Shifting Pathways to Adulthood: College Student Life Goals Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study tests cohort, gender, and ethnic differences in college students' self-articulated life goals and describes their time frames for completion before and during the pandemic lockdown.

College-enrolled students in southern California (M age = 20.20; SE = 0.05) from six ethnic groups participated in a survey in 2008 (n = 621) and in 2021 (n = 560). Open-ended responses to life goals were coded into 10 goal domains, and associated time frames for goal attainment were calculated.

In both cohorts, educational and occupational goals were the most prominent. In the post-crisis sample (2021), proportionately fewer articulated educational goals but proportionately more articulated religious/humanitarian, material, self-development, relationship, travel/leisure, and health goals compared to the pre-pandemic sample. The time frame for goal attainment was optimistic overall, with the mean age of attainment for all goals less than 32 years of age. Ethnic differences in educational and family formation goals were moderated by cohort, and gender differences in material goals were moderated by cohort.

These results highlight how historical events can differentially shape students' aspirations, underscoring the need for further research into how such shifts in life goals can lead to diverging future academic and career trajectories.