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Self-management skill and sense of purpose go hand-in-hand, study suggests

People who are goal-oriented tend to have better outcomes in life partly because having a "sense of purpose" is a skill that can yield positive results.

But psychologists want to understand what other skills overlap with sense of purpose, to map out what social, emotional and behavioral (SEB) skills tie into the ability to set goals toward a broader aim and follow through with that aim.

To do that, psychological researchers Patrick Hill and Jennifer Beatty, at Washington University in St. Louis, led a study of 400 college students. They first surveyed 200 college students at WashU and 200 other college students nationwide. They were surveyed on their sense of purpose and answered questions related to their SEB skills, attributes such as self-management, cooperation and emotional resilience. The survey also assessed the students' sense of well-being and their academic outcomes.

Put it all together and it is increasingly apparent that there is overlap on sense of purpose and SEB skills, particularly self-management skills. The researchers also found that sense of purpose was consistently related to higher life satisfaction among college students. Counter to the researchers' prediction, there was limited evidence relating sense of purpose to the students' GPA and likelihood of degree completion.

This study was a way to tie sense of purpose research to an increasingly prevalent trend in education psychology, which emphasizes social-emotional and behavioral skill development, said Hill, a professor of psychological and brain sciences in Art & Sciences and co-author of the study, in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.

One reason why educational psychologists are shifting to focus on SEB research more so than "personality traits" is because these skills are meant to be teachable, and goal setting is potentially a malleable trait, Hill said.

Rather than cast personality as some fixed unit, psychologists are increasingly interested in how to change a person's mindset toward improvement. In many ways, humans are constantly subjected to "personality interventions" because culture and hierarchy shape personality from day one, something Hill often reminds his students in psychology classes.

It's not about changing personalities: "We're changing skills and giving new skills," he said.

Beatty, a doctoral candidate in psychological and brain sciences at WashU and Hill's co-author, is very interested in understanding the skills related to "regulatory capacity."

"What are people able to regulate and motivate themselves to do?" Beatty said. "Even if you have a sense of purpose, it doesn't mean it's easy, especially in the face of difficulty," she said.

The study found strong overlap between "self-management" skills and sense of purpose. It may be that people who have those skills can more easily override the impulses for more immediate desires to keep working on the higher order goal, Beatty added.

The survey looked at five main categories of social, emotional and behavioral skills. Those include:

• Social engagement, which reflects the ability to engage with others along with leadership and conversational skills.
• Cooperation skills, which involve the capacity to maintain positive social relationships, build and exhibit trust, and take in other people's perspectives.
• Self-management skills, which include goal-oriented behaviors, being able to complete tasks on time and persist toward long-term goals.
• Emotional resilience, which centers on a person's ability to handle stress and emotional regulation.
• Innovation skills, which include the ability for abstract and creative thinking.

It's intuitive that "self-management" skills go along with having a strong sense of purpose, but this survey confirmed that overlap. But the researchers also found strong associations with those that have a sense of purpose and their social engagement skills. Fewer associations were found with cooperation skills and emotional resilience and, as they predicted, innovation skills were not consistently linked to sense of purpose.

By identifying the specific skills needed for long-term goal setting, researchers can potentially guide young people to finding their own "sense of purpose."

Beatty and Hill are developing teaching modules for college students to do just that. No matter how organized someone innately is, people may discover new goals or their sense of purpose across their lifespan.

Even at a young age, people must learn to pick priorities. A sense of purpose can help guide how individuals regulate their behaviors to achieve their goals, Beatty said.

"It really is a skill to be able to focus your life and energy on things that matter to you," she said.