Possible Selves and Behavior: the Case of Juvenile Delinquency.

Explanations of delinquent behavior often implicate the nature of adolescents' thoughts and feelings about themselves as a pivotal factor in underst and ing delinquency yet most assessment efforts rely on measures of self-esteem. An aspect of the adolescent's self-concept untapped by self-esteem measures focuses on how youth conceive of their future and their potential, and is termed possible selves--the youth's hopes, expectations, and fears about the future. It was proposed that possible selves are an important aspect of the self-concept in that they are the part of the self-concept particularly active in motivating and maintaining behavior. Both the content of possible selves and the extent that feared or to be avoided possible selves are linked with positive expected possible selves were explored in detail in individual interviews with 238 youth between the ages of 13-16. Youth were sampled from four groups that varied in the degrees that they were officially involved in delinquency; 101 of the youth from the two groups least officially involved in delinquency were reinterviewed three months later. During the second interview youth were again asked to report on their possible selves and were also helped to fill out a self-reported delinquency checklist. Youth who were more highly officially delinquent were more likely to generate expectations focused on a variety of negative selves such as junkie, alone, depressed, or thief; and fears focusing on crime and delinquency when asked what they expected to be like in the coming year and what they feared or wanted to avoid being like in open-ended probes. Similarly, expectations, hopes, and fears of the less officially delinquent youth were more likely to focus on achievement related selves such as doing well or getting along in school. Positive expectations were more likely to balance or offset fears in the less delinquent youth. These differences in possible selves predicted differences in self-reported delinquency at the second interview point. Stability in about 40% of possible self responses was found after a three month time lag.PhDSocial workUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/161701/1/8801390.pd