DEVELOPMENTAL REVIEW 11, 1-59 (1%)

REVIEW
How Do Adolescents See Their Future? A Review of the
Development of Future Orientation and Planning
JARI-ERIK NURMI
University of Helsinki

Research on how adolescents see their future is reviewed with reference to the
three basic processes involved in orientation to the future: motivation, planning,
and evaluation. The results suggest that adolescents goals and interests concern
the major developmental tasks of late adolescence and early adulthood, reflecting
anticipated life-span development. Such anticipation accounts for a sizeable num-
ber of the age, sex, socioeconomic status, and cultural differences in the content
and temporal extension of future orientation. The review also showed that the
levels of planning and internality concerning the future increase with age. Family
context was also found to influence adolescents future-oriented interests, plans,
causal attributions, and affects. Finally, directions for future research are identi-
tied. 0 1991 Academic Press, Inc.

A major feature of human thinking and acting is orientation toward

future events and outcomes. This feature has recently been the subject of
increasing attention in psychological theories (Bandura, 1986; Neisser,
1976). However, even though future events motivate everyday behavior
over a life-time, thinking and planning for the future are particularly im-
portant for young people for several reasons. First, adolescents are faced
with a number of normative age-specific tasks (Dittmann-Kohli, 1986;
Havighurst, 1948/1974), set by their parents, peers, and teachers, most of
which concern expected life-span development and which, therefore, em-
phasize the importance of thinking about the future. Second, adolescents
future-oriented decisions, such as those related to career, life-style, and
future family, crucially influence their later adult life. Third, how adoles-
cents see their future plays an important part in their identity formation,
which is often defined in terms of exploration and commitment concem-
ing future-oriented interests (Bosma, 1985; Marcia, 1980). Moreover, ad-
olescent problem behavior, such as delinquency, problems in career
choice, and drug abuse, can be expected to be related to how young
people see their future.
I am grateful to Paivi Niemi, Irving E. Sigel, Norman Sundberg, Johan M. von Wright,
and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful and encouraging comments on earlier drafts
of this article. Requests for reprints should be sent to Jari-Erik Nurmi, Department of
Psychology, University of Helsinki, Fabianinkatu 28, 00100, Helsinki, Finland.

0273-2297191$3.00
Copyright 6 1991 by Academic Press, Inc.
All rights of reproduction in any form reserved
2 JARI-ERIK NURMI

The majority of studies on future orientation and planning concern late

childhood and adolescence which reflects the importance of the future for
that age group. Gillispie and Allport (1955) compared students outlook
toward the future in 10 countries in the early 1950s. Since then, dozens of
studies have been published on the topic. However, in spite of the vast
amount of research in this area, we do not know too much about how
adolescents see their future. Reviews have typically concluded that tind-
ings are contradictory (e.g., de Volder, 1979). In addition, researchers
have suggested that the methods used lack reliability and validity, and are
partly responsible for the conflicting results (Perlman, 1976; Ruiz, Rei-
vich, & Krauss, 1967).
My purpose in writing this review is to develop some conception of
adolescents orientation to the future. A theoretical framework is con-
structed and used to categorize previous research material. The major
questions to be answered are the following: What goals and interests do
adolescents have in the future? How far into the future does their thinking
extend? How good are they at planning their future? How do young
people see their chances of influencing expected future events and how do
they feel about the future? How do these different aspects of thinking
about the future develop during adolescence? And, finally, what are the
major factors in the social context that influence this development?
Interestingly, psychological theories have recently focused increasingly
on orientation to the future. Bandura (1986, p. 19) stressed forethought
capability as one of the basic features of human thinking. Neisser (1976,
p. 22) discussed anticipation as one of the main functions of schemata and
Oppenheimer (1987, p. 357) underlined future orientation as a major char-
acteristic of goal-directed behavior. Although the time span considered in
these theories is rather short, seconds, minutes, and hours, their major
ideas also apply to peoples everyday thinking extending over longer
periods, such as weeks, months, years, even decades. In this review, a
new framework based on cognitive psychology, action theory, and life
span approach is constructed. Later on, this framework is used to reor-
ganize and reinterpret the research field of adolescents future orientation
and planning, which is full of conflicting results, as mentioned above.
The framework suggests that orientation to the future is a complex and
multistage process that must be conceptualized in relational terms (Nut-
tin, 1984) which simultaneously refer to person-related and contextual
properties. On this basis, future orientation is described in terms of three
major psychological processes, motivation, planning, and evaluation.
First, people set goals based on comparison between their motives and
values and their expectations concerning the future. Next, they work out
how to realize these goals. This is typically done by means of planning
and problem solving. Finally, people evaluate the possibility of achieving
their goals and actualizing the plans they have constructed. Causal attri-
 ADOLESCENTS FUTURE ORIENTATION 3

butions and affects concerning the future are thought to play an important
part in this evaluation. Furthermore, the role of knowledge about the
expected life span is emphasized, because that provides information
about the possible objectives of future-oriented goals, the context in
which these goals will be realized, and the extent to which people can
control the realization. When adolescents explore future opportunities,
set goals, and realize them, they simultaneously develop their own iden-
tity.
This forms the basis for the review of studies on adolescents orienta-
tion to the future. In order to give a coherent impression of the research
field, only investigations that provide data about the three processes in-
volved in the framework, i.e., content and extension of adolescents in-
terests and concerns, the level of their planning activiry, and the related
causal attributions and affects, are considered. In practice, this means
that all the studies in which abstract or projective methods are used (see
Hoornaert, 1973) and which do not refer to the concrete contents of
adolescents interests and concerns are excluded. Referring to the validity
problems in this research field, Perlman (1976) suggested that the content
of the thinking should always be considered when orientation to the future
is studied.
Once the conceptual framework has been introduced, studies on ado-
lescents orientation to the future are summarized. The review shows that
their thinking about the future reflects their anticipated life-span devel-
opment in a number of ways: Their goals and interests seem to concern
the major developmental tasks they expect to be realized at the end of the
second and the beginning of the third decade of life, during late adoles-
cence, and early adulthood. Such expectations are also shown to account
for a sizeable number of age, sex, social class, and cultural differences in
content and temporal extension of orientation to the future. Furthermore,
it will be shown that the level of planning increases until the end of the
second decade of life and, in addition, that the level of internality con-
cerning the future increases with age. Following the summary of these
studies, a few pertinent research fields, such as identity formation and
career decision making, are briefly examined. Finally, research concern-
ing the relationship between orientation to the future and problem behav-
ior is reviewed. Since a theoretical framework is used, this will be intro-
duced first.

CONCEPTUALIZATION OF ORIENTATION TO THE FUTURE

The Psychological Basis

One of the major functions of cognitive schemata is to orient individuals

to change in the context of future activities. As suggested by Neisser
4 JARI-ERIK NURMI

(1976, p. 22), expectations based on schemata are the medium by which

the past affects the future. The role of expectations in directing human
behavior has recently been emphasized by other researchers as well (e.g.,
Bandura, 1986; Markus & Wurf, 1987).
However, people not only anticipate future events and outcomes, they
also give them personal meanings. For example, as people anticipate
career changes with age, they also evaluate the changes they would like
to be actualized. Similarly, they relate personal standards to these events
(Bandura, 1986). Consequently, like schemata, interests and motives also
have a reference to future events (Nuttin, 1984).
In addition to being able to anticipate and become interested in the
future, people are also able to make judgments about expected future
events and behavior outcomes. Furthermore, they often construct com-
plex means-end structures based on the relationships of future events
(Cottle & Klineberg, 1974). In all, human ability to anticipate future
events, to give them personal meaning, and to operate with them mentally
provides a basis for peoples orientation to the future.
Three Processes
Orientation to the future is a complex, multidimensional, and multi-
stage phenomenon. According to the basic ideas of cognitive psychology
(Bandura, 1986; Neisser, 1976; Weiner, 1985) and action theory (Leon-
tiev, 1979; Nuttin, 1984), future orientation is described here in terms of
three processes, motivation, planning, and evaluation (see also Nurmi,
1989~). In the model, motivation refers to what interests people have in
the future. Planning activity, on the other hand, refers to how people plan
the realization of their interests in a future context (Nuttin, 1974, 1984).
Finally, evaluation concerns the extent to which the interests are ex-
pected to be realized.
Future orientation can also be characterized as a three-stage process
which interacts with the schemata concerning the future and anticipated
self-development. A general overview of these three processes is pre-
sented in Fig. 1. First, people set their goals based on comparisons be-
tween general motives and values and the knowledge they have about
their anticipated life-span development. Second, after people have set
their goals, planning activity is required in order to realize them. Knowl-
edge about the expected context of future activities provides a basis for
this planning. Finally, opportunities to realize the goals set and plans
constructed are evaluated (see also Markus & Wurf, 1987). Following
Weiners (1985) ideas, it is suggested in this investigation that causal
attributions and affects concerning the future constitute this third process
of orientation. In the next sections, the processes involved in orientation
to the future are considered in detail.
 ADOLESCENTS FUTURE ORIENTATION

Anticipated
life-span
development

Goals
/

Contextual
knowledge
Plans
Skills /

Self-concept
Attributions
Attributional
style Emotions

FIG. 1. Orientation to the future in terms of the three processes involved.

Future-oriented motives, interests, and goals. Most of the motives,

interests, and goals people have are future-oriented, i.e., they refer to
anticipated future events and objectives (Nuttin, 1974, 1984). Since future
events and objectives are represented as expectations concerning the
future, the knowledge on which these expectations are based plays an
important role in the development of future-oriented motivation. In order
to set realistic goals, general motives and values have to be compared to
knowledge concerning the future. By exploring knowledge related to mo-
tives and values, people are able to make their interests more specific.
Similarly, Markus and Wurf (1987) recently described goal-setting as
comparison between motives or values and the expectations people have
about the future.
Peoples motives, interests, strivings, and goals have recently been
characterized as a motivational system consisting of a complex hierarchy,
the levels of which are assumed to differ according to the generality and
abstractness of the intentions involved (Emmons, 1986; Lazarus & Folk-
man, 1987; Leontiev, 1979). The major principle behind this framework is
that the higher level motives, values, or strivings are realized via lower
level goals, which are further worked out through a number of subgoals.
Lower level goals constitute, in fact, the strategy by which the realization
of the higher level motives is planned. On the other hand, higher level
personal motives and strivings organize and integrate the lower level
goals into hierarchical structures. It is also typical of the goal-hierarchy
that higher level goals are less related to specific knowledge concerning
the future than lower level goals.
 JARI-ERIK NURMI

Future-oriented planning. The second major process involved in ori-

entation to the future concerns how people plan the realization of their
aims, interests, and goals. Although they may already have realization
strategies or procedural knowledge related to their goals, planning and
problem-solving are normally required (Cantor & Kihlstrom, 1987; Nut-
tin, 1984). In the frameworks of cognitive psychology and action theory,
planning has recently been characterized as a process consisting of setting
subgoals, constructing plans, and realizing these plans (Hacker, 1985;
Nuttin, 1984; Pea & Hawkins, 1987). These three stages can be applied to
planning the future as follows.
First, individuals have to construct a representation of both the goal
and the future context in which the goal is expected to be realized. Both
of these anticipatory representations are based on the knowledge people
have about the context of future activities and they provide a basis for the
next two phases of planning.
Second, people have to construct a plan, project, or strategy for achiev-
ing the goal within the chosen context. Constructing a plan is similar to
the process of problem solving: The individual must invent the paths
which lead to goal achievement and then decide which of them is most
efficient. A comparison of different solutions may be carried out either by
thinking or acting. However, since peoples interests often extend over
years, even decades, action is not possible and, therefore, different action
routes have to be evaluated mentally according to how likely it is that they
will lead to the achievement of the goal.
The third phase of planning activity is the execution of the plans and
strategies constructed. As with general planning, the execution of plans
and strategies is also controlled by comparing the representation of the
goal and the actual context. In other words, a person taking steps toward
a future goal has to check during the course of the action that the original
aim is being approached in a systematic way. If not, the plans must be
changed (Miller, Galanter, & Pribram, 1960).
Evaluation of the future. Finally, people also have to evaluate the re-
alizability of the goals they set and the plans they construct. It is sug-
gested here that causal attributions and affects concerning future events
constitute the third process of orientation to the future, since they are
both included in evaluating the possibilities of realizing future-oriented
goals and plans. While causal attributions are based on a conscious cog-
nitive evaluation of peoples opportunities of controlling their future, af-
fects are responsible for more immediate and also unconscious types of
evaluation.
Weiner (1985) recently proposed a model according to which the attri-
bution-emotion process is responsible for evaluating behavior outcomes.
The model suggests that the attribution of success and failure to specific
 ADOLESCENTS FUTURE ORIENTATION 7

