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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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Recent data suggests significant racial disparities in police killings in the United States: Much research finds that Black men are killed by police officers at higher rates than White men, and many individuals killed by police have been unarmed. Method: Toward addressing psychological mechanisms at play in these complicated decision contexts, the current study tested the effectiveness of two writing tasks at reducing the unjustified shooting of unarmed targets using a virtual shooting-decision platform. Participants wrote either about their sense of purpose, self-affirming values, or a control topic and then played a first-person shooter video game, which randomly presented pictures of Black and White armed and unarmed targets. Participants were instructed not to shoot unarmed targets and to shoot armed targets. Results: Results indicated that relative to controls, writing about either purpose or self-affirming values reduced the probability of shooting unarmed targets, without negatively impacting shooting decision reaction time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Derailment is the sense of being "off‐course" in life. But what could this mean for adolescents, who are often establishing identity and self‐direction for the first time? We examined the structure and correlates of the Derailment Scale and its short form, the Derailment Scale‐6 (DS‐6), among middle‐to‐late adolescents (N = 452). Both scales exhibited unidimensionality, but the DS‐6 demonstrated superior fit and correlated with cross‐sectional distress markers (e.g., greater depression, lower life satisfaction, strained sense of purpose). Breaking from adult‐based research, we failed to find evidence that derailment related to adolescent identity exploration and commitment. In extending assessment of derailment to adolescence, this study invites exploration of this experience during a time characterized by substantial transition and the emergence of stable self‐views. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research suggests a sense of purpose begins developing in earnest during adolescence, which may shape youth's interests and resilience. Here, we explored the types of purpose orientations reflected in youth's applications to a self-driven learning program, and how distinct pathways by which youth pursued these purposes moderated their resilience throughout the program. A content analysis of 356 youth's (Mage = 16.53, 57.02% female) descriptions of and rationales for choosing their learning topics found that career, creative, and prosocial purposes were the most prevalent; and about 70% of participants indicated following proactive pathways toward purposes. Moreover, youth's resilience significantly increased throughout the program, a pattern amplified among youth whose applications revealed a proactive purpose pathway (gradually developing and pursuing an interest) relative to reactive or social-learning pathways. Findings underscore important links between purpose pathways and resilience and have implications for designing learning opportunities that facilitate positive youth development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While opportunities for adolescents to drive their own learning are increasing, differences in motivations for and engagement in these opportunities are rarely investigated. The current study employed a sample of adolescents (N = 580, Mage = 16.53) enrolled in GripTape, a 10-week self-driven learning program in which youth pursue topics of their choosing. Cluster analysis classified adolescents based on their personal (e.g., resilience, competence) and ecological (e.g., adult support, safe environments) assets, resulting in two distinguishable groups. A High Asset group scored more favorably on these indicators than a Lower Asset group. Between-cluster comparisons revealed that compared to the Lower Asset group, the High Asset group reported greater levels of motivation for self-driven learning (i.e., intrinsic, extrinsic, and competence demonstration), but not engagement (i.e., positive learning experience, commitment to learning topics and activities). Subsequent tests showed that extrinsic motivation and competence demonstration negatively correlates with youth commitment to learning topics and activities. These findings enrich the literature concerning adolescents' motivations for and engagement in self-driven learning, and how to support youth self-driven learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High positive affect and low negative affect have been repeatedly tied to better individual and interpersonal well-being. However, research has focused on mean levels whereas the day-to-day unfolding of affect and its impact on romantic relationships remain largely understudied. Here, we examined the links between mean levels and variability in affect and changes in perceptions of partner regard —the extent to which people believe that their partners value and accept them. One hundred twenty-five African American couples (N = 250 individuals) reported how positively they thought their partners viewed them across two sessions (T1 and T2), separated by a 3-week daily diary study in which participants reported on their positive and negative affect each day for 21 consecutive days. Using dyadic analysis, we found that higher actor negative affect variability was associated with lower perceived regard at T2 controlling for perceived regard at T1. This finding held when controlling for mean levels of actor and partner negative affect. By contrast, PA variability was curvilinearly associated with perceived regard, with moderate levels of variability associated with higher subsequent perceived regard. These results highlight the importance of accounting for mean levels and curvilinear effects when examining links between affect dynamics and relational well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite being a valued resource for adolescent health and development, the field maintains an incomplete view of how youths' sense of purpose in life corresponds with their subjective well-being (SWB; i.e., greater life satisfaction and positive affect, lower negative affect). These blind spots are especially noticeable at the daily level, and the field further fails to consider how daily associations between purpose and SWB might vary across important individual differences. This study addresses these gaps in the literature using a daily diary approach to track adolescents (N = 204; Mage = 16.42 years; 70.1% female) across approximately 70 days of enrollment in GripTape, a U.S.