Trajectories and predictors of adolescent purpose development in self-driven learning

Purpose offers several important benefits to youth. Thus, it is necessary to understand how a sense of purpose develops in supportive contexts and what psychological resources can help. From 2021 to 2022, this study investigated purpose change among 321 youth (Mage = 16.4 years; 71% female; 25.9% Black, 33.3% Asian, 15.6% Hispanic/Latinx, 13.4% White, 9.7% multiracial) participating in GripTape, a ~10-week self-driven learning program. Many youth started with high initial purpose that increased throughout enrollment (Strengthening), whereas others began with slightly lower purpose that remained stable (Maintaining). For each unit increase in baseline agency, youth were 1.6x more likely to be classified as Strengthening. As such, agency may be a resource that helps youth capitalize on certain types of environments.

Purpose, life satisfaction, and self-rated health in immigrant and non-immigrant adults

Research into immigrant wellbeing and health has yielded evidence for both potential risks and the capacity for resilience of individuals moving to the United States. Limited research, though, has considered how immigrants may differ in their perceived commitment to a life direction and goals, known as sense of purpose. Moreover, research is needed on whether immigrants may be more likely to derive that purpose through social activism for change. The current study employed a nationwide sample of U. S. adults (N = 1973; 5.3% immigrants), who reported on their sense of purpose, activist purpose, self-rated health, and life satisfaction. Results indicated that immigrants did not significantly differ from native-born U. S. adults on levels for any of the primary variables. Sense of purpose was more strongly associated with life satisfaction for native-born than immigrant participants, although other associations were similar in magnitude across groups. Future research should further explore background predictors of sense of purpose among immigrant samples, as well as whether immigrants and native-born adults differ on alternative forms of purpose.

Purpose and goal pursuit as a self-sustaining system: Evidence of daily within-person reciprocity among adolescents in self-driven learning

OBJECTIVE

Despite long-standing assumptions that a sense of purpose in life and goal pursuit are mutually supportive, empirical evidence of their reciprocity remains deficient. In the context of a unique out-of-school time program that empowers youth to pursue passions through self-driven learning, we examined whether purpose and one aspect of goal pursuit-perceptions of goal progress-work together to sustain themselves and each other over time.

METHOD

Adolescents (N = 321) completed daily surveys throughout program enrollment (Menrollment = 69.09 days). Through dynamic structural equation modeling, we derived within-person patterns of day-to-day prediction as well as individual differences in these patterns.

RESULTS

We found purpose and perceived goal progress exhibited significant daily inertia (i.e., autoregressive prediction) and reciprocity (i.e., cross-lagged prediction) at the within-person level. We also found initial evidence suggesting (a) tighter reciprocity was related to greater perceived goal progress overall and (b) people with greater purpose inertia may rely less on making goal progress to sustain momentum.

CONCLUSIONS

With evidence of daily purpose-progress reciprocity, the field can look forward to replicating this work in other contexts, diving deeper into interesting patterns of within-person dynamics, and developing interventions to support youth striving.

Adaptation and validation of the Claremont Purpose Scale to measure Chinese adolescents' purpose in life

Despite purpose measures being developed for adolescents, quantitative research investigating purposes prior to late adolescence and in non-Western societies remains nascent. This study evaluated the psychometric soundness of the Claremont Purpose Scale among Chinese adolescents. An initial prestudy (n = 34) was conducted to ensure linguistic equivalence. Subsequently, Study 1 (n = 1691) assessed the scale's reliability and factor structure, also investigating its functional equivalence across gender, adolescence stages, and language versions at the item level. Study 2 (n = 7842) investigated the scale's construct, convergent, predictive, and incremental validity, as well as tested for the scale's measurement invariance across different groups at the scale level. The results support the scale's use as a tool for researchers and practitioners to understand and cultivate purpose in adolescents.

Purpose in Daily Life: Considering Within-Person Sense of Purpose Variability

Sense of purpose refers to the extent to which one feels that they have personally meaningful goals and directions guiding them through life. Though this construct predicts a host of benefits, little is known regarding the extent to which sense of purpose fluctuates within an individual and the affective changes tied to those fluctuations. The current study uses daily diary data to addresses this gap by exploring (1) how much sense of purpose and different components of purpose fluctuate from one day to the next, (2) the extent to which these fluctuations correlate with positive and negative affect, and (3) whether dispositional sense of purpose and age correlate with greater variability. Participants (N = 354) reported on their sense of purpose and positive and negative affect every day for 10 days. Results suggest that approximately 45-61% of the variability in sense of purpose scores occurs between-person depending on how it is assessed. Furthermore, the within-person variability in sense of purpose is more strongly correlated with changes in positive affect relative to negative affect. Finally, higher levels of dispositional sense of purpose and age do not appear to be associated with how much variability an individual experiences in their purposefulness from one day to next. The discussion focuses on what these findings mean for the trait-like nature of sense of purpose, short-term sense of purpose measurement, lifespan development, and intervention efforts.

