Can investing in backup plans harm adolescents’ goal performance? Initial evidence from a quasi-experimental study

To manage the inherent uncertainty of goal pursuit, people develop backup plans. This study aims to contribute to the burgeoning literature on the underlying motivational impact of backup plans. We used a quasi-experimental task to assess whether the backup plan paradox — when investments in backup plans undermine the utility of one’s Plan A — holds for a sample of 195 adolescents, as it has for adults in prior work. Moreover, we assessed whether backup plan type – loss-minimizing contingent or gains-maximized redundant plans – affects adolescent participants’ investment in and use of backup plans, as well as their goal performance. Replicating prior research, participants who invested more in their backup plans experienced lower goal performance indirectly through backup plan use. In addition, participants with redundant backup plans invested more in developing these plans, and were more likely to use them, although there were no significant differences in goal performance across backup plan type.