-based out-of-school time program that supports engagement with personally meaningful activities. We found that on days teens felt more purposeful than usual, they tended to report greater SWB. Moreover, we failed to find evidence that subclinical autistic traits, an individual difference that corresponded with lower daily SWB ratings, moderated the observed daily benefits of feeling more purposeful than usual. With one of the longest consecutive studies of youth well-being to date, our work shows that day-to-day fluctuations in purpose are a useful addition to the adolescent SWB landscape. Following this necessary observational groundwork, future research may invest in creating and testing purpose opportunities for a more inclusive range of youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Sense of purpose has been associated with greater health and well-being, even in daily contexts. However, it is unclear whether effects would hold in daily life during COVID-19, when people may have difficulty seeing a path towards their life goals. Design: The current study investigated whether purposefulness predicted daily positive affect, negative affect, and physical symptoms. Participants (n = 831) reported on these variables during the first weeks of the COVID-19 response in North America. Main outcome measures: Participants completed daily surveys asking them for daily positive events, stressors, positive affect, negative affect, physical symptoms, and purposefulness. Results: Purposefulness at between- and within-person levels predicted less negative affect and physical symptoms, but more positive affect at the daily level. Between-person purposefulness interacted with positive events when predicting negative and positive affect, suggesting that purposeful people may be less reactive to positive events. However, between-person purposefulness also interacted with daily stressors, insofar that stressors predicted greater declines in positive affect for purposeful people. Conclusion: Being a purposeful person holds positive implications for daily health and well-being, even during the pandemic context. However, purposefulness may hold some consequences unique to the COVID-19 context, which merit attention in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most youth development programs strive to promote thriving, but scientific inquiry into how they achieve this aim is rare and often complicated by nuanced program structures and delivery. Across two studies, we explored how one thriving indicator, having a sense of purpose in life, may be cultivated by a statewide 4-H program. In Study 1, an inductive text mining approach called latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) was used to content analyze 63 4-H practitioners' definitions of purpose and focus group conversations about how the program fosters this sense in youth. In Study 2, 113 4-H participants (aged 12–18 years, M age = 14.77; 66% female) reported their purpose exploration and commitment and the extent to which they have engaged with particular program experiences. The LDA suggested educators believe 4-H fosters purpose by offering diverse and transformative activities that equip youth with key resources. Youth reports largely corroborated these beliefs: Correlational analyses revealed youth who felt they acquired life skills in 4-H reported greater purpose commitment, whereas youth who felt they had access to older youth with long-term aspirations reported greater purpose exploration. Implications for how 4-H and other programs might scaffold activities to promote youth purpose are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While sense of purpose is a robust predictor of well-being, little work has considered whether the associations vary based on future time perspective. Exploring this possibility is important given that the extent to which one may pursue their life aims could be dependent upon how much time they feel that they have remaining. Using three samples (total n = 2333), the current study considered the association between sense of purpose and future time perspective. Moderation tests also examined whether the associations between sense of purpose and three well-being components (positive affect, negative affect, life satisfaction) differed as a function of future time perspective. Across all three studies, people with a broader time perspective reported a higher sense of purpose. Both constructs predicted greater well-being, even after accounting for chronological age. Future time perspective moderated the associations between sense of purpose and well-being, such that the negative association between sense of purpose and negative affect was stronger for those with a broader time perspective and the positive association between sense of purpose and life satisfaction was stronger for those with a limited time perspective. The well-being benefits associated with sense of purpose in adulthood may depend on future time perspective. Findings are discussed in the context of how purpose can be harnessed to enhance well-being even when older adults feel that their time left is limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this preregistered analysis of existing data, we explored whether the association between urgency—a mood-based impulsivity—and risky and self-destructive behavior engagement is moderated by a sense of purpose in life. Results indicated positive associations between positive and negative urgency and recent risk behavior, and negative associations between a sense of purpose and recent risk