A survey of more than 200 young adults by the University of Exeter and Edith Cowan University (ECU) investigated two forms of motivational conflict.<\/p>\n These were inter-goal conflict<\/strong> (when pursuing one goal makes it difficult to pursue another) and ambivalence<\/strong> (conflicting feelings about particular goals).<\/p>\n The results showed that each of these forms of goal conflict was independently associated with anxious and depressive symptoms<\/strong>, but did not predict worsening of symptoms over one month.<\/p>\n “People with poorer mental health are more likely to report that their personal goals hinder one another,” said Dr Nick Moberly, of the University of Exeter.<\/p>\n “Such conflict between goals may be more manageable if it is conscious.<\/p>\n “However, ambivalence may indicate a clash between a goal and a higher-order value that lies outside awareness.<\/p>\n “Attention to these deeper motivational conflicts may be an important step towards resolving them and relieving distress.”<\/p>\n Professor Joanne Dickson, of ECU, said: “We know that striving for goals that are important to us gives life meaning and purpose and promotes wellbeing.<\/p>\n “However, when these goals generate conflict they can contribute to psychological distress.”<\/p>\n Inter-goal conflict occurs either because the objectives are incompatible or because pursuit of both goals draws upon a limited resource, such as time or money.<\/p>\n For example, a person’s goal to spend more time with their family may conflict with their goal to get promoted at work.<\/p>\n Ambivalence is thought to reflect a deeper motivational conflict of which the person is unaware.<\/p>\n For example, a person may feel ambivalent about initiating an intimate relationship because this challenges a more abstract goal of independence.<\/p>\n The young adults in the study were aged 18-35, with an average age of 20.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From the University of Exeter press release: Being torn about which personal goals to pursue is associated with symptoms of psychological distress, new research shows. A survey of more than… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[526],"tags":[49,37,12],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26886"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26886"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26909,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26886\/revisions\/26909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Decisionmaking-3-300x200.jpg\")
Being torn about which personal goals to pursue is associated with symptoms of psychological distress<\/strong>, new research shows.<\/p>\n