People who are considered ambitious attend the best colleges
and universities, have prestigious careers and earn high salaries, but they
don't necessarily lead more successful lives, according to new research by
Timothy Judge, professor of management at the University of Notre Dame's
Mendoza College of Business.
The lead author of "On the Value of Aiming High: The
Causes and Consequences of Ambition" forthcoming from the Journal of
Applied Psychology, Judge seeks to create a better understanding of ambition--a
commonly mentioned but poorly understood concept in social science research--
and its consequences.
Is it a virtue, or is it a vice? Both, says Judge.
"If ambition has its positive effects, and in terms of
career success it certainly seems that it does, our study also suggests that it
carries with it some cost," Judge says. "Despite their many
accomplishments, ambitious people are only slightly happier than their less-
ambitious counterparts, and they actually live somewhat shorter lives."
Tracking 717 high-ability individuals over seven decades,
Judge uses multiple criteria to measure ambition during periods of
participants' lives ranging from childhood to young adults just beginning their
careers. Their education ranged from attending some of the world's best
universities -- Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Columbia, Cornell,
Northwestern, Berkeley, Oxford, and Notre Dame. – to more modest educations,
including high school diplomas and community college degrees.
"Ambitious kids had higher educational attainment,
attended highly esteemed universities, worked in more prestigious occupations,
and earned more," Judge says. "So, it would seem that they are poised
to 'have it all.' However, we determined that ambition has a much weaker effect
on life satisfaction and actually a slightly negative impact on longevity (how
long people lived). So, yes, ambitious people do achieve more successful
careers, but that doesn't seem to translate into leading happier or healthier
lives."
Judge's new ambition study tracks individuals born in the
early part of the last century and continued to follow them throughout their
lives, which is how the mortality measure was derived, however it doesn't
address the underlying reasons for the higher mortality of ambitious people.
"Perhaps the investments they make in their careers
come at the expense of the things we know affect longevity: healthy behaviours,
stable relationships and deep social networks."
Most parents want their kids to be ambitious, attend the
best schools and eventually have successful careers, and while it certainly
isn't wrong to have those parental hopes and dreams, Judge cautions that we
shouldn't delude ourselves into thinking they will make our kids happier.
"If your biggest wish for your children is that they
lead happy and healthy lives, you might not want to overemphasise professional
success. There are limits to what our ambitions bring us- or our
children."
