Keeping One’s Cool: How Do Social Achievement Goals Affect Psychological Well-Being?

• In Event: Poster Session 8
  In Poster Session: Diverse Issues in Human Development

Abstract

Social achievement goals have been linked to psychological well-being but the exact mechanism was not known. The current study examined whether emotion regulation mediates the relationships between social achievement goals and psychological wellbeing among Chinese elite high school students (study 1) and Chinese Medical University students (study 2). Our structural equation models supported such a mediational link. Heightened emotion regulation predicted high life satisfaction but low depression, stress, and worry. While social achievement goals had direct effects on outcomes, they also showed indirect effects through the association with emotion regulation. The results indicated that a social development goal was positively related to emotion regulation while both social demonstration-approach and avoid goals were related to low emotion regulation.

Authors

• Sungok Serena Shim, Ball State University

• Cen Wang, Charles Sturt University

• Xiao-Guang Xu

• Lina Xie