| Within the transition to adulthood, individuals make critical choices of self-development that channel them into new environments with new challenges including jobs, relationships, and higher education. Each life-shaping choice has roots in earlier socialization and decisions, and each has effects well beyond young adulthood. Broad influences, such as educational systems and family context, shape this deeply imbedded transition to adulthood. Individual motivational factors and demographic characteristics influence an individual's trajectory.; The three empirical studies of my dissertation each consider how individuals are motivated to selectively invest in available contexts as well as how the availability of contexts is shaped by socio-demographic characteristics. The first study focuses on individuals' internal comparisons betweens academic domains, i.e. math and English, using data from a panel study of N = 1905 students from South Eastern Michigan. Findings suggested that self-concepts and values associated with one domain transact with self-concepts and values associated with another domain, and that these cross-domain self-concepts and values affect selective investment choices 8 years later (i.e. college major choice).; The second study focuses on the role of selective investment in the transition to careers by investigating factors that motivate selection and maintenance of information technology careers. This qualitative study focuses on 16 young adults (24 years old) who were in an IT career or who had been on an IT career track at one point (N = 16). Findings suggest that IT self-concept in addition to valuing the IT career path were important predictors of entering and maintaining an IT career.; The third study examines individuals' patterns of selective investment in multiple domains (school, family, peers, dating and work) at age 18 and psychological and behavioral outcomes of these choices. Questionnaire data from 1,406 adolescents were analyzed; findings suggest patterns of selective investment in high school were related to well-being and rates of "risky" behaviors concurrently, and 6, and 10 years later, and to individual's educational attainment and partnership status as they make the transition into adulthood.; Each of these approaches adds insights into how individuals selectively invest in contexts of development in the transition to adulthood. |