behavior. For over 90% of the sample, purpose evidenced significant interaction effects with both negative and positive urgency, predicting fewer past-month risk behaviors (both the total number reported and the diversity of behaviors therein). Analyses by subdomain revealed that these interaction effects were most apparent in models predicting recent self-harm and heavy alcohol use. Explanations for this pattern of results and future directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recognized importance of including student voice in learning has grown. Youth leadership, which empowers young people to choose the learning topics that they are passionate about, may provide a context for exploring complex issues that demand interdisciplinary solutions. This study explored the extent to which youth chose to pursue interdisciplinary learning topics and why they chose certain learning topics (i.e., task values: "why do I do this") when they were supported to lead their own learning. Through a content analysis of the application materials of 800 youth (Mage =16.59) participating in a 10-week self-driven learning program called GripTape, we found that 44% of learners chose interdisciplinary learning topics. Compared to those who chose single-subject topics, youth who chose interdisciplinary learning topics placed significantly greater prosocial value on learning but placed lower intrinsic or interest value. The selection of interdisciplinary learning topics was positively correlated with social science-relevant learning topics; social science-relevant learning topics were positively correlated with prosocial value. The results suggest that when youth voice is empowered in self-driven learning, youth may be willing to explore complex societal issues and pursue interdisciplinary knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purposeful living involves planning daily life around personal pursuits. However, it is unclear whether people expect to have more purposeful days than they actually do, and which factors influence discrepancies. A pandemic is a valuable context for examining expectations, as it institutes a less predictable environment. The current studies asked a university (n = 330; Mage = 21.25 years, 77% female) and community (n = 755; Mage = 45.99 years, 89% female) sample to complete seven daily diaries during the first weeks of the COVID-19 response. Each morning, participants reported on how purposeful they expected to be, and each evening, they reported on how purposeful they felt and on daily events. Participants tended to overestimate their daily purposefulness from morning to evening, with students being more discrepant. Higher neuroticism and more stressors (both COVID-related and not) predicted greater discrepancies, while positive events and support provisions were associated with less discrepancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Everyday discrimination holds pernicious effects across most aspects of health, including a pronounced stress response. However, work is needed on when discrimination predicts sleep outcomes, with respect to potential moderators of these associations.Purpose: The current study sought to advance the past literature by examining the associations between everyday discrimination and sleep outcomes in an ethnically diverse sample, allowing tests of moderation by ethnic group. We also examined the role of sense of purpose, a potential resilience factor, as another moderator.Methods: Participants in the Hawaii Longitudinal Study of Personality and Health (n = 758; 52.8% female; mage: 60 years, sd = 2.03) completed assessments for everyday discrimination, sleep duration, daytime dysfunction due to sleep, sleep quality, and sense of purpose.Results: In the full sample, everyday discrimination was negatively associated with sleep duration, sleep quality, and sense of purpose, while positively associated with daytime dysfunction due to sleep. The associations were similar in magnitude across ethnic groups (Native Hawaiian, White/Caucasian, Japanese/Japanese-American), and were not moderated by sense of purpose, a potential resilience factor.Conclusions: The ill-effects on health due to everyday discrimination may operate in part on its role in disrupting sleep, an issue that appears to similarly impact several groups. The current research extends these findings to underrepresented groups in the discrimination and sleep literature. Future research is needed to better disentangle the day-to-day associations between sleep and discrimination, and identify which sources of discrimination may be most problematic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A core attribute of the positive youth development movement has been to nullify negative perceptions of youth's capacities. Toward this end, measurement and classification systems benefit from efforts to view youth's capacities as assets contextualized by developmental potentials and opportunities. In this article, we consider this point with respect to whether youth are purposeful. The prevailing sentiment of some researchers holds that few adolescents have a purpose in life, perhaps reifying negative beliefs about their capacity. We assert an alternative view that focuses on sense of purpose, which relies on abundant evidence that adolescents generally perceive themselves to be purposeful, thus offering a more inclusive and positive portrayal of young people. This different perspective also opens the door to new opportunities for studying the development of purpose among marginalized adolescents, as well as how interventions may motivate a sense of purpose among youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A minimal amount of information is known about how adolescents and emerging adults construe purpose and meaning in life, leaving many researchers to assume youth think about these constructs consistent with scientific understandings. In this preregistered study, we compared adolescent and emerging adult conceptions of purpose and meaning using directed content analysis. High school and college students were randomly assigned to write about purpose, meaning, or