Depressive symptoms and goal pursuit: Between-person and reciprocal within-person effects in a multi-wave...

Depressive symptoms, goal progress, and goal characteristics are interrelated, but the directionality of these relationships is unclear.

In a 6-wave longitudinal study (N = 431; 2002 total surveys), we examine the bidirectionality of the relationships between depressive symptoms, goal characteristics (commitment, self-efficacy, and perception of other's support), and goal progress for academic and interpersonal goals at 2-week intervals. Separate random-intercept cross-lagged panel models were tested for each goal characteristic across both goals.

At the within-person level, goal progress significantly positively predicted commitment, self-efficacy, and perception of others' support for the goal. Most of the other hypothesized paths were nonsignificant, including paths between depressive symptoms and progress. At the between-person level, all variables were significantly correlated, with some effects significantly larger for the interpersonal than the academic goal.

The results suggest that when it comes to depressive symptoms and goal pursuit, general tendencies may be more important than variations over 2-week intervals.