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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.
Child Development
|November 22, 2024
Summary
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.
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.
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