causes is followed by specific emotions. Although it mainly concerns the

evaluation of past outcomes, it can also be applied to thinking about the
future. For example, the attribution of future success to internal and
controllable causes can be expected to be followed by feelings of opti-
mism. In contrast, the attribution of future failure to external and uncon-
trollable causes should be followed by pessimism. Weiner (1985) himself
suggests that the stability dimension of causal attribution determines the
hopefulness related to goal attainment: hopefulness is elicited given that
a positive outcome is attributed to stable causes.
Brandtstadter (1984) recently described evaluation as a complex mul-
tistage process: first, anticipated developmental changes are assessed in
relation to personal values and goals. Then, the expected outcomes are
evaluated according to the extent to which they are satisfactory. Next,
they are assessed according to how controllable they are and, finally,
according to how much control people think they have over this life
domain. Brandtstadter, like Weiner (1985), suggests that each stage of
evaluation is followed by a specific affect.
The evaluation process concerns the extent to which people themselves
are able to influence and have power over their future. Self-concept there-
fore plays an important role (Marsh, Cairs, Relich, Barnes, & Debus,
1984): people evaluate their chances of realizing their goals and plans
according to their present view of their capabilities (Fig. 1). A few studies
also seem to show that people with high self-esteem are more internal in
their thinking about the future than those with low self-esteem (Nurmi,
1989d; Plante, 1977).
Future orientation as a system. Orientation to the future is depicted in
Fig. 1 as a three-stage process consisting of setting goals, planning their
actualization and, finally, evaluating their realizability. However, it must
be remembered that these three stages are related in a variety of ways.
First, as suggested by Bandura (1986), goals and personal standards pro-
vide a basis upon which people evaluate their performance: goal attain-
ments build up a positive self-concept and internal attributional beliefs.
Second, the effectiveness of the plans constructed influences the attain-
ment outcome and, therefore, self-evaluation as well. Third, as the arrow
in Fig. 1 indicates, how people evaluate the causes of their success and
failure in turn affects the goals and aspirations they set later (Bandura,
1986). Internal attributions concerning a specific future event and related
positive affects (Weiner, 1985) are likely to increase interests in this event
and the tendency to set high-level related goals.
It is also possible that future-orientation is part of a larger behavioral
system that characterizes the whole range of future-oriented everyday
behavior. Several researchers have recently discussed strategies by
which people respond to the situational demands they face during their
8 JARI-ERIK NURMI

life. For example, Cantor and her colleagues (Cantor & Kihlstrom, 1987;
Cantor, Norem, Niedenthal, Langston, & Brower, 1987) differentiated
two types of achievement strategy among college honors students. The
optimistic strategy was characterized by straightforward striving for suc-
cess based on high expectations derived from positive past experience
and a desire to enhance an already strong image of competence. In con-
trast, typical of students using a pessimistic strategy was setting defen-
sively low expectations, in spite of good past performance, and feeling
very anxious and out of control before performance. Jones and Berglas
(1978) also described a self-handicapping strategy in the context of un-
derachievement and alcohol use. According to them, the individual using
a self-handicapping strategy works to avoid any unequivocal feedback
about low ability in important tasks by setting up a protective attribu-
tional environment before any outcome is known. This is typically built
up by acting in a way that provides an excuse for future failure before-
hand. In each of these strategies, the goal-setting and planning stages are
particularly influenced by the attributional tendencies and self-concept
involved in the evaluation of future possibilities.
DEVELOPMENT OF ORIENTATION TO THE FUTURE
The development of future-oriented motivation, planning, and evalua-
tion is a complex, multilevel, and long-lasting process. Three important
aspects of it are considered here. First, future orientation develops in
cultural and institutional contexts: normative expectations and knowl-
edge concerning the future provide a basis for future-oriented interests
and plans, and related causal attributions and affects (Nurmi, 1989a).
Second, interests, plans, and beliefs concerning the future are learned in
social interaction with other people. Parents, in particular, but also peers,
influence how adolescents think about and plan for the future (Kandel8z
Lesser, 1969). Third, future orientation may well be influenced by other
psychological factors, such as cognitive and social development. A de-
tailed discussion about these three issues follows.
Developmental Tasks and Knowledge Concerning Anticipated
Life-Span Development
The developmental differences in cultural norms, expectations, rules,
and activity patterns have been characterized as developmental tasks
(Havighurst, 1948/1974) or normative life-tasks (Cantor & Kihlstrom,
1987; Dittmann-Kohli, 1986). These tasks typically provide (1) knowledge
about possible and desired age-specific developmental goals, (2) models
for how these goals can be successfully achieved, and (3) normative stan-
dards and deadlines for appropriate behavior. Typical developmental
tasks of late adolescence include forming sex-role identity, making a ca-
 ADOLESCENTS FUTURE ORIENTATION 9

reer choice, and acquiring autonomy from parents. During early adult-
hood, on the other hand, the major developmental tasks are related to
marriage, childbearing, work, and life-style (Newman & Newman, 1975).
The development of orientation to the future can be described from a
contextual point of view as follows (see Fig. 2). First, normative life-
events, related developmental tasks, and their time-table provide a con-
text in which peoples future-oriented goals and interests develop. As will
be shown in detail later, adolescents interests typically concern the de-
velopmental tasks of that specific age (Nurmi, 1987b, 1989b). Second,
life-span-related changes in action opportunities and age-specific models
for solving the developmental tasks provide a basis for the development
of future-oriented plans and strategies. Finally, standards and deadlines
for the successful solution of life-tasks form a basis for the evaluation
process involved in orientation to the future. For example, cultural norms
involve age-specific standards and deadlines for appropriate ways of solv-
ing the developmental task of intimacy, such as knowledge about ap-
proved and desirable forms and the age at which dating or living with a
member of the opposite sex can begin. It is suggested here that knowledge
concerning anticipated life-span development, the context of future ac-
tivities, and related role models and standards mediate the influence of
cultural context.
Developmental tasks and related normative anticipations vary accord-
ing to a number of factors in addition to age, such as culture, sex, level of
education, and socioeconomic status (Dannefer, 1984). Later on, the pos-
sibility that the influence of these factors on future-orientation is based on
differences in anticipated life-span development is discussed.
Development of Future Orientation in the Family Context
The specific environment in which adolescents live also affects how
SOCial Future-
context Schemata orientation

Anticipated
life-events life-span
development Goals
/
k

opportunities
Contextual
knowledge
,I+Plan-
ning
Plans
*/'
Standards and
deadlines for Self-
evaluation concept

FIG. 2. A contextual approach to adolescents orientation to the future.

10 JARI-ERIK NURMI

their thinking about the future develops. Parental influence is at least

two-fold. Methods of tutoring children provide the basis for the acquisi-
tion of basic skills which are also significant in orientation to the future.
Later on, during late childhood and adolescence, parental encourage-
ment, role models, and familial support influence the kind of future-
oriented goals and plans, and related causal attributions, children con-
struct.
Learning the basis for goal-setting, planning, and evaluation during
childhood. One promising framework for investigating the development
of future orientation during childhood is Vygotskys (1978) idea that psy-
chological functions develop from interpersonal processes to intraper-
sonal ones (see also Heckhausen, 1987; McGillicuddy-De Lisi, Flaugher,
& Sigel, 1987; Sigel, 1982; Wood, Bruner, & Ross, 1976). It is suggested
here that the three processes thought to be important in adolescents
orientation to the future may already exist in interaction during which
parents tutor their children to solve problems and carry out tasks.
Wood and his colleagues (Wood & Middleton, 1975; Wood et al., 1976)
studied childrens learning in a tutorial process in which adults or ex-
perts help someone who is less adult or expert. The studies were carried
out by observing how mothers interact with their 3- to 5-year-old children
in a simple problem-solving situation (Wood & Middleton, 1975). Inter-
estingly, the way Wood et al. (1976) characterize the tutoring process is
similar to the model of orientation to the future presented in this review:
first the tutor helps the child to keep the goal in his/her mind, then to work
out the means of solving the task and, finally, to evaluate the behavior
outcomes (see also McGillicuddy-De Lisi et al., 1987).
Parents tutoring methods may also influence their childrens later ten-
dencies to set goals, use certain types of problem-solving and coping
strategies and evaluate their own future opportunities. The demands par-
ents make of their children during tutoring may be important in the de-
velopment of permanent motivational tendencies, such as achievement
motivation, the level of goal-setting, and persistence in the realization of
goals. What is important is that the level of parental demand in a specific
task fits their childrens current interests and skills (Wood & Middleton,
1975). Demands that are too high may be followed by feelings of incom-
petence, whereas too low a level would not optimally increase achieve-
ment tendency. Parents tutoring may also influence childrens later ten-
dencies to use specific types of problem-solving and coping strategies
when trying to achieve their future-oriented goals. The properties of pa-
rental instructional strategies, such as effectiveness, flexibility in different
situations, and the level of independence given to the child, can be ex-
pected to result in similar tendencies in his or her later planning activity.
Finally, the feedback parents give their children about their behavior may
 ADOLESCENTS FUTURE ORIENTATION 11

be expected to influence how children later evaluate their own behavior.

For example, positive and encouraging feedback from parents is likely to
increase the internality and optimism of childrens beliefs. Later on, these
beliefs play an important role in the development of self-concept and
attributional styles. Parents have also been shown to be conscious about
the influence of their tutoring on their childrens planning skills (McGil-
licuddy-De Lisi et al., 1987).
Research on how parent-child interaction influences adolescents fu-
ture orientation is laborious to carry out, because it requires longitudinal
studies extending over a lo- to 15year period. However, a few studies
seem to suggest that early mother-infant interaction affects later tenden-
cies related to future orientation. For example, a number of studies has
shown that security in mother-infant interaction is predictive of the
childs later exploration, autonomy, and problem solving (Ainsworth,
1979; Matas, Arend, & Sroufe, 1978; Sroufe, 1979). On the other hand,
Kagan and Moss (1962) found that the extent to which mothers criticized
their l- to 3-year-old daughters correlated positively with the daughters
striving for achievement in adulthood.
The development of orientation to the future during adolescence. The
family has been shown to be the most important context during adoles-
cence, although peers and the school environment become increasingly
important as young people mature (Jurkovic & Ulrici, 1985). In recent
study of the relative importance of parents and peers in adolescent deci-
sion making, Wilks (1985) found that young people seek their parents
advice and opinions for longer-term, important, and difficult decisions,
whereas friends opinions and feelings are more important for short-term
decisions in less important and less difficult areas.
Parents influence the future orientation of their adolescent children in
at least three ways: first, by setting normative standards, they affect
interests, values and goals. Adolescents have been shown to have values,
beliefs, and goals that are very much like those of their parents (Conger,
1973; Coopersmith, Regan, & Dick, 1975). Thus, the relative importance
of work, school, and leisure activities reflected in adolescents goal-
hierarchies can be expected to be learned in the family context. Second,
parents serve as models for solving different developmental tasks. For
example, the family provides information about how successful marriage
is in solving the developmental task related to intimacy. Similarly, plan-
ning skills and coping strategies which adolescents apply when they face
major developmental tasks may be learned in the family context. Nurmi
(1987a) found preliminary evidence that the extent to which mothers
planned their own lives correlated positively with the realization level of
educational hopes expressed by their children. Third, attributional beliefs
concerning the possibility of influencing different domains of life may be
12 JARI-ERIK NURMI

learned in family interaction. Nurmis (1987a) findings suggest that the

internality of mothers beliefs correlates positively with their adolescent
childrens internality concerning future education.
Peers also influence adolescents future orientation in a variety of
ways. As contemporaries are at the same stage of their life, they provide
incentives for thinking about current life-tasks. The peer group also pro-
vides individuals with the opportunity of comparing ones own behavior
with that of others. Finally, contemporaries influence adolescents think-
ing about the future by peer-group pressure.
Cognitive Development and Adolescents Orientation to the Future
It has been suggested that the evident increase in cognitive skills
throughout the years of late childhood and adolescence (Keating, 1980)
influences future orientation (e.g., Trommsdorff, 1986) in a variety of
ways. The role of formal operations, in particular, has been emphasized.
I will now outline how cognitive development influences adolescents
planning for the future.
First, acquiring formal operations during early adolescence enables a
person to formulate hypotheses which are contrary to fact and mentally to
explore many possible courses of action (Elkind, 1980). This capability is
expected to help adolescents set future goals which they are not able to
realize immediately and also to construct alternative action plans in their
minds (Blasi & Hoeffel, 1974). According to Keating (1980), planning
based on anticipatory knowledge, problem definition, and strategy selec-
tion seem to be used more frequently by adolescents than children and
more frequently by older adolescents than younger ones. Second, acquir-
ing formal operations also increases peoples ability to conceptualize their
own thoughts which is reflected in the increase of metacognition (Keat-
ing, 1980). These metacognitive skills are important, particularly in situ-
ations in which people have problems in achieving a specific goal and in
which, therefore, the action strategies have to be changed. For example,
Pea and Hawkins (1987) showed that 1l- to lZyear-olds apply more meta-
planning decisions compared with 8- to 9-year-olds (see also Kreitler &
Kreitler, 1987).
Third, formal operations enable young people better to conceptualize
the thoughts of other people. However, since adolescents cannot differ-
entiate between concerns toward which others thoughts are directed and
their own concerns, this leads to egocentrism and the importance of
imaginary audience (Elkind, 1967, 1980): adolescents believe that peo-
ple in general are as obsessed by their behavior as they are themselves.
This tendency to be very concerned what others think can be expected to
increase the social influence of parents and peers on adolescents thinking
about the future. It has been suggested that egocentrism and the related
 ADOLESCENTS FUTURE ORIENTATION 13

