Authors: Heckhausen, Jutta; Farruggia, Susan P.

Source: BJEP Monograph Series II, Number 2 - Development and Motivation, Volume 1, Number 1, 1 January 2003 , pp. 85-102(18)

Abstract:

This chapter integrates developmental and motivational theory and addresses phenomena at the interface of development and motivation. A life-span developmental approach to the study of motivational engagement and disengagement with important life goals is presented, and a set of relevant studies addressing developmental regulation at different points in the life span is discussed.

Heckhausen and Schulz (1995; Schulz & Heckhausen, 1996) have proposed a life-span theory of control, which conceptualizes primary and secondary control strategies in a life-span context. Primary control behaviour is directed at changing the external environment, while secondary control behaviour is targeted at internal processes to optimize motivational resources for primary control. Across the life span, primary control potential undergoes radical changes, with steep increases in childhood and adolescence, and decline in old age.

According to the life-span theory of control, the control system operates so as to optimize primary control across the life span. This is achieved by striving for those developmental goals that hold a high potential of controllability at a given phase of life, while disengaging from goals that have become exceedingly difficult to achieve. Opportunities for attaining important goals in life, such as starting a vocational career, finding a partner, and having a child, vary systematically across the life span. For each developmental goal, age gradients of opportunities can be identified.

A developmental deadline model was formulated to capture transitions from favourable to unfavourable opportunities for goal attainment (Heckhausen, 1999a, 2002). According to this model, cycles of goal engagement and disengagement follow the opportunities and constraints for goal attainment when coming up to and passing a deadline. The deadline model thus conceptualizes and generates predictions about consecutive phases of a goal engagement/disengagement cycle, which are characterized by specific combinations of primary and secondary control strategies. A set of studies about deadline-relevant transitions in adolescence and adulthood demonstrates overall adaptive patterns of goal engagement and disengagement (Heckhausen, Wrosch, & Fleeson, 2001; Wrosch & Heckhausen, 1999). In addition, inter-individual differences in the adaptive match of control strategies and deadline-related timing were found to predict both concurrent and future psychological well-being.

Finally, some implications of the life-span theory of control for developmental regulation of students enrolled in secondary education are discussed. The focus here is on the different instrumentality of educational performance for the school-to-work transition in different countries and how this may influence engagement with school-based learning in adolescent students.

Document Type: Research article

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