The Development of Purpose During Adolescence
Abstract
The field of psychology has been slow to recognize the importance of purpose for positive youth development. Until recently, purpose was understood, if at all, as a means of adapting to threatening conditions rather than as a motivator of good deeds and galvanizer of character growth. Moreover, in most psychological studies, purpose has been conflated with personal meaning, a broader and more internally oriented construct. This article offers a new operational definition of purpose that distinguishes it from meaning in an internalistic sense, and it reviews the existing psychological studies pertinent to the development of purpose during youth. The article identifies a number of urgent questions concerning how-and whether-young people today are acquiring positive purposes to dedicate themselves to and, if so, what the nature of today's youth purposes might be.
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Well-being has been theorized to follow directly from a life devoted to purpose.
“Well-being has been theorized to be a direct consequence of a life devoted to a purpose in life”
From Commitment to a purpose in life: An antidote to the suffering by individuals with social anxiety disorder. (2013) · cites this paper as Damon, Menon, & Cotton Bronk, 2003
Cites
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“... (Hutzell, 1995; Hutzell & Finck, 1994) shows that purpose is negatively correlated with psychopathology (Kish & Moddy, 1989): Higher scores on McAdam’s (2001) three complementary scales of “generativity” are associated with better parenting, as well as higher levels of social activity and political activism, highe…”
BackgroundHandbook of Adolescent Psychology
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“Purpose, defined by Damon, Menon, and Bronk (2003) as “a stable and generalized intention to accomplish something that is at once meaningful to the self and of consequence to the world beyond the self” (p. 121), contributes to greater prosocial behavior, self-esteem, achievement, and moral…”
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- Authors
- Damon, W., Menon, J., & Cotton Bronk, K.
- Affiliations
- Stanford University (US)
- ORCID
- Damon, William
- Venue
- Applied Developmental Science
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2003-07-01
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 119-128
- ISSN
- 1088-8691 (ISSN-L)
- 1532-480X
- OpenAlex
- W2135656616
- Cited by
- 1,216
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 72 · 2025: 67 · 2024: 74 · 2023: 112 · 2022: 84 · 2021: 83 · 2020: 189 · 2019: 77 · 2018: 60 · 2017: 48 · 2016: 53 · 2015: 50 · 2014: 48 · 2013: 31 · 2012: 43
- FWCI
- 5.10
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Applied Developmental Science (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Youth Development and Social Support
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Identity, Memory, and Therapy
- Keywords
- purpose, adolescence, positive youth development, personal meaning, character development, motivation
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