importance of an imaginary audience dimish by the age of 15 to 16 (El-

kind, 1967).
However, studies have shown either low correlations or no relationship
at all between cognitive skills and levels of planning for the future. Greene
(1986), for example, found no correlation between a Piagetian-type of test
measuring formal operations and coherence of future thinking. This may
be due to the fact that concrete operational thinking typical of preadoles-
cents may be perfectly adequate for the purpose of hypothesizing about
the future and of making plans (Blasi & Hoeffel, 1974). On the other hand,
Nurmi (1989b) reported positive but low correlations between intelligence
measures and levels of planning, realization, and knowledge about the
future. Similarly, a number of studies showed positive but low correla-
tions between intelligence measures and effective planning (Kreitler &
Kreitler, 1987; McGillicuddy-De Lisi et al. 1987; Pea & Hawkins, 1987).
In all, the framework introduced here differs in a number of ways from
those applied earlier in this research field (reviews: Hoornaert, 1973;
Rakowski, 1979; de Volder, 1979). First, future orientation here is put into
the context of modern psychological concepts, such as goals, plans, sche-
mata, and causal attributions. It was described in earlier research only in
terms of this specific research field which was not associated with other
fields of psychology (Hoornaert, 1973; de Volder, 1979). The application
of modern psychological theory facilitates the comparison of research on
future orientation with that in other pertinent fields, such as the develop-
ment of planning skills, identity formation, and career decision making.
Second, future orientation is described here as a process which consists
of three substages, goal-setting, planning, and evaluation. Earlier re-
search in the field typically described it in terms of intraindividual traits
(e.g., Agarwal & Tripathi, 1980; Rappaport, Enrich, & Wilson, 1985);
how these traits might be interrelated has not been further discussed
(Hoornaert, 1973; de Volder, 1979). In contrast, the process approach
applied here provides an analytical tool to promote the understanding of
the relationships between the different substages involved through the
analysis of their role in future-oriented behavior. Third, it is emphasized
that life-span-related changes in normative expectations influence the de-
velopment of adolescents future orientation. It is suggested that there are
changes not only in orientation to the future, but also in the context in
which it develops, as adolescents grow older. Although the importance of
expectations concerning life-span development has also been discussed
earlier (Lessing, 1972; Trommsdorff, 1986), a systematic effort was made
here, for the first time, to describe their influence on future orientation.
Finally, the development of orientation to the future is characterized as a
transactional process influenced by normative parental expectations, tu-
toring, role models, and emotional support during childhood and adoles-
14 JARI-ERIK NURMI

cence. Although the role of social context has also been discussed earlier
(Trommsdoti, 1983, 1986), no similar description of the developmental
processes has been published.
The review of research on adolescents future orientation which follows
is based on this theoretical approach. First, however, I would like to say
a few words about the methods applied in the field.
METHODS USED IN THE RESEARCH FIELD
Since orientation to the future is described here in terms of motivation,
planning activity, and evaluation, only studies that provide information
about these three processes are included in the overview of methods and
the subsequent review of earlier studies. More specifically, only studies
concerning the (1) content and temporal extension of future-oriented in-
terests and goals, (2) related levels of knowledge, planning, realization
and, finally, (3) affects and causal attributions concerning them are dis-
cussed. Other types of methods, such as abstract or projective measures,
which have also been used in the research field, are not discussed here
(reviews: Hoornaert, 1973; de Volder, 1979). The major reason for ex-
cluding such studies from the review is that they do not provide data
about the processes involved in the model presented.
Future-oriented motives, interests, and goals have typically been stud-
ied by asking people what kind of hopes and fears (Nurmi, 1987b; Tromms-
dorff, Burger, & Fuchsle, 1982) or expectations (Mehta, Rohila, Sund-
berg, & Tyler, 1972) they have concerning the future. Then, the content
of these hopes, fears, and expectations has been analyzed by classifying
them according to the topics they concern. Although the content catego-
ries used vary from one study to another, the most frequently occurring
ones include future occupation/profession, education/schooling, leisure
activities, family/marriage, property, and self-actualization (e.g., Mehta
et al., 1972; Trommsdorff et al., 1982).
Peoples interests also vary according to how far into the future they
expect them to be realized. This dimension has been characterized as
temporal extension, time-span, or protension of thinking about the future
(Poole & Cooney, 1987). Temporal extension was investigated in the stud-
ies reviewed by asking participants to list their hopes or expectations
concerning the future and then to estimate the time by which they expect
these hopes and aims to be realized (e.g., Wallace & Rabin, l%O; Tromms-
dorff et al., 1982). Temporal extension is then scored either (a) by the age
of the subject at the moment of the realization of the hope or (b) in years
from the time of the study to the point of time the hope is expected to be
realized.
Studies concerning planning activity are scarce. In a few, however,
levels ofplanning and realization and coherence concerning the future are
 ADOLESCENTS FUTURE ORIENTATION 15

measured. Verstraeten (1980), for example, asked students to produce

goals and aims using Nuttins (1985) Motivational Inventory. Then, the
subjects were requested to write down how they were going to accom-
plish each goal. In addition, they were asked to write down whether they
had done anything concrete to achieve the goal. On the basis of the
answers, the levels of planning activity and realization were analyzed.
Similarly, Nurmi (1987b, 1989b) analyzed the complexity of future-
oriented plans, their level of realization, and the level of knowledge in-
volved as they were verbally reported in the interview. Studies based on
a self-rated level of planning have also been carried out (Cameron, Desai,
Bahador, & Dremel, 1977-78).
According to the model presented, evaluation of the future is based on
causal attributions and affects. Causal attributions concerning the future
have usually been measured by asking subjects to rate the extent to which
they believe they can exert control over the realization of their hopes and
fears (Nurmi, 1987b; Trommsdorff et al., 1982). Other dimensions of cau-
sal attribution, e.g., their stability and globality (Weiner, 1985), have not
featured in the studies.
On the other hand, affects concerning the future have been measured
using a variety of methods. For example, optimism has been investigated
by analyzing the content of written essays (Monks, 1968). Affects have
also been measured by asking people to rate the likelihood of the realiza-
tion of their hopes, indicating optimism (Trommsdorff et al., 1982), or by
asking them to evaluate their overall hopefulness concerning the future
(Nurmi, 1987b). Furthermore, the relative proportion of future events
rated as pleasant compared with those rated as unpleasant has been used
as an index of optimism concerning the future (Poole & Cooney, 1987).
There are a number of problems with the methods, particularly consid-
ering the conceptualization introduced here. First, they yield relatively
basic information about orientation to the future. For example, in none of
the studies reviewed was future orientation investigated as a multistage
process. Neither has the hierarchical structure of future-oriented interests
and life-goals been examined. Second, the methods used vary to a great
extent from one study to another, even if only those which provide data
about the major concepts of the model introduced here are considered.
This lack of standardized methodology makes it difficult to compare the
results of various studies. Third, studies on future orientation apply ques-
tionnaire and interview methods. However, the extent to which these
measures correlate with peoples actual behavior in situations which in-
volve future-oriented planning and decision making has not been inves-
tigated. Finally, there is also a wide variety of ways of measuring con-
textual factors. For example, measures of family relationships vary from
one study to another.
16 JARI-ERIK NURMI

RESEARCH ON ADOLESCENTS FUTURE ORIENTATION

AND PLANNING
Using the theoretical framework and classification of the methods pre-
sented as a basis, research on adolescents orientation to the future and
the factors determining its development will now be summarized. First,
the interest adolescents have in the future and how far their thinking
extends are analyzed. Then, the development of future-oriented motiva-
tion, planning activity, and evaluation is reviewed. Next, the role of de-
velopmental context is analyzed by examining the effects of sex, socio-
economic status, and family interaction on adolescents thinking about
the future. The samples, methods, and major results of the studies are
summarized in Table 1. Finally, cross-cultural differences in adolescents
future orientation are reviewed.

What Interests in and Concerns about the Future Do

Adolescents Have?
Goals and expectations. All the studies concerning the content of
hopes, aims, and expectations show that adolescents are most interested
in their future occupation and education. Monks (1968) reported results
among Dutch adolescents showing that the most frequent statements
were those referring to school and vocation. Similar results were found in
a number of studies using different types of method (Gillies, Elmwood, &
Hawtin, 1985; Meissner, 1961; Nurmi, 1987b, 1989b; Poole & Cooney,
1987; Seginer, 1988a, 1988b; von Wright & Rauste-von Wright, 1977).
Moreover, in contrast to many other contents of thinking about the fu-
ture, no major cross-cultural differences have been found in interests
concerning future occupation and education (Mehta et al., 1972; Solan-
taus, 1987; Sundberg, Poole, & Tyler, 1983). The next most common
topics that adolescents are interested in are future family and marriage,
leisure activities, and the material aspects of life (Gillies et al., 1985;
Gillispie & Allport, 1955; Monks, 1968; Nurmi, 1987b, 1989b; Seginer,
1988a, 1988b). However, the results vary to a great extent according to a
number of variables such as age, gender, and culture (Gillispie & Allport,
1955; Mehta et al., 1972; Solantaus, 1987; Sundberg et al., 1983). This will
be discussed in detail later.
The results suggest that adolescents goals and interests concern the
major developmental tasks (Havighurst, 1948/1974) of late adolescence
and early adulthood, such as future education, occupation, family, and
the material aspects of their future life. Interestingly, when Dreher and
Oerter (1986) asked adolescents directly about their thoughts on devel-
opmental tasks, they found that young people, at the ages of 15 and 16,
were aware of them and also consciously active in coping with them. As
 ADOLESCENTS FUTURE ORIENTATION 17