a control topic. Themes mentioned within the written samples did not significantly differ across purpose and meaning conditions, and this pattern did not significantly vary between adolescents and emerging adults. However, many who wrote about meaning mentioned purpose explicitly, suggesting nuanced differentiation. These findings can inform how purpose and meaning are studied and the development of future interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A prevailing belief is that a sense of purpose in life is worth having, based on evidence that it predicts greater psychological functioning, social relationships, physical health, and longevity. Yet, whether the benefits of having a sense of purpose persist across all contents – or the actual substance of one's aspirations – lingers as a critical blind spot within this literature. Here, we contend that an ecological systems perspective is needed to contextualize how purpose content either enables or extinguishes the benefits of feeling purposeful. We nominate congruence (the fit between a purpose and ecological conditions) and feasibility (the ease with which a purpose can be pursued) as measurable features of purpose content that fuse people and contexts and potentiate whether a sense of purpose proves favorable. Greater congruence and feasibility should orchestrate support for purpose-related goals, actions, and justifications, thus amplifying the likelihood of positive outcomes. Practical strategies for integrating the congruence and feasibility of individuals' aspirations within the study of purpose are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People tend to perceive themselves more favourably than others, but the degree to which individuals exhibit this bias may be influenced by cultural upbringing. Korean (n = 271) and American (n = 503) participants were asked to evaluate current and future health expectations for themselves and others. Results showed that American participants rated their own future health more positively than others' future health, whereas Korean participants rated their own and others' future health similarly. Given its role in patient health behaviour, implications for creating context-sensitive interventions for future health expectations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collaborations between researchers and practitioners are valuable for community development but are challenging to implement. This study aimed to assess how researchers and practitioners perceive such collaborations and examine their ideas about how collaborations can be conducted more effectively. Developing one such research-practice collaboration to conduct this project, we examined the collaboration experiences of youth development researchers and 4-H practitioners in New York State. Quantitative and qualitative data from this investigation illustrate the challenges and rewards of collaboration and point to communication as a key element in success. Results also highlight the importance of researchers and practitioners having the interpersonal and practical skills to overcome considerable challenges and reveal that, although the benefit may not be equal, many on both sides are passionate about developing these partnerships. The results of this study can enable future collaborations to be more effective and useful for researchers and the communities who engage with them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social relationships imbue life with meaning, whereas loneliness diminishes one's sense of meaning in life. Yet the extent of interdependence between these psychological constructs remains poorly understood. We took a multivariate network approach to examine resting-state fMRI functional connectivity's association with loneliness and meaning in a large cohort of adults (N = 942). Loneliness and meaning in life were negatively correlated with one another. In their relationship with individually parcelled whole-brain measures of functional connectivity, a significant and reliable pattern was observed. Greater loneliness was associated with dense, and less modular, connections between default, frontoparietal, attention and perceptual networks. A greater sense of life meaning was associated with increased, and more modular, connectivity between default and limbic networks. Low loneliness was associated with more modular brain connectivity, and lower life meaning was associated with higher between-network connectivity. These findings advance our understanding of loneliness and life meaning as distinct, yet interdependent, features of sociality. The results highlight a potential role of the default network as a central hub, providing a putative neural mechanism for shifting between feelings of isolation and purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers have called for gerontologists to spend greater attention on promoting happiness in older adulthood, a point aligned with the general public's interest in finding the keys to being happy later in life. However, targeting and even defining happiness comes with several caveats and challenges, leaving researchers to make difficult decisions regarding measurement and intervention strategies. Instead, the current commentary suggests that gerontology interventions may fare better if researchers focus on specific components of positive psychological functioning. We present sense of purpose and life enjoyment as examples of two such components, and note the potential merit in developing these more focussed intervention programmes. As such, the commentary suggests the value of moving beyond targeting happiness when developing intervention programmes for older adult participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined whether individual differences in affective reactivity, defined as changes in positive or negative affect in response to daily racial discrimination, predicted subsequent depressive symptoms. Participants were African American graduate and postgraduate students (N = 174; M age = 30 years) recruited for a measurement-burst study. Data on depressive symptoms were gathered at two assessment points 1 year