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

Kaylin Ratner1, Hou Xie1, Gaoxia Zhu2

  • 1University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois, USA.

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Youth purpose development is crucial. This study found that higher baseline agency significantly increased the likelihood of purpose strengthening during a self-driven learning program, highlighting agency as a key psychological resource.

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Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Educational Psychology
  • Youth Development Programs

Background:

  • A sense of purpose provides significant benefits for adolescents.
  • Understanding the developmental trajectory of purpose and its supporting psychological resources is essential.
  • Supportive learning environments may foster purpose development in youth.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate changes in adolescents' sense of purpose within a self-driven learning program.
  • To identify psychological resources that may facilitate purpose development.
  • To examine the relationship between baseline agency and purpose change.

Main Methods:

  • Longitudinal study of 321 youth (ages 16.4 years) participating in the GripTape program (2021-2022).
  • Assessed changes in sense of purpose throughout the ~10-week program.
  • Measured baseline levels of agency and its association with purpose trajectories.

Main Results:

  • Two distinct purpose trajectories were observed: 'Strengthening' (increased purpose) and 'Maintaining' (stable purpose).
  • Youth with higher initial purpose were more likely to experience strengthening.
  • Each unit increase in baseline agency was associated with a 1.6 times higher likelihood of purpose strengthening.

Conclusions:

  • Adolescent agency is a critical psychological resource for capitalizing on supportive environments to strengthen purpose.
  • The GripTape program demonstrated potential for fostering purpose development, particularly among youth with higher agency.
  • Future research should explore interventions aimed at enhancing agency to promote purpose in diverse youth populations.