a negation of interests, adolescents are also concerned about the occur-

rence of events they feel to be threatening. Next, I will examine what
studies show about these concerns.
Fears and concerns. Although the content of adolescents fears and
worries varies according to a number of factors, such as age, culture
(Solantaus, 1987), and methods used (Nurmi, 1988a), adolescents seem to
be concerned about three major topics. First, they have been shown to
express a number of worries and concerns related to normative life-tasks,
such as getting a job and a good education, and starting a family. For
example, the threat of unemployment (Gillies et al.; Goldberg et al., 1985;
Solantaus, 1987), school failure (Payne, 1988), and divorce in the future
(Rauste-von Wright, 1987) have been shown to be reflected in their think-
ing. Second, adolescents seem to be concerned about the non-normative
events related to their parents and present family. For example, American
and Caribbean adolescents have been reported to be concerned about the
health of their parents, while Soviet children were more concerned about
the possibility of their parents divorce (Chivian et al., 1985; Goldenring
& Doctor, 1984; Payne, 1988). The third class of adolescents worries
concerns societal events, especially the threat of nuclear war, a topic that
has recently been the subject of a great deal of research (Goldberg et al.,
1985; Goldenring & Doctor, 1984; Nurmi, 1988a; Solantaus, 1987; Solan-
taus, Rimpela, & Taipale, 1984; for a review, see Solantaus, Rimpela, &
Rahkonen, 1985).
If adolescents major concerns and worries are compared with their
hopes and aims, the results seem to show a polarization of thinking (see
also Poole & Cooney, 1987): adolescents are positively interested in top-
ics related to their personal future, such as future occupation, education,
and family. On the other hand, many are concerned about global and
societal threats, such as nuclear war and unemployment. From this po-
larization, one interesting issue arises: how do global threats influence
adolescents thinking about their own future? Interestingly, however,
when these relationships have been studied, it has been shown that ex-
perience of the threat of war does not decrease adolescents thinking
about and planning for their personal future life (Goldberg et al., 1985;
Nurmi, 1988a, 1989b). On the contrary, adolescents who experience the
threat of war have been found to be more interested in their future family
and occupation than other youths (Nurmi, 1988a). These results indicate
that, although adolescents are concerned about the global threats which
they feel powerless to influence, they are able simultaneously to plan their
own future.
How Far into the Future Does Adolescents Thinking Extend?
One of the most frequently studied dimensions of adolescents future
 TABLE 1
SUMMARYOF STUDIESON ADOLESCENTS'ORIENTATIONTOTHE FUTURE
Independent Dependent
Study Sample Age Method variables variables Main results
Bentley (1983) 98 Scottish, 12-25 Questions Sex, culture Extension Boys extended further into the future
106 Swazi concerning (age), than girls
the future, content
questionnaire
Cameron, Desai, 1031 9-65 Expected Age, social Planning 14- to 17-year-olds planned their
Bahador, & Americans future class future less compared with 18- to
Dremel (1977-78) events, 25-year-olds. 7
interview $
Subjects from a higher social class
claimed that they plan their future 54
more than the lower class subjects. cz
Cartron-Guerin & 80 French 12-15 Questionnaire Age, sex Content, Older adolescents and males
Levy (1980) on future extension projected further into the future.
family and
Older adolescents and females gave
career
greater importance to their future
family.
Freire, Gorman, & 54 Americans 7-11 Future Social class Content Lower class children have
Wessman (1980) expectancies, expectations related to playing,
interview moving, travelling, whereas higher
class children have more
expectations related to job,
marriage/children, and home.
Gillies, Elmwood, 1797 English 11-16 Hopes & fears Age, sex Content Among future hopes employment,
& Hawtin (1985) questionnaire wealth, and a happy marriage were
prominent.
 More girls than boys hoped for a
happy marriage, and more boys
than girls desired wealth.
The most common fear was
unemployment. Its proportion also
increased with age.
Goldberg et al. 2000 13-19 Fears & hopes Age, sex Content Among future fears, nuclear war and
(1985) Americans questionnaire unemployment were most
prominent. Worries about nuclear
war decreased with age, while
worries about unemployment
increased with age.
Goldenring & 1000 11-19 Future worries Content Among future worries, the death of
Doctor ( 1984) Americans check list parents and nuclear war were most
prominent.
Greene (1986) 60 Caucasians 15-19 Future events Age, sex Extension Older students extended more into
in the U.S. questionnaire (age), the distant future (by age). No age
coherence. differences in coherence.
Klineberg (1967) 90 French l&17 Future events Age, Extension Older adolescents expressed longer
interview delinquents (age), extension (in age) compared with
vs. coherence younger ones.
non-delinquents
Older adolescents future orientation
was more consistent compared
with that of younger ones.
Maladjusted children extend further
into the future compared with
normal children, while normal
youths extend further into the
future than maladjusted ones.
 TABLE I-Continued
Independent Dependent
Study Sample Age Method variables variables Main results
Lamm, Schmidt, & 100 West 1416 Hopes & fears Sex, social Content, Girls voiced more hopes and fears in
Trommsdorff Germans questionnaire class extension the private sphere, including
(1976) (years). family. Boys listed a greater
internality amount of occupational hopes and
fears.
Girls were more external in their %
future thinking compared with :
boys. E
R
Middle-class adolescents voiced more
hopes relating to public life and cz
have more extended future
orientation than lower-class
adolescents.
Lessing (1972) 168 Americans 9-15 girls Future events Age Extension Younger girls have more extended
questionnaire (years) future orientation than older girls.
Levine, Spivack, 47 Americans 1l-19 Future events Age Extension Older boys placed events farther into
Fuschillo, & delinquent questionnaire (age) the future (by age) than younger
Tavemier (1959) boys boys.
Meissner (1961) 1278 13-18 boys Future worries Age Content General areas of worry were school,
Americans questionnaire sex, popularities, immorality, and
vocational future.
School topics decreased with age,
whereas worries concerning future
vocation increased.
Monks (1968) 1424 Dutch 14-21 Future outlook Sex Content Adolescents were most interested in
essay school, vocation, and future family
and home.
Boys were more interested in school
and vocation, whereas girls were
more concerned about future
family and marriage. Boys also
have clearer concepts about
political and social procedures. 6
148 Finnish lo-19 Hopes and Age, sex, Content, Hopes relating to occupation, 0
Nurmi (1987b)
fears social class, extension education, and family increased L
interview family (years), with age. 8
atmosphere planning,
Extension of future thinking 2
v)
knowledge
decreased, whereas the levels of
knowledge and planning increased z
with age.
Girls had more hopes concerning 3
m
future family but did not have
fewer hopes concerning vocation or $i;;
education.
Adolescents from the higher social z
classes projected further into the =!
future in the vocational domain 2
compared with lower-class
adolescents.
A negative climate in the family is
negatively related to future
planning among 1I-year-olds but
positively related to future planning
among 1%year-olds. h)
 TABLE l-Continued
_-~
Independent Dependent
Study Sample Age Method variables variables Main results
Nurmi (1989a) 218 Finnish IO-15 Hopes and Age, sex, - Content, Adolescents were most interested in
(longitud. fears time of extension, future education, occupation,
& interview study planning, family, and property. Hopes
cross-sect.) internality, concerning education increased,
affect whereas hopes concerning leisure
activites decreased with age.
Both I I- and IS-year-olds extended in
their thinking to about the age of
20.
Levels of planning, realization, and
knowledge increased with age.
Internality and optimism concerning
the future increased with age,
especially among boys.
ORand & Ellis 80 Americans 17-19 boys Future events Social class Extension Higher class adolescents extended
(1974) questionnaire (age) further into the future compared
with lower class subjects.
Poole & Cooney 440 1415 Future events Culture, sex, Content, Adolescents most frequently
(1987) Australians, questionnaire social class extension mentioned future work, education,
162 (years), and family.
Singaporeans affects
Adolescents from high social
backgrounds were more interested
in education and travelling but less
 interested in topics related to work
than those from lower social class
backgrounds.
Females had shorter extension than
males.
Pulkkinen (1984) 154 Finnish 20 Interview Sex, family, Content, Girls were more oriented toward
Longitudinal atmosphere planning, future family and more worried
study realism about occupation, whereas boys
(8-20) were more oriented toward
financial matters and more worried
about the possibility of war.
Good relationships with parents were
related to clarity of plans and
optimism.
Seginer (1988b) 226 lsraeli High-school Hopes & fears Sex, urban Content, Adolescents were most interested in
Jews seniors questionnaire vs. kibbutz specificity or concerned about entering the
army, future education, work,
family, and marriage.
Urban adolescents have a more
detailed and elaborate image of
military service than kibbutz
adolescents.
Solantaus, Rimpela, 1757 Finnish 12-18 Hopes & fears Age Hopes concerning work and
& Rahkonen questionnaire employment were most frequent.
(1985) The top worry was fear of war.
Fear of war and hopes for peace
decline with age.
 TABLE I-Continued

Independent Dependent
Study Sample Age Method variables variables Main results
Solantaus (1987) 600 Austrians, 11-15 Hopes & fears Culture, age, Content Hopes concerning work and
596 British, questionnaire sex employment were most frequent
665 Finnish for all national groups.
Hopes and worries concerning work
and employment increased with
age. Hopes for a future family
increased with age among Finns.
In all countries, boys expressed more
hopes about the material aspects of
life and fewer worries about their
future family compared with girls.
Trommsdorff & 200 girls and 14-16 Hopes & fears Sex, social Content, Higher-class subjects had more
Lamm (1975) boys, 200 questionnaire class, extension extended future orientation than
males and 35-45 adolescents (years) lower-class subjects.
females vs. adults
Females were more concerned about
family-related topics.
Trommsdorff et al. 48 West 11-15 Hopes & fears Age, Coherence, l5-year-olds structured their hopes
(1978) Germans questionnaire parental externality related to their future family more
support precisely than 1l- and 13-year-olds.
15-year-olds expected to have less
personal influence on the future
than 1I-year-olds.
 Adolescents experiencing little
parental support were less
optimistic about their future and
also more external in their future
thinking. They also showed less
extension and differentiation with
regard to their economic and
occupational future.
Girls hopes related to family were ti
more structured than boys, 0
whereas boys hopes related to L
material domain were more w
structured than girls.
Trommsdorff, 48 West Longitudinal Hopes & fears Age, school Content, Older subjects have more hopes and 2~
Lamm, & Germans study questionnaire form extension fears related to occupation and
Schmidt (1979) (14-16 and (years), personal growth. 2
16-18) externality 2
Boys have more extended future
orientation compared with girls, E
especially in older age groups. E
F;
Low-status subjects voiced more
hopes and fears related to 3
occupational domain. 5
Low-status subjects after g
participating in working life were
more internal than high-status
subjects.
Tyszkowa (1980) 520 Polish 11-15 Expected life Social class Planning Lower-class adolescents planned
situation at their vocational and educational
age 30, domains less than higher-class
questionnaire adolescents.
E
 TABLE l-Continued

Dependent
Study Sample Age Method variables variables Main results
-
Verstraeten (1980) 113 Belgians 15-17 Goals & Age, sex Extension Older subjects showed more
desires (age), extended future orientation (by
realization age) than younger subjects. They
also show more realization of their
goals and lower subjective
probability evaluations than
younger subjects.
More girls than boys have wants
concerning their adulthood.
Girls also have more elaborated
aspirations in the educational
domain compared with boys.
Vincent (1965) 48 Americans l&15 Expected life Social class Extension Children from a high social class
events (years) looked further into the future
interview compared with low-class children.
Webb & Myers 160 Americans 9-19 Expected life Age Extension A U-shape relationship between age
(1974) events (years) and extension: the youngest age
questionnaire group has the most extended future
orientation, whereas 15-year-olds
have the shortest and 18-year-olds
the next shortest extension.
von Wright & 209 Finnish 17-18 Questions Sex Content, Boys were interested in more distant
Rauste-von concerning extension events than girls.
Wright (1977) the future, (age) Girls were more interested in studies
questionnaire and vocation cornoared with bovs.
 ADOLESCENTS FUTURE ORIENTATION 27

orientation is how far into the future their goals and expectations extend.
The results show that young people, whatever their age and cultural back-
ground, extend in their thinking to the end of the second and the beginning
of the third decade of life. For example, Sundberg et al. (1983) found that
average orientation among American, Indian, and Australian adolescents
ranged from 18.3 years of age for Indian girls to 20.4 years of age for
Australian girls. Similar results were found by Nurmi (1987b) for Finnish
adolescents and by Poole and Cooney (1987) for Australian and Singa-
porean adolescents. These results are consistent with findings concerning
the content of interests and goals, because the developmental tasks they
typically concern, such as future occupation, education, and family, are
expected to be actualized just at the end of the second and the beginning
of the third decade of life.
Nurmi (1987a, 1989b) recently investigated the role of anticipated life
events in adolescents orientation to the future by comparing the mean
extensions of future goals according to content. The results showed that
adolescents anticipated that their hopes for their future education would
be actualized, on average, at the age of 18.1, for leisure activities at the
age of 18.5, for occupation/profession at the age of 22.5, for a future
family at the age of 25.0, and, finally, for property at the age of 25.2
(Nurmi, 1989b). These results suggest that adolescents future-oriented
goals and interests, and also their time-span, reflect the cultural
prototype of anticipated life-span development: Young people expect to
finish their education first, then to get a job, third to get married, and
finally, to build up a material basis for their later life. Interestingly, only
few 1l- to 15-year-old adolescents expressed hopes which they expected
to be realized after the age of 30 (Nurmi, 198917).
The Development of Future-Oriented Motivation, Planning Activity,
and Evaluation
The developmental changes in orientation to the future will now be
analyzed separately for motivation, planning activity, and evaluation.
Since development measured as age is a complex variable consisting of a
whole range of influencing factors, such as physiological maturation, de-
velopment of cognitive skills, and age-related changes in social context,
the mechanisms responsible for the age differences will also be discussed.
Interests, goals, and concerns. Studies based on age-group compari-
sons show that adolescents become more interested in and concerned
about their future occupation (Gillies et al., 1985; Goldberg et al., 1985;
Meissner, 1961; Nurmi, 1987b; Solantaus, 1987; Trommsdorff, Lamm, &
Schmidt, 1979), education (Nurmi, 1987b) and family (Cartron-Guerin &
Levy, 1982; Nurmi, 1987b) with age. Nurmi (1989b) recently found similar
results using longitudinal data. He also reported considerable stability of
28 JARI-ERIK NURMI

