CHILD DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVES
Addressing Important Questions in the Field of
Adolescent Purpose
Patrick L. Hill,1 Anthony L. Burrow,2 and Rachel Sumner2
1
Carleton University and 2Cornell University
ABSTRACTIn this review, we discuss three questions
about the importance of studying purpose as a construct
relevant to adolescence. We consider how finding a pur-
pose can help youth answer questions such as Who am
I? and Where am I going? and summarize the benefits
of finding a purpose during adolescence. Purposeful
youth are more agentic and driven in their lives, as well as
happier and less susceptible to risks common in adoles-
cence. We conclude by identifying areas that merit study,
including the need to understand which contexts best scaf-
fold the development of purpose among youth and the
need for experimental research to strengthen causal
claims.
KEYWORDSpurpose; adolescence; positive youth develop-
ment; agency
During adolescence, the search to understand who one is and
where one is going can lead some to engage in seemingly imma-
ture activities, such as experimenting with drugs and alcohol, or
taking other unnecessary risks. Other youth may avoid trying to
answer these questions altogether, which can lead to long-term
difficulties with self and identity development. Indeed, some
youth may ask why they should spend their adolescent years in
Patrick L. Hill, Department of Psychology, Carleton University;
Anthony L. Burrow and Rachel Sumner, Department of Human
Development, Cornell University.
This material is based upon work supported by the National
Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under Grant
DGE-0707428. The authors would like to thank Robin Young for
her comments on a version of this manuscript.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to
Patrick L. Hill, A515 Loeb Building, 1125 Colonel By Drive,
Department of Psychology, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON,
Canada K1S 5B6; e-mail: patrick_hill@carleton.ca.
2013 The Authors
Child Development Perspectives 2013 The Society for Research in Child Development
DOI: 10.1111/cdep.12048
Volume 7, Number 4, 2013, Pages 232236
deliberative and thoughtful examinations of where they are going
in life. However, research suggests that youth who engage mean-
ingfully in such examination tend to flourish during adolescence.
For instance, some use their adolescence to find their purpose
in life, a direction that appears remarkably stable from late ado-
lescence into middle adulthood (Hill, Burrow, Brandenberger,
Lapsley, & Quaranto, 2010). This potential for positive and self-
directed development may come as a surprise to readers from
outside this research area, and even to some adolescents them-
selves.
Therefore, adolescents and researchers alike may need to be
convinced to consider the role of purpose during this develop-
mental period. Toward this end, we organize our discussion not
as an exhaustive review of the literature, but rather as topics for
conversation either among researchers or with adolescents. In so
doing, we focus on research using adolescent samples to address
questions important to adolescents. We conclude by addressing
further study in this field.
WHO AM I AND WHAT IS TRULY IMPORTANT TO ME?
Understanding who one is remains one of the questions most fre-
quently wrestled with by adolescents (Erikson, 1968). Indeed,
resolving the identity crisis and forming a sense of self that is
independent from ones parents is perhaps the central develop-
mental task of adolescence. As such, we must consider how dis-
covering a purpose can lead adolescents to better understand
who they are and what they want out of life. Prior to exploring
the evidence for this claim, we must first define the construct of
purpose and why it is unique from others that are similar theo-
retically.
Having a purpose entails setting aims and objectives that
define what one strives toward in life, a foundation that in turn
serves to organize daily, weekly, and long-term goals and behav-
ior (e.g., Damon, Menon, & Bronk, 2003; McKnight & Kashdan,
2009). Purpose in life thus is superordinate to personal goals
and strivings, and can determine which activities one finds per-
sonally expressive (see Waterman, 1993, 2005), or the settings

that should be most conducive to flow experiences, or those
instances when an individuals active engagement matches the
task at hand (Nakamura & Csikszentmihalyi, 2002). Further-
more, purpose can clarify what one finds meaningful in life
(Baumeister, 1991). To understand how these effects operate,
one must consider that purpose can be investigated both with
respect to its content, as examining which life goals participants
deem most important (e.g., Hill et al., 2010; Quinn, 2013), as
well as how committed one is to his or her purpose. For
instance, individuals can nominate purposes in areas such as
helping others, seeking recognition from colleagues, succeeding
in financial or occupational domains, or even producing creative
work. Identifying the content of purpose can help answer Who
am I? by describing what the person strives toward, whereas
commitment to purpose serves to solidify that self-knowledge
and promote personal continuity.