A Person-Centered Analysis of Meaning in Life, Purpose Orientations, and Attitudes toward Life among Chinese Youth

Background: Meaning in life, purpose orientations, and attitudes toward life have a significant impact on youths' well-being. The purpose of this study is to investigate the developmental trends of youths' meaning in life, purpose orientations, and attitudes toward life. Methods: The sample consisted of 94,219 students aged 13 to 23 years (M = 16.67, SD = 2.70). Person-centered analysis, MANOVA, and an independent sample t-test were used to analyze the data. Results: Most youths were in the "search" or "presence" type in terms of meaning in life status. Fewer students were identified as being in the "ruminative exploration" or "diffusion" type. Very few were in the "precontemplation" or "foreclosure" stages. The status of the sense of meaning did not change significantly with age. Second, in terms of purpose orientations, Chinese youths consider family well-being and personal growth to be the most important goals, whereas personal well-being and social promotion are less important. Third, in terms of attitudes toward life, most young people take an active, accepting, and optimistic view of their lives, seeing life as an experience or process, rather than a good or bad result. Fourthly, the age of 16 was found to be a significant turning point. More emerging adults were in the "presence" state than adolescents, but their attitudes toward life were not as positive as those of adolescents. Conclusions: This study reveals that Chinese youth consider the question of meaning in life as early as age 13. Most of them were in the state of "searching for meaning". Therefore, education about meaning in life should be integrated into the primary school context. Family well-being is emphasized by Chinese youth because of the collectivist culture. Family well-being and personal growth should be recognized, and social promotion should be enhanced in guidance of Chinese youth's meaning acquisition.

Beyond Finding Purpose: Motivating a Translational Science of Purpose Acquisition

A broad interest in finding purpose is understandable, as having purpose is situated in notions of "the good life" and is linked in studies to greater health and wellbeing. Yet, the empirical basis for whether purpose is truly findable is inadequate, lacking guidance from theories predicting behavioral capacities that drive its acquisition. If feeling purposeful is as favorable as studies suggest, then more transparent and precise explanations of how it is derived are needed; otherwise, the field risks illuminating this resource while leaving the pathways to it unlit. Here, I call for a translational science of purpose acquisition directed at gathering and disseminating evidence of the processes by which this sense can be cultivated. I introduce a minimal viable framework for integrating basic and applied investigations into purpose by bridging laboratory research, intervention and implementation efforts, community-engaged practices, and policies to accelerate testing and strategies for enhancing this salubrious sense in people's lives.

Applying an Allportian Trait Perspective to Sense of Purpose

Sense of purpose captures the extent to which one feels that they have personally meaningful goals and directions guiding them through life. While this construct has illustrated its ability to robustly predict desirable outcomes-ranging from happiness to mortality-the nature of this construct remains unclear. I begin by describing different definitions and measures from the purpose literature. From there, I review the debates suggesting that it should be classified as a component of identity development, a facet of well-being, or even a virtue. In the current paper, I argue that sense of purpose could be best served when qualified as a trait, building from the eight components of defining a trait from Allport's (1931) paper: "What is a trait of personality?". Using this classic piece as a framework, I integrate empirical and theoretical work on purpose and personality to dive into whether sense of purpose is a trait. I conclude by discussing the challenges and implications of bolstering sense of purpose if it is best classified as a trait.

From adversity to activism: A psychobiographical case study of Cori Bush

INTRODUCTION

Cori Bush is a prominent modern activist in the U.S., becoming involved in activism following Michael Brown's death. Bush, like many activists before her, has set clear goals for social change, yet work is needed to understand why Bush (and like others) became an activist when others did not. One potential reason may be that these exemplars found purpose in life in activism. Thus, the current psychobiography explores the purpose in life of Cori Bush, a prominent activist and politician in the U.S., as well as what factors emerge for how Bush found her purpose in life.

METHOD

The present research gathered public materials (e.g., speeches) from Bush and coded materials for the presence and depth of both themes of purpose and factors predicting purpose.

RESULTS

Activism was the most prominent theme of purpose for Bush, with some pro-social purposes also occurring. Multiple personal factors emerged as influences on her activist purpose, including extraversion, psychological flexibility, and action-oriented coping style. Additionally, the situational factors of discriminatory experiences and Michael Brown's death emerged as factors.

CONCLUSION

These results suggest that Bush has an activist purpose in life and that she found this purpose through a combination of personal and situational factors.