interest concerning future education and occupation over a 4-year period

during early adolescence. On the other hand, Nurmis results show that
adolescents become less interested in leisure activities as they grow older.
In sum, it seems that, as adolescents grow older, they become increas-
ingly interested in developmental tasks concerning future education, oc-
cupation, and family. Moreover, young people seem to become interested
in the life-tasks of late adolescence (e.g., education) earlier than they do
in the tasks of early adulthood (e.g., future occupation and family)
(Nurmi, 1989a). However, increasing interest in occupation seems to
arise during late childhood: Oppenheimer and Van der Wilk (1987) found
that changes in interest from imaginary heroes referring to power and
fame to more realistic orientation, including professional goals, take place
between the ages of 8 and 11.
Extension of interests. Results concerning development before adoles-
cence (Kreitler & Kreitler, 1987) show that, at the beginning of the second
decade of life, children are both interested in and able to think about
events touching on the far future. I now intend to investigate how exten-
sion of thinking about the future develops after this period, during ado-
lescence. However, in order to find a consistent pattern of results and
unlike previous reviews (e.g., de Volder, 1979), the studies will be
grouped according to how the extensions were measured.
The first group of studies, measuring extension by age ofparticipants,
shows that older adolescents thinking extends further into their life span
compared with that of younger adolescents (Greene, 1986; Klineberg,
1967; Levine, Spivack, Fuschillo, & Tavernier, 1959; Verstraeten, 1980).
In contrast, when extension is measured by years from the point ofstudy,
the results show that younger adolescents extend further into the future
compared with relatively older adolescents (Lessing, 1972; Webb & May-
ers, 1974). Nurmi (1987b) even found both tendencies in one study when
he investigated orientation to the future among adolescents aged 11 to 18.
These results indicate that extension measured by years is longer for
younger than for older adolescents and decreases with age as the realiza-
tion of the developmental tasks or milestone events (Lessing, 1972) ap-
proach in time. However, there seems to be a tendency for older adoles-
cents to orient, at least to some extent, toward more distant stages of their
life span compared with younger adolescents.
Planning for the future. Recently, a growing number of studies have
been carried out on the development of childrens planning skills (see
Friedman et al., 1987). These studies show, not surprisingly, that planning
efficiency increases with age (Kreitler & Kreitler, 1987; Pea & Hawkins,
1987)and that, at least by the age of 10 to 11, children have acquired basic
planning skills (Oppenheimer, 1987). However, it seems that planning
skills continue to develop after this age up to the early 2Os, as shown by
 ADOLESCENTS FUTURE ORIENTATION 29

Dreher and Oerter (1987). I will now proceed to examine whether this
development is also characteristic of planning for the future.
Most results show that the levels of planning, realization, and cognitive
structuring concerning the future increase as adolescents grow older. Ver-
straeten (1980) studied verbally reported plans among 15 to 17-year-olds
and found that realism in thinking about the future measured against the
levels of planning and realization of future goals increased with age. Sim-
ilarly, using both cross-sectional (Nurmi, 1987b) and longitudinal data
(Nurmi, 1989b), Nurmi found that 1l- to 18-year-old adolescents levels of
knowledge, planning, and realization concerning future goals increased
with age. In addition, Cameron et al. (1977-78) found that 14- to 17-
year-olds assessed the level of their future planning lower than 18- to
25year-olds did. Nurmis (1989b) results, which were based on analysis
of the complexity of future-oriented plans in terms of the means-end
relationship used, seem to suggest that the development of plans and the
level of their realization are more quantitative than qualitative by nature.
Results concerning coherence of thinking about the future are more
contradictory: While Klineberg (1967), in a study of lo- to 17-year-old
adolescents, found that coherence of future orientation increased with
age, Greene (1986) found no age effect among adolescents aged 15 to 19
using a similar coherence measure. Coherence was measured as consis-
tency between the arrangement of future events according to the time of
their realization in two tasks, and it is possible that it taps a different type
of processing than the planning measures reviewed above.
The fact that levels of planning, realization, and knowledge concerning
the future increase with age may be due either to the development of
cognitive skills or to contextual changes in the planning situation during
adolescence. However, when the influence of cognitive skills on planning
for the future has been studied, the results show either low correlations
(Nurmi, 1989b) or no relationships at all (Greene, 1986)between the levels
of cognitive skills and planning activity. Another possible reason why
levels of planning and realization increase with age concerns the changes
in the planning context (Cantor 8z Kihlstrom, 1987). In this case, planning
for the future may become more meaningful and also more encouraged by
parents and teachers as adolescents grow older. For example, adolescents
are usually encouraged to plan their education just before the end of
secondary school at the age of 14 to 15. Similar important periods of
contextual changes in life-planning may be identified for occupation and
future family as well. However, research on the extent to which the
development of life-planning is determined by contextual changes at dif-
ferent stages of adolescence has not been carried out.
Causal attributions and affects concerning the future. Only a few stud-
ies concerning the development of causal attributions and affects related
30 JARI-ERIK NURMI

to the future have been published. Nurmis (1989b) results showed that
preadolescents beliefs about the future become more internal with age.
He further suggested that the increase in internality may reflect adoles-
cents growing opportunities for controlling their life. In contrast to Nur-
mis results, however, Trommsdorff, Burger, Fuchsle, and Lamm (1978)
reported decreasing internality during early adolescence. Nurmi (1989b)
also reported sex differences in the development of optimism. His results
showed that the increase in optimism applied more to boys, whereas girls
showed a tendency to become more pessimistic with age. These results
are similar to those reviewed by Petersen (1988) showing that girls, in
contrast to boys, appear to display increased depressive affect over the
adolescent period.
How Does Social Context Injluence Adolescents Future-Oriented
Motivation, Planning, and Evaluation?
In interaction with their parents, peers, and teachers, children learn
normative expectations concerning life-span development, related role
models, and behavioral standards. However, normative life-span devel-
opment and related cultural knowledge differ according to a number of
factors, such as sex, socioeconomic status, and the subculture in which
the children are living (Dannefer, 1984). In addition, the skills, coping
strategies, and attributional styles, which children apply when coping
with major life-tasks and which they learn in their home are also likely to
vary along similar lines. To investigate how social context influences
future-oriented motivation, planning, and evaluation, I will now turn to
studies concerning the effects of sex, socioeconomic status, and family
interaction on adolescents thinking about the future.
Sex roles. Culture-bound expectations concerning life-span develop-
ment vary to large extent according to sex. Traditionally, males partici-
pate more actively in education and working life, whereas females are
more involved in family and domestic activities. Not surprisingly, studies
on sex differences in adolescents orientation to the future show that boys
tend to be more interested in the material aspects of life, whereas girls are
more oriented toward their future family. Gillispie and Allport (1955)
found in their extensive cross-cultural study that more girls than boys
hoped for a happy marriage and more boys than girls desired wealth.
Similar results have been found in a number of studies (Cartron-Guerin &
Levy, 1982; Gillies et al., 1985; Pulkkinen, 1984; Solantaus, 1987). Fur-
thermore, Lueptow (1984) found that male and female responses to the
life goal items were stereotypic. Girls value religion, making contribution
to society, and family, while boys stress showing others, luxury, status,
and success. However, there was no sex difference in the importance of
occupation as a life goal. Oppenheimer and van der Wilk (1987) reported
 ADOLESCENTS FUTURE ORIENTATION 31

results showing a typical sex-related pattern in childrens interests as

early as the age of 5, suggesting that sex-typical thinking develops in early
childhood. Interestingly, Trommsdorff et al. (1978) found that girls hopes
for a future family were more structured than boys, while boys hopes in
material domains were more structured than those of girls. This results
suggests that sex roles influence not only adolescents interests but also
their knowledge about these topics.
Results concerning the influence of sex on how far into the future
adolescents thinking extends are contradictory. A number of studies
show that boys extend further into the future compared with girls (Bent-
ley, 1983; Cartron-Guerin & Levy, 1982; Poole & Cooney, 1987; Tromms-
dorff et al., 1979; von Wright & Rauste-von Wright, 1977), whereas some
other studies (Greene, 1986; Nurmi, 1987b; Verstraeten, 1980) found no
sex differences in extension. Results showing that boys thinking extends
further into the future compared with girls thinking may be due to the sex
differences in the content of adolescents interests, as was shown before:
girls shorter time span may be due to the fact that they have more
female-type interests, such as getting married and having a lower level of
education, where the realization time is objectively situated in the more
immediate future compared with the contents which interest the boys,
i.e., occupation and the material aspects of life. Furthermore, Lamm,
Schmidt, and Trommsdorff (1976) found that, although girls future ori-
entation was directed toward the attainment of occupational goals, their
thinking concerned goals that extended rather less far into the future
compared with boys.
In all, boys and girls were shown to differ in particular according to the
content of their interests and related temporal extension. This may be due
to the differences in normative life-span development between males and
females. However, some cross-cultural variation in the influence of sex
on adolescents thinking about the future has been found. This will be
discussed in detail later.
Socioeconomic status. The few studies carried out on the influence of
socioeconomic status on the content of adolescents interests show that
future working life is more emphasized in the thinking of lower-class
adolescents, whereas middle-class adolescents tend to be more interested
in education, career, and leisure activities (Poole & Cooney, 1987;Tromms-
dorff et al., 1979). Moreover, Lamm et al. (1976) found that middle-class
adolescents voiced more hopes relating to public life than personal life
compared with lower-class adolescents.
A number of studies also show that adolescents with a relatively high
socioeconomic status extend further into the future compared with young
people from a low socioeconomic background (Mehta et al., 1972; Nurmi,
1987b; ORand & Ellis, 1974; Trommsdorff & Lamm, 1975; Vincent,
32 JARI-ERIK NURMI

1965). Nurmi (1987b) found this to be true especially for hopes concerning
vocational interests. One possible explanation for these results is that, on
average, in the higher social classes, the principal developmental tasks
are anticipated to be actualized at a later stage of life than in the lower
classes (Nurmi, 1987b). Boocock (1978) reported results showing that
American adolescents from high status homes make major life-course
transitions at a later age than their low-status peers. As stated by Tromms-
dorff (1983, 1986), the shorter extension of lower-class adolescents re-
flects the realistic appraisal of their expected life-span rather than indi-
vidual deficiencies in thinking about the future. Most studies on the level
of planning for the future show that adolescents with a high socioeco-
nomic status tend to plan their future more than youths with a relatively
low socioeconomic position (Cameron et al., 1977-78; Trommsdorff et
al., 1978; Tyszkowa, 1980).
In all, the results suggest that adolescents socioeconomic status influ-
ences their interests and related temporal extension, reflecting differences
in anticipated life-span development.
Family context. Parent-child interaction was expected to play an im-
portant part in the development of adolescents orientation to the future:
first, by setting normative standards, parents influence the development
of their childrens interests, values, and goals. Second, parents may serve
as models for solving different developmental tasks. Third, parental sup-
port may provide a basis for adolescents internal and optimistic attitudes
toward the future. For example, Dreher and Oerter (1986) found that
adolescents frequently mentioned support from their parents as helpful
when they were asked about the factors influencing their ability to cope
with developmental tasks.
Results in the field show that family context influences adolescents
future-oriented interests and goals in a variety of ways: for example, a low
level of parental control seems to encourage them to become interested in
major developmental tasks, such as future education (Nurmi, 1989d), at a
relatively early age. This may be due to the fact that a relatively low level
of parental control increases preadolescents independence, which is fur-
ther reflected in their earlier involvement in the planning of their future
education and career compared with their contemporaries. Moreover,
parents educational goals have been shown to be associated with those of
adolescents (Kandel & Lesser, 1969). The family also seems to provide a
model for how adolescents plan to solve different developmental tasks, in
particular intimacy: A few studies seem to show that positive family
interaction (Nurmi, 1989d) and the marital happiness of parents (Niemi,
1988)encourage adolescents actively to plan for their own future marriage
and family. Parental support has been shown to increase adolescents
level of planning activity in occupational and educational domains
 ADOLESCENTS FUTURE ORIENTATION 33

