35th Annual Red River Psychology Conference
Jaron Tan, Jeremy M. Hamm, and Katharine A. Duggan
North Dakota State University
Faculty Mentor: Jeremy M. Hamm
The COVID-19 pandemic constitutes a major life stressor that can undermine the controllability of important life goals and elicit psychological distress. Our nationally-representative study (n=300) investigated the association between goal adjustment capacities and psychological well-being for individuals who differed in perceived control during the first wave of the pandemic.
Goal Adjustment x Perceived Control regression models yielded significant interactions for perceived stress (b = .17, p = .009), depressive symptoms (b = .12, p = .009) and meaning in life (b = -.24, p = .002), and a marginal interaction for life satisfaction (b = -.23, p = .088) when controlling for age, sex, education, and income. Simple slope analyses suggested that, for individuals who experienced declines in control over their goals, disengaging from unattainable goals and reengaging with new attainable goals protected against elevated stress and depressive symptoms and helped maintain a sense of purpose and satisfaction in life.