apart. Affective reactivity data was obtained from participants via a 14-day diary study of daily racial discrimination and affect. Participants who experienced pronounced increases in negative affect on days when racial discrimination occurred had elevated depressive symptoms 1 year later. Heightened positive affect reactivity was also associated with more depressive symptoms at follow-up. The results suggest that affective reactivity (either greater increases in negative affect or greater decreases in positive affect in the context of racial discrimination) may be an underlying psychological mechanism that confers vulnerability to future depressive symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose in life has been discussed as a psychosocial process in which individuals construct their life aims in relation to other people. Consequently, difficulty attending to social cues could limit the extent to which individuals feel purposeful. The present study (N = 252) examined links between subclinical autistic features found in the general population and perceived purpose in life. Results showed that autistic features were negatively associated with purpose even after accounting for age, gender, positive mood, and dispositions in Big 5 personality traits. Findings are discussed in terms of directions for future research aimed at elucidating the mechanisms that may explain the observed associations. In completing this study, it is hoped that the present findings can be utilized as groundwork for the investigation of psychosocial development in special populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Having a sense of purpose in life has been consistently demonstrated as a predictor of positive health outcomes, including less perceived stress, yet, little is known about the role of sense of purpose on stressful days.Purpose: The current study investigated the sense of purpose as a moderator of stressor-related changes in daily physical symptoms, positive affect, and negative affect.Methods: A subset of the Midlife in the United States study (n = 1949, mage: 56.4 years) reported their sense of purpose, along with up to eight daily assessments of stressors, affect, and physical symptoms. Multilevel models evaluated whether sense of purpose was associated with deviations in affect or physical symptom reporting on days when participants reported a stressor versus days when stressors did not occur.Results: Sense of purpose was associated with higher daily positive affect, lower daily negative affect, and fewer daily physical symptoms. Compared with individuals who reported lower levels of purpose, those reporting higher levels encountered the same number of daily stressors, yet showed less of an increase in negative affect and physical symptoms on stressor days than on stressor-free days. Purpose did not predict changes in positive affect in response to daily stressors.Conclusions: Findings provide evidence that a purposeful life may be characterized by lower negative affect and physical symptom reporting on stressful days. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Having a sense of purpose in life has been discussed as a psychological asset for promoting positive youth development. Yet confidence in the benefits of purpose has accumulated faster than rigorous confirmation of their existence among youth, using instruments and methods calibrated to the developmental stage of those under study. Here, the authors illuminate four problems this asymmetry creates for drawing inferences from extant research on youth purpose, namely its reliance on (1) unclear scientific criteria for distinguishing "youth" and measures that include developmentally presumptuous items, (2) single-informant and self-report methods, (3) misapplication of crosssectional designs to test prospective or causal theories, and (4) analytic techniques insensitive to purpose content. In delineating these problems, the authors consider the extent to which the three empirical contributions included in this issue are responsive to each and may provide templates to guide future studies of youth purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feeling a sense of purpose in life appears to hold consistent benefits for positive aging and well-being. As such, it is important to consider the potential factors that promote or hinder the development of purposefulness over the lifespan. For instance, it remains unclear whether early life experiences, particularly adverse ones, may hold lasting influences on whether one feels purposeful into adulthood. The current study examined whether early life adversity predicted a diminished sense of purpose in adulthood using data from participants (N = 3835) in the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study. Reports of early life adversity were associated with lower levels of purpose in adulthood, and chronological age failed to moderate this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals contend with a variety of threats in daily life and may attempt to deal with them using various cognitive strategies. Two constructs borne from different literatures, purpose in life and self-affirmation, serve to promote well-being and to protect individuals from such threats. While self-affirmation has often been examined as a manipulation, purpose has, until recently, been considered a dispositional resource. However, both self-affirmation and purpose seem to confer similar advantages in response to threat. This paper reviews the evidence for the protective benefits of both purpose in life and self-affirmation, describes the mechanisms by which each confers these advantages, and considers the boundary conditions of each. Key similarities and differences are discussed, and we argue that there are broad gaps in the literature regarding where and when these constructs might operate differentially, or why these differences exist. We conclude with a call to researchers to explore empirically how and when these important interventions might be differentially beneficial to those who cultivate them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research has suggested