(Nurmi, 1987b; Trommsdorff et al., 1978), and to increase optimism and

internality concerning the future (Nurmi, 1989d; Pulkkinen, 1984; Tromms-
dorff et al., 1978). In all, these results seem to provide some evidence for
the developmental model presented earlier.
Recently, Nurmi (1988b, 1989d) also reported developmental changes
in the effects of parent-child interaction on adolescents thinking about
the future. His research revealed that parental control plays an important
role at the age of 11, decreasing the level of optimism, whereas the level
of family discussion is important at the age of 15, increasing the level of
optimism. These results fit the hypothesis proposed by White, Speisman,
and Costos (1983), according to which the first stage of the parent-
adolescent relationship stresses the autonomy of adolescents as they seek
to establish separateness of self from parents, whereas active and mutual
interaction becomes more important during later adolescence. Nurmi
(1987b) also found, in another study, that a positive atmosphere in the
family increased the level of adolescents future planning at the age of 11,
whereas it decreased it at the age of 18. In all, these results suggest that
the role of different dimensions of family interaction in the development
of orientation to the future changes as a function of the adolescents age.
However, the relationship between parental behavior and childrens
orientation to the future is more complex. Adolescents thinking about
and planning for the future may influence parental behavior as well.
Those who are interested in major developmental tasks and who show
high levels of planning skills are likely to be controlled less and allowed
more independence than their contemporaries. Interestingly, when Seg-
iner (1983) summarized research showing that high parental expectations
were associated with childrens high educational aspirations and aca-
demic performance, she also found that parents expectations are influ-
enced by their childrens academic behavior. Consequently, family inter-
action should be described as a developing system rather than by simple
causal links.
The review so far shows that, even though the majority of adolescents
are interested in the major developmental tasks of their own age, their
future-oriented goals, plans, and related causal attributions and affects
vary to a great extent according to their age, sex, socioeconomic status,
and family context. Looking at the relative influence of these factors
provides some support for the model emphasizing the role of cultural and
social context in the development of adolescents future orientation. If the
influence of several factors were to be considered simultaneously, it
would be possible to categorize subgroups with considerable differences
in their future orientation. However, such developmental differences
have not been described so far. A need for future research in this area is
evident.
34 JARI-ERIK NURMI

Cross-Cultural Differences in Adolescents Orientation to the Future

Not surprisingly, a number of cross-cultural differences have been

found concerning adolescents future orientation, reflecting the fact that
young peoples anticipated life-span development and their life context
vary to a great extent across different cultures. Since only the major
results are reviewed here, a summary of the samples and methods used,
and the results of cross-cultural studies on adolescents future orientation
are presented in Table 2.
Adolescents interests. In all, the studies show unexpected similarity in
adolescents interests across cultures: they all seem to be most interested
in two main domains of their future life, work, and education (Gillispie &
Allport, 1955; Seginer, 1988a; Solantaus, 1987; Sundberg et al., 1983).
Since education and work play a crucial role in expected life-span devel-
opment in all the cultures involved in the research, these results are not
so surprising. All the adolescents participating in the studies reviewed
were at school and this may partly explain the cross-cultural similarities.
Cultural differences may have emerged if adolescents, in particular from
developing countries, who do not attend school, had been included.
In contrast, a number of studies show that adolescents from Anglo-
American cultures more frequently express interest in their personal hap-
piness, future family, and leisure activities, whereas young people from
traditional societies, such as India, are more oriented to their parents
family, the health and death of others, the marriage of others, and societal
topics (Gillispie & Allport, 1955; Sundberg et al., 1983). A different pat-
tern emerges, however, if Anglo-American cultures are compared with
rapidly urbanizing countries, such as Mexico and Singapore. Tallman,
Marotz-Baden, and Pindas (1983), for example, found that Mexican ado-
lescents placed greater value on material advancement in the future and
emphasized saving and retraining to a greater extent than marriage and
children compared with American youths. On the other hand, American
adolescents emphasized family-oriented activities more than Mexican ad-
olescents. Poole and Cooney (1987) found similar types of differences
between Singaporean adolescents and Australian youths, as did Seginer
(1988a) between Jewish adolescents living in a modern society and Arab
adolescents growing up under transition from a rural to a modern way of
life. Thus, even though education and career are dominant topics in ad-
olescents future outlook in all cultures, they have an especially important
role for youths living in rapidly urbanizing societies such as Mexico and
Singapore and for Israeli Arabs. One possible reason for this is that formal
education in these societies provides better opportunities for real social
success than in postindustrial societies and more traditional types of cul-
ture. However, in order better to understand these differences, more
 ADOLESCENTS FUTURE ORIENTATION 35

detailed analysis of the cultures must be included in cross-cultural com-

parisons.
Solantaus (1987) also found cross-cultural differences in adolescents
thinking about the future in comparisons of adolescents from three West-
ern types of society. The results show that Austrian adolescents, com-
pared with British and Finnish adolescents, more frequently express
hopes and worries concerning school and education, nuclear family, and
human relations. On the other hand, British youths hopes and worries
exceed others thinking in work and employment, material aspects of life
and future family, while Finnish adolescents worry less than others about
school and studies and more about war and other global affairs. These
results seem to reflect a number of specific features of the societies com-
pared. For example, societal problems threatening adolescents future
life, such as the high rate of unemployment in Great Britain, seem to be
reflected in adolescents orientation to the future. On the other hand,
Solantaus et al. (1985) proposed that the high frequency of the fear of war
among Finnish adolescents is due to the general antinuclear attitude in
Finland and to the mass media, which often broadcasts programs on the
subject.
Overall, these cross-cultural differences in interests seemed to reflect
the differences in the typical developmental tasks of each culture as well
as current societal features, e.g., level of unemployment. However, since
cross-cultural studies have not involved measures of planning for the
future or causal attributions and affects, we do not know the extent to
which these aspects of adolescents thinking vary.
Cross-cultural differences in sex roles. A number of studies show that
sex differences in adolescents orientation to the future are more evident
in the traditional societies compared with more urbanized ones. For ex-
ample, in a summary of their study, Sundberg et al. (1983) stated that
Indian adolescents showed the largest sex differences compared with
American or Australian adolescents. Similar results comparing American
and Indian adolescents were found by Heckel and Rajagopal(l975). Fur-
thermore, Bentley (1983) found that Swazi girls were less interested in
their future occupation and also had less extended future orientation com-
pared with Swazi boys and Scottish adolescents.
The influence of sex also seems to vary across Western cultures. So-
lantaus (1987) found, for example, that girls and boys in Finland did not
differ in their hopes and worries concerning work and employment, as
girls and boys in Austria and Great Britain did. A comparison of the
results of investigations by Monks (1968) and Lamm et al. (1976) and by
Nurmi (1987b, 1989b) reveals a similar pattern. The major reason for
these cross-cultural differences may be the fact that the high rate of ur-
banization in Finland during the last two decades, one of the highest in
 TABLE 2
SUMMARYOFCROSS-CULTURALSTUDIESON ADOLESCENTS'ORIENTATION TOTHE FUTURE

Sample Dependent
Study cultures 4% Method variable Results
~~
Barton 409 British, 765 12-15 Fears & hopes Content British adolescents had more hopes concerning future
(1985) Finnish questionnaire occupation and more fears concerning unemployment,
whereas Finnish youths were more concerned about %
the issue of peace and war.
12-25 Questions Content, Swazi girls were less interested in their future g
Bentley 98 Scottish, 106 Swazi
(1983) concerning extension occupation and they showed less extended future z
the future, orientation compared with other groups.
questionnaire 5
Scottish adolescents were less interested in their future
family but more in their personal happiness compared
with Swazi adolescents.
Chivian et 913 Americans, 293 12-13 Future Content For Americans the item of greatest concern was the
al. (1985) Soviets concerns death of parents, whereas for Soviet adolescents it
questionnaire was nuclear war and other global issues.
Gillispie & United States, New University Future Content, Women were more family oriented than men, whereas
Allport Zealand, South students autobiography optimism men were more concerned with economic values.
(1955) Africa, (White, American students were more interested in their own
Bantus, Indians) future family and less in their parental family
Egypt, Mexico, compared with youths from other countries.
France, Italy,
American adolescents oriented typically toward
Germany, Israel,
personal happiness and leisure activities. Students
Japan
from Anglo-American cultures were also optimistic
 and internal in their future thinking compared with
oiher groups of students.
Egyptians, Mexicans, Africans, and Bantu students
were relatively nationalistic and concerned about
social matters.
French, German, and Italian adolescents were
pessimislic and interested in building a consistent
personal character. The outstanding feature of the 6
Japanese compared with other students was the ro
stressing of virtues of duly and moral convention. !2
Kuo & 197American, 147 17-22 Academic Academic Academic goals for Chinese students were related to
2
Spees Chinese (Taiwan) go& gvals acquiring personal knowledge, while for Americans to
(1983) questionnaire obtaining professional qualifications. 2*
Chinese students said more often than Americans that
l!
their parents were most influential in deciding their
major field of study. 2
Meade 40 Americans. 40 About 20 Goal setting in Level of goals Plmerican students were more realistic in their goal ?I
(19W Hindus simple task setting.
Meade 50 Americans, SO Male Sentence Pasi vs. future Americans were more future oriented and internal 2
(1971) Hindus college completion orienlalion, compared with Hindu students.
5
students externality k
The parental family takes more care of Hindu students ti
- life planning compared with American students.
_- ..- .___~ g
 TABLE 2-Continued
Sample Dependent
Study cultures Age Method variable Results
Meade 50 from communities Male Sentence Past vs. future American males tend to be more future oriented and to
(1972) of the U.S., college completion orientation, have stronger achievement motivation compared with
Brahmia, Kshatriya, students achievement Brahmins, Vasiyas, Sudras, and Muslims. However,
Vasiya, Sudra, motivation no differences between Americans and Kshatriyas,
Muslim, Sikh, and Parsees, and Sikhs were found.
Parsee, in India
Mehta et 182 Americans, 184 13-15 Future events Content, Education and work were the most often mentioned 2
al. (1972) Indians questionnaire extension contents of future events by both sexes in both
(years) countries. E
48 Americans, 149
The Americans were more interested in their own
Indians
marriage, children, and leisure activities, whereas
Indians were more likely to refer to their own health
and other peoples courtship, marriage, and children
as well as the death of others.
Indian girls mentioned work more frequently than
American girls, whereas American girls referred more
often to autonomy.
In both countries, the high status adolescents show
more extensive future orientation than low-status
adolescents.
Poole & 440 Australians, 162 14-15 Future events Content, Singaporean adolescents were more interested in future
Cooney Singaporeans questionnaire extension education and work but less in topics concerning their
(1987) (years), future marriage.
affects
Australian adolescents had shorter median extension
than Singaporean youths.
Singaporean adolescents had a more positive outlook
about the future of society compared with
Australians.
Australian females were more interested in their future
family compared with Australian males, whereas the
converse was true for the Singaporean adolescents.
Poole, About 200 Americans, 13-15 Decision-making Auton. of American adolescents indicated the greatest degree of
Sundberg, Indians, and questionnaire decision- autonomy followed by Australians.
& Tyler Australians making
The family members have more power in
( 1982)
decision-making about adolescents future in India
compared with the U.S. or Australia.
Seginer 112 Israeli Jews, 116 High-school Hopes & fears Content, Jewish adolescents expressed fewer concerns than Arab
(1988a) Israeli Arabs seniors questionnaire specificity adolescents in future education, work, career, and
collective issues.
Arab adolescents had a more detailed and concrete
concept of future marriage and family.
Arab females had more higher education concerns than
the three other groups.
 TABLE 2-Continued
~-___-~
Sample Dependent
Study cultures Age Method variable Results
Solantaus 600 Austrians, 596 11-15 Hopes & fears Content The most frequent hope in each country concerned
(1987) British, 665 Finnish questionnaire work and employment. The top worry among
Austrians was school and studies, among the British
work, and employment, and among Finnish
adolescents nuclear war.
Austrian adolescents expressed more often than others
hopes and worries about school and studies, nuclear
family and other human relations. %
British respondents hopes and worries exceeded others $
in work and employment, the material aspects of life, w
and their future family.
5
Finnish adolescents worried more about war, global
affairs, and their own health compared with other
groups.
Finnish adolescents had sex differences in fewer
categories than others.
Adolescents from all countries expressed more hopes
and worries about work and employment with age.
Only among Finns did hopes concerning their future
family increase with age.
Sundberg, 100-300 Americans, 14-15 Future events Content, All the groups agreed about their two top future events,
Poole, & Indians, & questionnaire extension education and work.
Tyler Australians (years) Australian and Americans more often than Indians
(1983) mentioned their own courtship, marriage, and
 children as well as their leisure activities and
acquisitions. Indian adolescents mentioned more
frequently than other groups courtship and the
marriage of others, health, the death of others, and
specific occupations.
The Indian sample showed the largest sex differences,
with girls showing a short time span and boys looking
farthest into the future.
Sundberg 240 Americans, 182 14-15 Decision-making Autonomy of Indian adolescents perceived their families as being
et al. Indians questionnaire decision-making more cohesive than Americans, while American
(1969) adolescents perceived themselves as more
autonomous and decisive.
In India, the father was influential in decisions
concerning the boys future, while in the U.S., the
mother ranked higher in perceived influence.
Sundberg 48 Americans, 48 14-15 Occupation Content Dutch adolescents have the widest variety of
& Tyler Indians, 48 Dutch and occupational possibilities, American boys and Indian
(1970) free-time girls the smallest.
activities
Americans listed most free-time activities and Indian
check-list
adolescents least.
Tallman, American & Mexican 12-1s Future Content, Mexican adolescents place greater value on material
Marotz- adolescents and their decision-making family advancement in the future, whereas Americans
Baden, parents game, decision-making stressed family-oriented activities more.
& Pindas interview structure
Mexican parents were more optimistic about their
(1983)
childrens future than Americans.
Mexican families were more patriarcal in the planning of
adolescents future, whereas power related to
planning was more equally distributed across family
members in the U.S.
42 JARI-ERIK NURMI

