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Purpose and Character Development in Early Adolescence.
Heather Malin1, Indrawati Liauw2, William Damon2
1Stanford University, Stanford Center on Adolescence, 505 Lasuen Mall, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA. hmalin@stanford.edu.
Journal of Youth and Adolescence
|February 10, 2017
Summary
This study explored how purpose relates to gratitude, compassion, and grit in adolescents. Findings show these character strengths are interconnected, suggesting a holistic approach to adolescent character development.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Adolescent Psychology
- Character Strengths Research
Background:
- Adolescent character development is a growing research area.
- Lack of a framework to study relationships between character strengths.
- Need to understand how different character strengths develop together.
Purpose of the Study:
- Examine developmental relations between purpose and gratitude, compassion, and grit in adolescents.
- Investigate how purpose influences other character strengths.
- Provide a framework for studying multidirectional character development.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study of 1005 middle school students in the US.
- Collected survey data four times over 2 years.
- Conducted interviews twice over 2 years.
Main Results:
- Found small but significant correlations between purpose and gratitude, compassion, and grit.
- Identified patterns in how adolescents act on purposeful aspirations.
- Observed qualitative differences in gratitude and compassion based on purpose levels.
Conclusions:
- Character strengths are interconnected and develop multidirectionally.
- Investigating relationships between strengths offers a better understanding of character development.
- Purpose plays a key role in adolescent character development.
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