that the cognitive broadening produced by positive emotions may extend to social contexts. Building on this evidence, two experiments conducted one year post-election examined the extent to which increased social perspective taking occurs after exposure to Obama. Experiment 1 demonstrated that African Americans exposed to Obama showed more inclusive social perceptions of self and others, even beyond that associated with another highly successful African-American exemplar (Oprah Winfrey). Mediation analyses provided support for the causal role of positive emotions in social perspective taking. Experiment 2 replicated the findings of Experiment 1 and demonstrated that exposure to Obama led to reports of greater self-other overlap with people of other races, but only among African Americans high in cultural socialization. Implications of these findings for the role of positive emotions and cultural socialization in broadening perceptions of intergroup closeness are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People tend to overestimate the steepness of slopes, especially when they appraise the effort necessary to ascend them as greater. Recent studies, however, suggest the way individuals perceive visual stimuli may rely heavily on their personal motivations. In four studies (N = 517), purpose in life was tested as a motivational framework influencing how appraised effort relates to slope perception. Studies 1 and 2 found the amount of effort participants appraised necessary to ascend several virtual slopes was related to greater overestimation of their steepness. Yet, this relationship was attenuated by purpose assessed both as a disposition and experimental manipulation. Studies 3 and 4 replicated these findings using actual hills, again showing links between the amount of effort thought required to ascend them and their perceived angle were diminished by greater purpose. The discussion addresses implications of purpose as a broad motivational framework that shapes how individuals see their environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present investigation (totalN = 643) sought to examine for the first time self-discrepancy theory in relation to purpose in life. Negative associations were found between purpose and discrepancies in perceptions of one's actual and ideal personality (Study 1) and body image (Study 2). Study 3 further demonstrated experimentally that individuals describing differences between their actual and ideal physique reported less purpose than those describing similarities. Finally, Study 4 sought to compare the effects of actual/ideal and actual/ought self-discrepancies on purpose in life. Participants who wrote about differences between their actual/ideal or actual/ought selves subsequently reported less purpose than those who wrote about similarities between these domains. However, neither a main effect nor an interaction emerged between actual/ideal versus actual/ought conditions, thereby suggesting that greater discrepancy denigrated purpose independent of self-domain. Importantly, agency emerged as a mechanism explaining the association between both actual/ideal and actual/ought discrepancies and purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

No abstract available Copyright © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emerging demographic trends signal that White Americans will soon relinquish their majority status. As Whites’ acclimation to an increasingly diverse society is poised to figure prominently in their adjustment, identifying sources of greater comfort with diversity is important. Three studies (N = 519) revealed evidence that purpose in life bolsters comfort with ethnic diversity among White adults. Specifically, dispositional purpose was positively related to diversity attitudes and attenuated feelings of threat resulting from viewing demographic projections of greater diversity. In addition, when primed experimentally, purpose attenuated participants’ preferences for living in an ethnically homogeneous-White city, relative to a more diverse city when shown maps displaying ethno-demographic information. These effects persisted after controlling for positive affect and perceived connections to ethnic out-groups, suggesting the robust influence of purpose. Potential benefits of situating purpose as a unique resource for navigating an increasingly diverse society are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Although finding a purpose is almost universally accepted as a developmental achievement, relatively little research has sought to understand the potential means by which individuals do so. Using a newly developed measure, the current studies examined the personality and well-being profiles of individuals who reported following any of three different pathways to purpose: (1) proactive engagement, (2) reaction to significant life events, or (3) social learning. Across both emerging adult (n = 179) and adult (n = 307) samples, we demonstrated that individuals along these three pathways differ in theoretically meaningful ways. For instance, proactively engaged individuals report greater agency and openness to experience, while individuals who found a purpose primarily through reactive means are less likely to be exploring their life aims. Engagement with any pathway though coincided with greater well-being, due to the fact that following these paths may lead to a sense of purpose in life. