MSGID: 1:317/3 63eb0e7d   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    A sense of purpose may have significant impact on teens' emotional well-   
   being    
      
     Date:   
         February 13, 2023   
     Source:   
         University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, News Bureau   
     Summary:   
         Feeling a sense of purpose has a significant impact on adolescents'   
         emotional well-being.   
      
      
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   FULL STORY   
   ==========================================================================   
   Adolescents who feel a greater sense of purpose may be happier and more   
   satisfied with life than peers who feel less purposeful, suggests a   
   recent study of more than 200 teens.   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Studies with adults have suggested that a sense of purpose in life is   
   an integral component of well-being that fuels hope and optimism and has   
   a variety of positive effects on individuals' physical and mental health.   
      
   However, less is known about the effects of purposefulness in adolescents,   
   who, while characteristically hopeful, are in the throes of developing   
   their identities, making choices that reflect who they are and aspire   
   to be, according to the study.   
      
   Educational psychology professor Kaylin Ratner of the University of   
   Illinois Urbana-Champaign led the current study, which examined how   
   youths' feelings of purposefulness related to their daily levels of life   
   satisfaction and subjective well-being.   
      
   "Teens who scored high on purpose were more satisfied with their lives   
   and experienced more positive emotions and fewer negative emotions,"   
   said Ratner, who collected the data while working as a postdoctoral   
   associate at Cornell University. "Importantly, we found that on the days   
   when these adolescents felt more purposeful than usual, they also tended   
   to experience greater well-being."  Her co-authors included Anthony   
   L. Burrow, the Ferris Family Professor of Life Course Studies and the   
   director of the Bonfenbrenner Center for Translational Research; and   
   Qingyi Li and Gaoxia Zhu, both then-postdoctoral research associates,   
   all of Cornell University.   
      
   Published in the Journal of Happiness Studies, the project also examined   
   how subclinical autistic traits that fell below the diagnostic threshold   
   for autism -- behavioral and cognitive patterns such as poor social   
   skills and difficulty shifting one's attention -- related to these teens'   
   sense of purpose in life and their overall happiness.   
      
   Each day for 70 days, the participants -- teens ages 14-19 -- were asked   
   to rate how purposeful they felt, how satisfied they were with their   
   life and the levels of positive and negative emotions they were feeling.   
      
   All of those in the study were participants in GripTape, a nationwide   
   nonprofit in the U.S. that strives to instill a sense of agency in   
   youths by providing them with the resources to pursue a 10-week Learning   
   Challenge project of their choosing.   
      
   Applicants whose Learning Challenge proposals are accepted receive up   
   to a $500 grant and an adult mentor who supports them in pursuing a   
   project they are passionate about, such as starting a small business or   
   researching higher education resources for undocumented teens, according   
   to the study.   
      
   Melody Estevez, the research manager at GripTape, also was a co-author   
   of the study.   
      
   At the beginning of the Learning Challenge, the study participants   
   completed a 28-item survey that assessed their levels of subclinical   
   autistic traits. A higher aggregate score suggested the teen had greater   
   numbers of these traits, Ratner said.   
      
   Each day, the participants completed assessments, rating on a five-point   
   scale how purposeful they currently felt. Ratner's team calculated   
   the average of these daily purpose scores to determine each person's   
   dispositional sense of purpose -- their characteristic level of this   
   trait -- across the 70 days studied.   
      
   The researchers also tracked day-to-day variations in purposefulness   
   by subtracting the teens' daily purpose score from their dispositional   
   level of purpose.   
      
   On the daily assessments, those in the study rated how much they were   
   feeling four positive emotions -- content, relaxed, enthusiastic or   
   joyful -- and four negative emotions -- angry, anxious, sluggish or sad.   
      
   Participants' composite positive and negative emotional affect scores,   
   along with their life satisfaction scores, were used to assess their   
   psychological well-being.   
      
   Feeling more purposeful than usual on any single day was a unique   
   predictor of participants' emotional well-being on those days, regardless   
   of their dispositional level of purposefulness, the team found.   
      
   "Our findings show that no matter where you are in comparison with   
   your peers, when you feel more purposeful than usual, you have better   
   outcomes," Ratner said. "Purpose is accessible to everyone. What we   
   need to do is help individuals feel more purposeful from day to day."   
   Ratner and her team found that the participants with greater levels of   
   subclinical autistic traits tended to report higher levels of negative   
   feelings, and lower levels of life satisfaction and positive feelings from   
   day to day. However, the strength of the association between well-being   
   and daily purpose was not moderated by these traits.   
      
   In other words, those who had more of these traits seemed to be able to   
   reap well-being benefits at levels equal to their peers who had fewer   
   of these traits, Ratner said. She cautioned, however, that the findings   
   could differ for youths with known clinical diagnoses of autism.   
      
   "Our 70-day study is one of the most consistent examinations of youths'   
   purposefulness to date and helps cement the beneficial influence it has   
   on their well-being," Ratner said. "With the groundwork laid by this   
   study, interventions that promote purposefulness may be viable routes to   
   enhancing the well-being of many young people, including neurodiverse   
   youths."  The population in the study was 70% female. Nearly 31% were   
   Asian, 22% were African American or Black, 18% were white and 14% were   
   Hispanic. The researchers said because the sample was not representative   
   of the gender and racial and ethnic diversity among teens in the general   
   U.S. population, the findings may not be generalizable.   
      
   The research was supported by a grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative,   
   an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.   
      
       * RELATED_TOPICS   
             o Mind_&_Brain   
                   # Autism # Child_Development # Child_Psychology #   
                   Learning_Disorders # K-12_Education # Intelligence #   
                   Psychology # Racial_Issues   
       * RELATED_TERMS   
             o Emotional_detachment o Love o Fear o Panic_attack   
             o Limbic_system o Negotiation o Inferiority_complex o   
             Intellectual_giftedness   
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Story Source: Materials provided by   
   University_of_Illinois_at_Urbana-Champaign,_News_Bureau.   
      
   Original written by Sharita Forrest. Note: Content may be edited for   
   style and length.   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Journal Reference:   
      1. Kaylin Ratner, Qingyi Li, Gaoxia Zhu, Melody Estevez, Anthony   
      L. Burrow.   
      
         Daily Adolescent Purposefulness, Daily Subjective Well-Being, and   
         Individual Differences in Autistic Traits. Journal of Happiness   
         Studies, 2023; DOI: 10.1007/s10902-023-00625-7   
   ==========================================================================   
      
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/02/230213201032.htm   
      
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