of the clearly stated goals of the positive youth develop-ment framework (Blum, 2002; Roth & Brooks-Gunn, 2002). Becausefewstudies have investigated factors that influence adolescent futureorientation, particularly multiple dimensions of future orientation, therehas not been a strong empirical basis for program development.

The results of this study suggest that interventions designed to target ado-lescents’ time use and leisure-related identity experiences may have animpact on adolescent future orientation. Targeting breadth of activityinvolvement (i.e., trying to keep adolescents busy) may have little impacton how adolescents think about, feel about, and prepare for the future.Activity-based intervention models may require significant individual atten-tion and a great deal of flexibility to promote expressive identity and future


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orientation. Activity-based interventions may benefit from incorporatingprogram elements that assist adolescents in identifying subjective experi-ences that signal the discovery of elements of their identity, that help adoles-cents to incorporate discovered elements of their identity into a broaderself-definition, and that encourage adolescents to reflect on their developingself-definition when considering future goals and plans. An additional impli-cation of this study is that activity-based interventions may have a greaterimpact on adolescent future orientation if expanded to include thingslike community resources and community opportunities associated witheducational and occupational success.

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Archer, S., &Waterman, A. S. (1994). Adolescent identity development: Contextual perspectives.

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Documents

Adolescent Future Orientation: The Role of Identity Discovery in Self-Defining Activities and Context in Two Rural Samples