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this review, we discuss three questions about the importance of studying purpose as a construct relevant to adolescence. We consider how finding a purpose can help youth answer questions such as 'Who am I?' and 'Where am I going?' and summarize the benefits of finding a purpose during adolescence. Purposeful youth are more agentic and driven in their lives, as well as happier and less susceptible to risks common in adolescence. We conclude by identifying areas that merit study, including the need to understand which contexts best scaffold the development of purpose among youth and the need for experimental research to strengthen causal claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many individuals feel socially isolated and distressed in ethnically diverse settings. Purpose in life may buffer this form of distress by fostering one’s sense of having a meaningful direction, which may also be of significance to others. In two experience-sampling studies with ethnically diverse participants, we examined associations between the ethnic composition of urban trains and passenger distress, and tested purpose as a moderator of these relationships. Study 1 showed that participants of all ethnic backgrounds reported greater negative mood when the percentage of ethnic out-group members aboard their train increased. However, individual differences in purpose significantly attenuated this effect. Study 2 replicated and extended these findings experimentally by showing that relative to a control condition, briefly writing about purpose prior to boarding trains also diminished the impact of ethnic composition on negative mood. The discussion addresses strategies for promoting positive adjustment in our increasingly diverse society. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of this article is to present a culturally situated, asset-based developmental framework for understanding successful adaptation to stress. Making use of theory and research on differential exposure and reactivity to racial discrimination, it introduces a framework that can be used to investigate positive development in the context of other stressors. Toward this goal, the article highlights research related to the roles of racial socialization messages, racial identity, stress appraisals, and unique coping in influencing responses to racial discrimination. By integrating these themes, the article presents an asset-based framework for understanding how these components influence one another and can function together to promote positive youth development in the context of racial discrimination. Ultimately, it also illustrates how the framework can be applied to other stressors that are experienced by African American youth and offers examples of how cultural assets work to promote positive youth development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One theme in Erik Erikson's work is the importance of finding a purpose for life. This article discusses the role of purpose in Erikson's writings and uses this review as a foundation for investigating Erikson's claims. Using a longitudinal sample of adolescents, Study 1 shows that identity and purpose development are intertwined processes insofar as increased commitment on one dimension corresponds to increased commitment on the other. Study 2 demonstrates that, although identity and purpose commitment are correlated, purpose commitment uniquely predicts Big Five personality trait levels, particularly for those traits related to maturity. Results are discussed as an impetus for future purpose development research and as support for largely unexamined Eriksonian claims. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Racial microaggressions and their influence on mental health were examined among African American doctoral students and graduates of doctoral programs. Using a mixed-methods approach, the current study first identified the types of microaggressions reported by African American participants ( N = 97) and then investigated the mechanism by which these experiences influence mental health over time with a separate sample of African Americans ( N = 107). The qualitative findings revealed three categories of microaggressions including Assumption of Criminality/Second-Class Citizen, Underestimation of Personal Ability, and Cultural/Racial Isolation. The quantitative analyses found support for a moderated-mediational model by which Underestimation of Personal Ability was associated with greater perceived stress at one-year follow-up, which in turn was related to greater depressive symptoms. Active coping was found to moderate the racial microaggression-perceived stress link such that individuals who endorse active coping behaviors reported lower perceived stress. These findings are discussed in terms of practical and theoretical implications regarding the role of racial microaggressions in the lives of high-achieving African Americans and the mechanisms by which these experiences contribute to mental health problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While having a purpose in life has been theorized as a developmental asset, the extent to which adolescents cultivate a meaningful sense of direction is not well understood. In the present study, cluster analysis was used to classify adolescents by levels of purpose exploration and commitment. The sample ( N = 318; 55% female) consisted of youth aged 14–18 and was predominantly White/non-Hispanic (76.3%). Results supported four meaningful yet distinguishable profiles of youth purpose that are largely consistent with theories on identity formation: Achieved, Foreclosed, Uncommitted, and Diffused. Hypothesized linkages with affect and hope were established across the profiles such that positive emotions and goal-directed thinking were most apparent among Achieved and Foreclosed youth and least apparent among Diffused and Uncommitted youth. Overall, findings demonstrate the inherent complexity in adolescents’ engagement with purpose and suggest a correspondence between stronger commitments to purpose and youths’ sense of personal agency and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivating youth to find a purpose in life promotes positive youth development. However, it is as yet uncertain whether adolescents think of purpose in ways similar to researchers. This study addressed this deficit by asking 229 adolescents from a Catholic and a public high school to define what it means to have a purpose in life, using a free-response format. Almost all adolescents suggested that having a purpose gives one a foundation and a direction for life, and over half mentioned that it led to increased happiness. In addition, adolescents often mentioned elements from multiple coding categories, suggesting that they hold multifaceted conceptions of purpose. In