Western Europe, has radically influenced the position of Finnish women

(Position of Women, 1984). Consequently, the fact that working outside
the home is an essential part of anticipated life-span development for
Finnish women is also reflected in girls thinking about the future.
In all, the results indicate that sex differences in adolescents interests
have their basis in the cultural context in which adolescents are living and
in the related knowledge of anticipated life-span development.
Family decision making. A number of studies show that parents role in
their childrens decision making concerning the future varies to great
extent across different cultures. For example, Poole, Sundberg, and Tyler
(1982) found that American adolescents indicated the greatest degree of
autonomy followed by Australians, whereas Indian adolescents showed
least autonomy. On the contrary, Sundberg, Sharma, Rohila, and Wodt-
lis (1969) results showed that Indian adolescents also perceived their
families as being more cohesive compared with American youths. Tall-
man et al. (1983) found that Mexican families, compared with American,
were more patriarchal in planning their adolescents future, whereas the
power related to the planning was more equally distributed across family
members in the United States. These results are of more general interest
because they suggest that the unit of planning for the future also changes
across cultures: while in Western societies, planning for the future is
mainly carried out by adolescents themselves, the whole family partici-
pates in more traditional types of society. Thus, in these societies, re-
search into individual future planning may be an inadequate way of study-
ing the whole issue of orientation to the future.
RESEARCH ON PERTINENT TOPICS
The review has so far concentrated on the development of future-
oriented motivation, planning, and evaluation. However, research has
also been carried out on pertinent aspects of adolescent development,
such as identity formation and career decision making. A summary of
some of the findings follow, in as far as they add to out knowledge about
adolescents future orientation.
Identity Formation
Research on identity development, in particular that based on the iden-
tity status approach (Marcia, 1980)and the more recent process approach
(Bosma, 1985), is closely related to the development of orientation to the
future. In Marcias (1980) model the identity status of adolescents, i.e.,
whether they are in the identity achievement, foreclosure, identity diffu-
sion, or moratorium stage, is determined by three factors: (1) the content
of commitment (e.g., vocational, ideological, and sexual orientation), (2)
the amount of exploration in these areas, and, finally, (3) the strength of
commitment to specific decisions (Bosma, 1985). In fact, each of these
 ADOLESCENTS FUTURE ORIENTATION 43

factors can be described in terms of future orientation. Content of com-

mitment is closely related to that of future-oriented motivation. On the
other hand, exploration is a prequisite of effective planning, because it
provides knowledge about different alternatives for future life. Strength of
commitment refers to the extent to which adolescents are motivated to
realize their specific goals. Rappaport et al. (1985) found recently that the
achievement and foreclosure groups, being characterized by high levels of
commitment, generally scored more highly on measures of futurity than
the diffusion and moratorium groups, showing a low level of commitment.
Bosma (1985) reformulated Marcias structural approach and described
identity formation as a developmental process. According to him, the
content of commitment depends on personal needs and the opportunities
offered by society. Therefore, commitment is not restricted to occupa-
tion, ideology, and sex, but can occur in any personally relevant areas.
Bosma also suggests that, even though the strength of commitment varies
developmentally, it is not always stronger in older adolescents than in
younger ones.
Bosmas (1985) results concerning identity formation are also similar to
those reviewed here. He found, for example, that school, occupation,
leisure-time activities, friendship, and parents were among the most im-
portant topics of exploration and commitment related to identity forma-
tion. Moreover, he showed that lack of interest in politics and ideological
issues is striking among adolescents, even though these domains of life
are expected to be one of the major topics of identity formation (Marcia,
1980). Sex differences found by Bosma (1985) were also similar to those
reviewed here: females more often considered interpersonal areas to be
important, whereas males highlighted school, occupation, politics, and
money. Bosma also found that older subjects had stronger commitment
than younger ones, but that the strength of commitment varied in different
contents. However, no clear age differences were found with regard to
the amount of exploration. This may be due to the fact that the youngest
age group of Bosmas study consisted of 13- to 16-year-old adolescents
who might be expected already to have begun their identity formation.
It has also been found that the influence of family relationships on
adolescent identity formation is similar to their influence on orientation to
the future. Since a number of reviews have been published on this topic
(Grotevant & Cooper, 1986; Marcia, 1980; Waterman, 1982), only a brief
summary of the findings follow. First, foreclosures (being low in explo-
ration but high in commitment) seem to have closest relationships with
their parents compared with other groups. There is considerable pressure
and support for adolescent conformity to family values among foreclosure
families (Marcia, 1980). Second, the parents of identity diffusion adoles-
cents (lacking both exploration and commitment) have been characterized
as indifferent, inactive, nonunderstanding, and negative (Waterman,
44 JARI-ERIK NURMI

1982). These parents do not encourage adolescent participation, which is

also reflected in the fact that adolescents are passive in family interaction
(Grotevant & Cooper, 1986). Moratorium adolescents (showing high ex-
ploration but low commitment) seem to have an ambivalent relationship
with their parents, whereas identity achievers (high exploration and high
commitment) show positive but moderately ambivalent family relation-
ships (Waterman, 1982). Both moratorium and identity achievement ad-
olescents have been shown to be critical of their parents and also likely to
report themselves as being in conflict with their family (Waterman, 1982).
In sum, close parent-child relationships seem to increase the likelihood
of early commitment in decisions concerning major developmental tasks.
Research on adolescents future orientation showed similar results (e.g.,
Nurmi, 1987b). Powers, Hauser, Schwartz, Noam, and Jacobson (1983)
also found that adolescent ego development was most advanced when
families presented a high level of noncompetitive sharing of perspectives
or challenging behavior within the context of firm support. On the other
hand, a critical attitude toward parents seems to increase the amount of
exploration, perhaps because the parental model is found to be unsatis-
factory. However, Cooper, Grotevant, and Condon (1983) and Bell and
Bell (1983) reported results showing that disagreement with the mother
and the father influence the adolescent childs exploration, ego develop-
ment and positive self-regard in different ways.
In all, research on identity formation provides a somewhat similar view
to adolescent development as does research on future orientation.
Career Decision Making
It was shown earlier that two of the major topics of adolescents future-
oriented interests were occupation and education. It is not therefore sur-
prising that vocational development has been conceptualized somewhat
similarly to future-orientation (Harren, 1979; Heppner, 1978). For exam-
ple, Harren (1979) described career decision making in terms of a four-
stage sequential process: awareness, planning, commitment, and imple-
mentation. First, based on the awareness of his or her present level of
success and satisfaction, the individual recognizes the need to explore
alternatives and begin planning. Second, the planning stage consists of
exploring task- and self-related information and settling upon a specific
alternative. Third, the individual incorporates and integrates commitment
with his or her self-concept system and, simultaneously, exaggerates the
positive aspect of the chosen alternative. Finally, during the implemen-
tation stage, the individual is inducted into the new context, then reacts to
it and, finally, is assimilated into it.
Taylor (1985) investigated the role of occupational and self-related
knowledge in career development. She found, for example, that occupa-
 ADOLESCENTS FUTURE ORIENTATION 45

tional knowledge and vocational self-concept crystallization influenced

students school-to-work transition: both the levels of occupational
knowledge and the awareness of vocational abilities and interests pre-
dicted the extent to which students received job offers both before and
after college graduation. Similarly, Neimeyer, Nevill, Probert, and Fuku-
yama (1985) found that highly integrated occupational schemata were
associated with more effective vocational decision making. Taylors
(1985) results further indicated that occupational knowledge was related
to increased exposure to job information provided by others. Self-concept
crystallization, on the other hand, was related to different experimental
activities relevant to the future occupation.
Since research on career decision making has recently been reviewed
elsewhere (Osipow, 1983; Tinsley & Heesacker, 1984; Zunker, 1986), it is
not discussed in detail here. However, findings do seem to give a view of
adolescent development somewhat similar to the present review of ado-
lescents orientation to the future. For example, older adolescents have
been shown to indicate more concern for vocational opportunities and
information about careers than younger ones (Osipow, 1983). Females
have been shown to score more highly than males on homemaking com-
mitment and career commitment, and males have been shown to express
stronger sentiment for combining home and career. On the other hand,
boys and girls were not found to differ significantly in their actual knowl-
edge about occupations (Tinsley & Heesacker, 1984). Moreover, rela-
tively more intelligent adolescents have been shown to plan more effec-
tively in general than their less intelligent contemporaries (Osipow, 1983).
The recent models and results concerning vocational development were
found to be similar to those concerning adolescents orientation to the
future. However, although career decision making plays an important
part in orientation to the future, it is only one aspect of a complex process
in which people individually cope with different developmental tasks.
ADOLESCENT PROBLEM BEHAVIOR AND ORIENTATION TO
THE FUTURE
Although the majority of adolescents were shown to be motivated to
plan their future, there is, however, a group of young people who are not
interested in major developmental tasks. Nurmi (1989b), for example,
found that 16% of ll- and Wyear-olds did not mention topics related to
future occupation or education when they were interviewed about their
future goals and plans. Even though it is a minority group, it is an impor-
tant one, because its members may manifest other types of problem be-
havior as well, such as delinquency, problems in school and drug use. A
summary of research on the relationship between adolescent problem
behavior and future orientation follows.
46 JARI-ERIK NURMI

Trommsdorff and Lamm (1980) reviewed research about delinquents

future orientation and concluded that the findings are contradictory. Ac-
cording to them, the stereotype delinquent who ignores the possible fu-
ture consequences of his or her present behavior, acts more impulsively
and is less inclined in delay of gratification has been found to be difficult
to establish. However, research does seem to suggest that the future
orientation of delinquents is less optimistic (Rychlack, 1973; Tromms-
dorff & Lamm, 1980), less structured (Trommsdorff & Lamm, 1980), less
extended (Black & Gregson, 1973; Siegman, 1961) and more oriented
toward private concerns (Trommsdorff & Lamm, 1980) compared with
normal adolescents. However, as the results are correlational by nature,
it is impossible to know whether less extended, less structured, and less
pessimistic future orientation increases the likelihood of delinquent be-
havior or vice versa. For example, general pessimism and present orien-
tation may be followed by behavior which is not influenced by possible
negative consequences. Another possibility is that being labelled as de-
linquent, and the related life context, provide a basis for pessimism and
short temporal extension.
A few studies have looked at how institutionalization, a typical life
situation for delinquents, influences adolescents orientation to the fu-
ture. Trommsdorff and Lamm (1980), for example, suggested that the
temporarily institutionalized persons orientation to the future reflects the
fact that a new beginning must be made following release: imprisoned
delinquents noted more fears pertaining to family life and personal devel-
opment and more hopes pertaining to occupation compared with a sample
of normal individuals. One typical problem of institutionalized delin-
quents may be that the time for solving different age-specific develop-
mental tasks, such as future education, occupation, and marriage, has
passed by the time of their release. This may cause extra problems for
them as they try to begin a normal adult life.
Landau (1969) also found that the date of release was a significant
boundary for the inmates future orientation: the nearer it was, the less
extended was the future orientation. This corresponds with the findings
reviewed here suggesting that anticipated life-span events provide a basis
for future-oriented interests and plans. Furthermore, Landau (1976)
showed that the closer the prisoner is to his release, the greater the
similarity between him and noninstitutionalized people.
Little research has been carried out on the relationship between future
orientation and other types of problem behavior. Trommsdorff (1986)
found that drug-using delinquents were more pessimistic than nonuser
delinquents. Gilchrist and Schinke (1987) recently reviewed studies show-
ing that adolescents who postpone sexual activity tend to have better
developed problem-solving and decision-making skills and future orien-
 ADOLESCENTS FUTURE ORIENTATION 47