Trust in purpose, or trust and purpose?: Institutional trust influences the association between sense of purpose and COVID-19 vaccination

OBJECTIVE

Having a sense of purpose is associated with a wide variety of positive health outcomes, largely because purposeful individuals appear to take better care of themselves physically. However, work is limited regarding the role of purpose during health crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHOD

The current cross-sectional study investigated whether having a sense of purpose was associated COVID-19 vaccination rates and willingness, among a Swiss adult sample (n = 2328, Mean = 52.33 years), after accounting for participants' trust in different institutions.

RESULTS

Results found that adults with higher levels of institutional trust were more likely to be vaccinated (rs range from 0.06 to 0.13) or were willing to do so (rs range from 0.22 to 0.39). Sense of purpose was associated modestly with greater vaccination status (r = 0.06). However, sense of purpose moderated several associations between trust and vaccination outcomes. Namely, sense of purpose was associated with greater likelihood for vaccination when individuals reported greater trust in university research centers and political institutions.

CONCLUSION

Findings are discussed with respect to how they shape our understanding of purpose-health associations.

Development and Validation of the Youth Purpose Orientation Scale Among Chinese Sample

INTRODUCTION

Purpose orientation has an important impact on the development of adolescence. An effective instrument is needed to describe the purpose orientation of youth. The aim of this research is to develop a reliable and valid scale to measure life purpose orientations of youth.

METHODS

Study 1 established a preliminary pool of items based on a literature review, an open-form questionnaire, and some expert opinions. Study 2 used exploratory factor analysis and performed internal consistency and reliability tests. The sample consisted of 442 young Chinese students, divided into males (49.3%) and females (50.7%) with an age range of 13 to 22 years. Study 3 performed confirmatory factor analysis and tested the scale's calibration validity and test-retest reliability. The confirmatory sample comprised 91,635 young Chinese students, divided into males (43.2%) and females (56.5%) with an age range of 12 to 23 years. The calibration validity sample consisted of 572 participants, aged 12 to 22. The test-retest reliability sample consisted of 200 participants.

RESULTS

Through exploratory factor analysis, the four-factor structure revealed contains personal growth, social promotion, family well-being, and personal well-being purpose orientations. This four factor-structure revealed a 65.26% cumulative variance. The four factors' alpha reliability was 0.89 for personal growth, 0.87 for social promotion, 0.86 for family well-being, and 0.87 for personal well-being, respectively. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the model fitting index had a good four-factor structure. The calibration validity and test-retest reliability were acceptable.

CONCLUSION

These findings demonstrated that the 19-item findings demonstrated that the Youth Purpose Orientation Scale is a valid and reliable measure. In future research, it can be used to measure purpose orientation in youth.

The R and R of Purpose in College Students: Refining and Redefining Purpose Over Time

This qualitative descriptive study examined the process of purpose development of nine (seven females, two males; Mage = 20.2, age range 18–21 years) college students who completed interviews in fall 2017 and spring 2019 at a private university. Across the two time points, participants engaged in an iterative process that led them to refine (i.e., narrow or specify) or redefine (i.e., change or adapt) their purpose or ultimate aims. Participants used the time between interviews to restructure their purpose in a way that integrated their experiences until they believed their purpose was best aligned with their skills, values, and interests. More specifically, consensual qualitative research analysis revealed seven themes that suggested ways in which participants acted to refine and/or redefine their purposes: (1) clarifying definition of purpose; (2) engaging known strengths or skills; (3) exploring new activities or experiences; (4) identifying a beyond-the-self intention that aligned with their purpose; (5) discerning the fit between their passions and interests with their circumstance or plans; (6) determining whether their strengths and skills aligned well with their purpose; and (7) integrating their passions into their beyond-the-self intention. A supplemental theme was added that outlines researchers’ observations about the features of participants’ purpose.

Purpose Should Be in the Eye of the Holder, not the Researcher

Researchers have discussed how best to define and measure purpose in life for decades, and this debate has been reinvigorated by recent work by Burrow et al. (2021), in their discussion of how to capture purpose development within a broader ecological context. However, in their commentary, Bronk and Damon (2021) have suggested that researchers also need to consider whether the individual's stated purpose in life merits development. We suggest here that multiple concerns present whenever researchers are placed in the seat of making decisions regarding whether an individual's purpose is "worthwhile," and how in turn this strategy may do more harm than good.

Scientific and Ethical Mandates in the Study of Purpose

We appreciate the letter by Hill and Pfund about our commentary and the opportunity to respond to it. It is exactly this type of interchange that advances understanding and clarity of communication in the scholarly community. The object of our commentary (Bronk & Damon, 2021, “What makes a purpose ‘worth having’) was a thoughtful Human Development article by Burrow et al. (2021) entitled “Are all purposes worth having?” It should be clear from the titles of our commentary and the original article that the question explored by both pieces is how to determine whether a purpose chosen by a young person is worth having. The question is not “What makes a purpose a purpose?” Yet the authors of the present letter intermingle the two questions. Our response to their letter explains the important distinction between the two questions and summarize our views on each.