addition, definitions were marked by their similarities rather than differences across the sample. Overall, these results suggest that adolescents hold mature and complex conceptions of purpose that are in line with those presented in the existing research literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This descriptive study employed a within-groups analytic approach to examine patterns of sexual risk behavior and co-occurring general and race/ethnicity-specific risk and protective factors in a community sample of African-American youth (n = 436). Cluster analysis was used to classify young adults by levels of self-reported past year sexual risk behaviors. MANOVA, ANOVA, and chi-square analyses indicated significant associations between cluster membership and (a) lifetime psychiatric diagnoses, (b) peer substance use behaviors, and (c) self-reported past year alcohol and marijuana use. Cluster membership was not associated with several race/ethnicity-specific variables: racial/ethnic orientation, cultural mistrust, and perceived discrimination. The results of the current study can inform the development of HIV/STI prevention strategies for vulnerable African-American youth. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comm Psychol 35: 447–462, 2007. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article outlines current knowledge and lines of research regarding racial identity and, in particular, African American racial identity. A developmental psychological framework is proposed as a means of integrating and synthesizing 2 lines of racial identity research that have emerged within the existing literature: (a) the developmental line of research and (b) the adjustment outcome line of research. The proposed integration of the current racial identity research will emphasize the interdependency of developmental mechanisms, outcome processes, and identity trajectories among minority individuals, and highlight the significance of those identities for individuals across their life spans. Potential benefits of integrating these 2 lines of research within a developmental psychological framework are discussed regarding both scientific theory and practice-related applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study investigated group differences in adolescent adjustment by adoption status and adoption subtype in a national sample, in contrast to group differences based on developmental stage or gender. Secondary analyses of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health were performed to describe group differences in a broad range of adjustment measures (a) between adoptees and non-adoptees, (b) between different-race adoptees and same-race adoptees and, (c) across adolescent developmental stage and gender groups. Based upon a developmental deviance hypothesis, the current study hypothesized that early adolescent different-race adoptees would fair better across measures of academic performance, familial relationships, psychological adjustment, and physical health than their middle and late adolescent counterparts. Group comparisons revealed little evidence of increased maladjustment among adopted adolescents compared to non-adopted study participants. In addition, group comparisons revealed few differences across indices of adolescent adjustment by adoption subtype (i.e. by the degree of racial congruence adopted child and adoptive parent). However, significant group differences in adolescent adjustment were found based on participants’ developmental stage and gender. The implications of the findings are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article deals with transracial adoption and foster care. The issue of transracial adoption has generated controversy within academic, political and social policy domains. The empirical evidence on adoptee outcomes, the increasing numbers of Afro-American children in out-of-home care, and the failure of securing permanent homes for Afro-American children perpetuates the controversy surrounding transracial adoptions. Within the U.S., the majority of transracial adoptions involve White parents adopting Afro-American children. Proponents of this practice contend that placing children with parents without racial constraints is a viable means of providing permanent homes for children. Critics of the practice maintain that transracially adopted children are vulnerable to experience a range of psychopathologies including poor racial identity and self-esteem. The number of children in the out-of-home foster care system has significantly increased. In addition, the experiences of these children are less than optimal. Furthermore, the above realities are exacerbated for Afro-American children. Especially disconcerting are the disproportionate numbers of Afro-American children in out-of-home care. Many researchers on both sides of this issue have addressed concerns about the obstacles facing same-race placements for Afro-American children. Attention to this issue is essential, and issues involving the placement of all children in foster care are paramount.

The field of positive psychology has sparked significant interest for researchers, in part given the apparent potential for individuals higher on "positive" dispositions to experience better health and well‐being. However, as the field has grown, so too have the number of conceptually similar dispositions identified by researchers as important to study. As such, there is an increasing need for researchers to understand whether and how conceptually similar "positive" dispositions are actually unique, an issue that may not be unique to positive psychology but has worsened with the field's prominence. The current manuscript provides a roadmap for one approach to differentiating conceptually close constructs in psychology, with examples couched within positive psychology. We will discuss the importance of combining quantitative and qualitative inquiries, as well as the adoption of techniques from multiple psychology disciplines, in order to better distinguish characteristics frequently studied in positive psychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]