tation. Moreover, young people who experience heterosexual and con-

traceptive problems appear to have a limited sense of options, poor self-
understanding, and strong denial that pregnancy is a possible conse-
quence of their behavior. However, as these results are based on
correlational procedures, it is also possible that the life context of ado-
lescents showing problem behavior influences their orientation to the
future. For example, although Mindick, Oskamp, and Berger (1977)
showed that people who suffer contraceptive failures exhibit shorter tem-
poral extension than a control group, they further suggest that differences
in future orientation are more likely to be due to changes in life context
after the experience of being pregnant than to a general attitude toward
the future.
In all, these results seem to suggest that adolescents showing a variety
of problem behavior see their future differently from their contemporar-
ies. However, some of these differences seemed to be consequences
rather than causes of problem behavior. An interesting approach to this
issue of causality was put forward recently by Trommsdorff (1986). She
suggested that delinquents thinking about the future may be part of de-
velopmental cycles that are reinforced as different types of global strat-
egy. Pessimistic future orientation, for example, influences adolescents
environmental conditions in a way that also reinforces original negative
anticipations. In this case, pessimistic, less extended, and less structured
future orientation assumes self-fulfilling qualities.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Adolescents Orientation to the Future
The review showed that the content and temporal extension of adoles-
cents interests and goals variously reflect expected life-span develop-
ment, characterized in life-span approach as developmental tasks
(Havighurst, 1948/1974), normative life-tasks (Dittmann-Kohli, 1986) or
milestone events (Lessing, 1972), and their normative time-table
(Bengtson & Black, 1973). Moreover, as adolescents grow older, they
first become interested in the developmental tasks of late adolescence
(education) and then in tasks of early adulthood (future occupation and
family) (Nurmi, 1989a). However, irrespective of their age, young people
were interested in the life events they expected to be actualized at the end
of the second and the beginning of the third decade of life. It therefore
follows that younger adolescents thinking extends further into the future
measured by years compared with relatively older ones. Interestingly
enough, it has recently been shown that only few adolescents extend their
thinking to events expected to be realized after the age of 30 (Nurmi,
1989b). Consequently, an important task for future research would be to
48 JARI-ERIK NURMI

study how orientation to the future develops during early adulthood, after
the expected realization time of the goals set during adolescence has
passed by. Nurmi (1989e) recently reported preliminary data showing
that, while interests in future education and family decrease during early
adulthood, those relating to work and property do not. Moreover, in
middle age, people seem to become increasingly interested in their chil-
drens future and their own health preoccupies them in old age.
Adolescents fears and worries relating to the future, on the other hand,
concerned threats related to the fulfillment of the major normative life-
tasks (unemployment, divorce), non-normative life-events related to their
parents family (death and divorce of parents), and global historical
events (nuclear war).
The review also revealed that, although children in their early teens
already have basic planning skills (Oppenheimer, 1987), the levels of plan-
ning, realization, and knowledge concerning the future increase with age
up to the early 20s. Since differences in cognitive skills measured by
intelligence tests seem to explain only a small proportion of individual
variance in planning activity, it was suggested that changes in life-
span-related opportunities for meaningful planning are also responsible
for the increase in planning for the future during adolescence. Similarly,
Cantor and Kihlstrom (1987) discussed the importance of the careful anal-
ysis of the life context to which individuals apply their intelligence. Fu-
ture research, therefore, could well investigate the development of plan-
ning for the future taking into account changes in planning skills, the level
of knowledge of specific life domains, and changes in contextual factors.
The studies which were reviewed covering the third process, evalua-
tion, revealed that adolescents thinking about the future becomes more
internal with age. Boys in particular become more optimistic, whereas
girls showed a tendency to become more pessimistic. Experiencing more
challenges, responding less positively to challenge, and simultaneous neg-
ative self-appraisal seem to render girls more suspectible to anxiety, and
thus to depressive affect, in adolescence (review: Petersen, 1988). One
source for the increased amount of challenge for girls may be the conflict
in the modern female role between achievement pressures in the areas of
both future family and occupation. However, since only a few studies
have investigated the development of causal attributions and affects con-
cerning the future, there is an evident need for future research on this
topic.
The review also showed that a number of factors in the life context,
such as family relationships, sex roles, and socioeconomic status, influ-
enced adolescents orientation to the future. The level of parental control
and the goals they have concerning their childrens future were found to
influence adolescents future-oriented interests. Moreover, parents seem
 ADOLESCENTS FUTURE ORIENTATION 49

to provide a model for how adolescents plan to solve different develop-

mental tasks, in particular that of intimacy. Parental support was found to
increase adolescents optimism and internality concerning the future. On
the other hand, the effects of sex roles and socioeconomic status were
interpreted as being due to the differences in anticipated life span devel-
opment between the subgroups compared. For example, it was suggested
that adolescents with high socioeconomic status extend further into the
future than those with a low socioeconomic background because of dif-
ferences between the groups in the expected time of realization of the
principal developmental tasks (Boocock, 1978). Similarly, it appears that
the sex differences in adolescents interests, and how far into the future
they extend, are due to the differences in boys and girls anticipated
life-span development.
Finally, although adolescents from a number of cultures seem to agree
about two main domains of their interests, future work and education,
consistent cross-cultural differences were also found: adolescents from
Anglo-American cultures are relatively more interested in leisure activi-
ties and personal happiness, adolescents from countries with a high rate
of urbanization seem to be relatively more interested in future education
and career, whereas adolescents from traditional cultures are most con-
cerned about topics related to their parents family. It was also interesting
to note that, in traditional societies such as India and Mexico, parents and
family participate in the planning of adolescents future to a greater extent
than in Anglo-American cultures.
Theoretical Framework
In this review, orientation to the future was described in terms of three
processes, motivation, planning activity, and evaluation. People first set
goals based on comparison between their motives and values and their
expectations concerning the future. Second, they must work out how to
realize these goals, which is typically done by means of planning. Third,
people evaluate the possibility of achieving their goals and actualizing the
plans they have constructed. Causal attributions and affects concerning
the future were thought to play an important part in this evaluation.
Orientation to the future was also described from a contextual point of
view. It was suggested that normative life events and their timetable
provide the context in which peoples future-oriented goals and interests
develop and that life-span-related changes in action opportunities were
the basis of the development of future-oriented plans and strategies.
Moreover, it seems that standards and deadlines for the successful solu-
tion of life-tasks may spark off the evaluation process involved in orien-
tation to the future. These contextual influences are seen as being medi-
ated by cultural knowledge about anticipated life-span development. The
50 JARI-ERIK NURMI

basic processes in the development of orientation to the future in family

context were also described. It was suggested that, by setting normative
standards, tutoring, and providing role models and support, parents in-
fluence their childrens future orientation.
This framework differs in a variety of ways from existing ones in this
research field (reviews: Hoornaert, 1973; Rakowski, 1979, de Volder,
1979). Earlier research typically described future-orientation in terms of
intraindividual properties. Efforts were made to establish its antecedents
(e.g., Klineberg, 1967) and consequences (Agarwal, Tripathi, & Srivas-
tava, 1983; Gjesme, 1981). The main focus of this trait-theoretical ap-
proach was the investigation of individual differences in interest in the
future and in how far into the future thinking extends, and so on. More-
over, orientation to the future was described in terms of this specific
research field which was not associated with general psychological theory
(Hoornaert, 1973; de Volder, 1979). By way of contrast, future orientation
is now placed in the context of modern psychological concepts, such as
goals, plans, schemata, attributions, and affects. It is described as a pro-
cess consisting of different substages rather than individual traits. Fur-
thermore, emphasis is placed on the role of contextual factors, such as
age-related life-tasks, action opportunities, and developmental standards,
in the development of future orientation. The application of this theoret-
ical approach provided the opportunity to reinterpret the research field
and to find a straightforward pattern of results not afforded by earlier
reviews (Rakowski, 1979; de Volder, 1979). The framework also facili-
tated comparison of research on future orientation with other pertinent
areas, such as the development of planning skills, identity formation, and
career decision making. For example, describing orientation to the future
in terms of goal-setting, planning, and evaluation in different domains of
life helped to identify connections between future orientation and identity
formation as well as some similarities in the two research fields. Finally,
an attempt was made to describe the development of orientation to the
future in a family context. Although the developmental processes in-
volved in the model are relatively general, the framework was useful in
interpreting results concerning the development of adolescents future
orientation and in suggesting directions for future research. The nature of
development has been discussed earlier (Trommsdortf, 1983, 1986), but
no similar systematic description has been presented.
Although this approach is a general framework rather than a model that
can be tested in one or two studies, two types of evidence for its construct
validity already exist. Nurmi (1989~) recently used confirmatory factor
analysis to illustrate that the model consisting of three latent constructs,
motivation, planning, and evaluation, fitted the covariance matrix of
seven observed variables based on interview data about adolescents
 ADOLESCENTS FUTURE ORIENTATION 51

goals and hopes. The present review also provided some evidence of
construct validity (Nunnally, 1978): the variables that were related to the
same theoretical construct showed a similar pattern of results, in partic-
ular in relation to one major variable, age.
The conceptualization presented here also proved useful in reviewing
studies on adolescents future orientation and planning. Since the frame-
work facilitates the organization of earlier research, contrary to some
previous reviews (Rakowski, 1979; de Volder, 1979), a number of con-
sistent findings emerged. For example, by emphasizing the importance of
the content of goals and expectations as indicators of future-oriented
motivation, it was possible to bring out consistent similarities in adoles-
cents orientation to the future across different studies applying slightly
different methods. Moreover, evident developmental changes in adoles-
cents future-oriented interests were found. Emphasizing the role of an-
ticipated life-span development in the formation of future-oriented goals
made it easier to understand why extension, when measured as years
from the time of the study, decreased with age. It also made it possible to
put forward preliminary explanations for differences in adolescents fu-
ture orientation in relation to sex, socioeconomic status, and culture. For
example, the review showed that differences in temporal extension be-
tween adolescents with high and low socioeconomic status are due to the
differences in their anticipated life-span development. Based on the con-
textual approach, it was also suggested that any increase in planning for
the future with age may reflect changes in the planning context rather than
the development of planning skills. Conceptualizing evaluation in terms of
causal attributions and affects also provides the basis for understanding
that both internality and optimism seem to show similar developmental
patterns. The model also predicted the importance of self-esteem to cau-
sal attributions, which was found in a few studies (Nurmi, 1989d; Plante,
1977). The traditional approach characterizing future orientation as a per-
sonality trait does not serve to explain these findings (de Volder, 1979).
Although the framework presented is a general approach rather than a
specific model, it is possible to set out a number of hypotheses, the
validity of which can be tested. First, the results showed that adolescents
future-oriented goals and their temporal extension reflected expected life-
span development. This could be further tested by comparing two groups
of adolescents living in cultural settings which differ radically in relation
to anticipated life-span development. If it was found that future-oriented
goals and related temporal extension were similar despite the evident
differences in anticipated life-span development, it would mean the model
was flawed.
Second, any relevant change in knowledge concerning the anticipated
life-span development might be expected to be followed by changes in
52 JARI-ERIK NURMI

specific goals. For example, providing adolescents with forecasts about

the future development of labor markets should influence their vocational
goals. On the other hand, any increase in peoples self-esteem, due to
therapeutic interventions, for example, should be followed by more in-
ternal beliefs in their own influence over their future.
Third, although adolescents interests and goals were shown to reflect
expected life-span development, earlier research did not provide data
about the extent to which contextual factors influence the development of
planning and evaluation, However, on the basis of the theoretical frame-
work, it might be expected that age-related changes in action opportuni-
ties, for instance those concerning educational choices, influence future
planning irrespective of changes in individual planning skills. This type of
increase in the level of planning, which is due to contextual changes,
should occur relatively rapidly in any specific domain of life, and there
should be no similar increase in relation to other domains. Moreover, if
normative standards for solving age-specific developmental tasks apply,
adolescents who have not succeeded in realizing a specific developmental
task at certain ages might be expected to display increasing anxiety and
decreasing self-esteem. This is a somewhat similar phenomenon to the
moratorium state in identity formation literature (Marcia, 1980).
Next, evident changes in the content of future-oriented goals are likely
during early adulthood as age-specific developmental tasks change.
Nurmi (1989e) recently presented preliminary data showing that changes
in adults interests with age also reflect age-related life-tasks.
Finally, the developmental aspects of the framework can be tested by
investigating the extent to which adolescents goal-setting is based on
goals, values, and standards that are typical of their parents, the extent to
which parents knowledge of different domains of life is associated with
adolescents skills and coping resources, and the extent to which parental
support is related to adolescents evaluation of their future. By contrast,
other relationships between future orientation and the different dimen-
sions of family interaction would discredit the model. One example would
be if parental support were shown to correlate positively with either the
level of adolescents goals or the complexity of their plans without any
association with causal attributions and affects.

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RECEIVED: October 20, 1988; REVISED: February 21, 1990.