Abstract
The action crisis is a critical phase in goal striving during which the goal pursuer feels conflicted about persevering with the goal or initiating disengagement. Recent research suggests that goal motivation, specifically controlled motivation (i.e., pursuing a goal out of obligation and pressure), increases the likelihood of experiencing action crises. In turn, action crises in goal pursuit have been linked to increases in depression symptoms and cortisol. In the present 8-month longitudinal study, we tracked university students’ personal goals to examine whether the pursuit of controlled goals and the experience of action crises was associated with increasing levels of hair cortisol, perceived stress, poor health, and depression symptoms (N = 156). Structural equation modeling suggested that experiencing action crises in goal pursuit was associated with increases in markers of stress, depression, and ill-being. This effect was partially explained by controlled goal motivation. The clinical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.
Highlights
The idiomatic phrase “getting hairy” refers to a situation becoming difficult, frightening, or complicated
We considered whether goal motivation, which is an antecedent of the action crisis, relates to changes in markers of stress and ill-being over time
The goal of the present study was to examine whether controlled motivation for personal goals and conflicted goal striving would be associated with changes in stress levels, depression symptoms, and poor health symptoms over time
Summary
The idiomatic phrase “getting hairy” refers to a situation becoming difficult, frightening, or complicated. Little is known about the long-term impact of controlled goal pursuit and action crises for stress and physical and mental health To this end, we studied goal pursuit “getting hairy” in the second, literal sense of the phrase: We sampled participants’ hair to measure the chronic secretion of the stress hormone cortisol as they pursued three personal goals over the span of 8 months. Action crises in goal striving have been associated with physiological consequences, including compromised recovery during physical therapy (Wolf et al, 2019), somatic symptoms, poorer physical performance, as well as markers of increased physiological stress, such as steeper salivary cortisol slopes in runners (Brandstätter et al, 2013) Together, these findings suggest that being in a prolonged or severe action crisis may compromise well-being and physical health. Controlled motivation is contrasted with autonomous motivation, which involves pursuing a goal because it is interesting and fun (intrinsic motivation) or personally important and meaningful (identified motivation)
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