Given this link to self-similitude, the closest conceptual corre-
late of purpose during adolescence may be identity commitment.
If finding a purpose provides one with a self-defining direction
for life, then adolescents may need a purpose to fully understand
who they are. Purpose commitment may help resolve the adoles-
cent identity crisis (e.g., Erikson, 1968; Hill & Burrow, 2012).
Levels of identity commitment and purpose commitment are
positively related among adolescents (Burrow, ODell, & Hill,
2010), and adolescents who increase their commitment on one
construct over time tend to gain on the other as well (Hill &
Burrow, 2012). However, a purpose does not fully define ones
identity, as life goals may or may not contain information about
social and cultural relationships, political and ideological views,
or personal skills irrelevant to advancing ones life goals. As
such, when describing ones identity, an individual may often
refer to his or her purpose (Bronk, 2011), but finding a purpose
provides only a partial yet important answer to the question of
who one is.
Although adolescents commonly describe purpose as a foun-
dation or direction for life, they discuss other essential identity
components less frequently in their definitions of purpose (Hill,
Burrow, ODell, & Thornton, 2010). For instance, teenagers are
much less likely to define purpose with respect to occupational
or religious themes, two components often assessed when mea-
suring identity commitment (e.g., Balistreri, Busch-Rossnagel, &
Geisinger, 1995). Therefore, not only are identity and purpose
separable empirically (Hill & Burrow, 2012), but adolescents
also tend to describe purpose differently from what we consider
identity. Purpose can help youth start to define who they are,
but it may also be viewed as being instrumental for pointing
youth in the right direction.
WHERE AM I GOING IN LIFE AND HOW CAN I GET
THERE?
Purpose in life can be viewed as a lighthouse, directing youth
through the fog of the adolescent years, a period with the poten-
Child Development Perspectives, Volume 7, Number 4, 2013, Pages 232236
Purpose in Adolescence 233
tial for confusion about self. Although committing to a purpose
may not require striving toward it (McKnight & Kashdan, 2009),
commitment to purpose motivates youth to strive toward
something. Adolescents who have a purpose report much greater
agency in their daily lives, showing a greater propensity to
engage in goal-related activities (Bronk et al., 2009; Burrow
et al., 2010). Adolescents with a sense of purpose also believe
they can find ways around obstacles in their lives. In other
words, they possess both the will and the way (Snyder et al.,
1991).
Why is this link between purpose and hope particularly valu-
able for adolescents? First, during this developmental period,
individuals begin to make decisions on their own and tend to
make some mistakes along the way. Without some hope in their
future success, adolescents may become prone to self-doubt and
discouraged about their fate. Second, adolescence is a time to
deal with new developmental challenges in the family, relation-
ships, and school. Hope is valuable during this developmental
period (Gillham & Reivich, 2004; Snyder, 2005) because it
helps youth find ways around the difficulties of adolescence.
Third, although many developmental researchers have focused
on adolescents transition to adult roles, greater awareness is
needed regarding which individuals will transition best to
emerging adult roles. Emerging adulthood is defined by changes
in and opportunities to advance vocational and relationship roles
(Arnett, 2000). Prior to entering this period, it helps to develop
a disposition toward actively and persistently pursuing goals
across all domains, which having a purpose apparently does.
WHATS IN IT FOR ME?
Given the tasks and pressures facing adolescents, some teenag-
ers may question whether it is fruitful to spend their limited time
looking for a purpose or if this is a task they can put off until
adulthood. The process of self-exploration is not a particularly
enjoyable one, often wrought with bouts of psychological ill-
being and distress (Kidwell, Dunham, Bacho, Pastorino, & Por-
tes, 1995; Schwartz, Zamboanga, Weisskirch, & Rodriguez,
2009). Accordingly, it may be difficult to convince adolescents
to start the not only rewarding but also arduous process of find-
ing a purpose.
We present three additional reasons why adolescents should
strive toward finding a purpose and, in turn, why researchers
must create interventions to help adolescents in their pursuit
(e.g., see Pizzolato, Brown, & Kanny, 2011, for initial efforts).
First, purposeful adolescents are happier adolescents. Commit-
ting to a purpose positively correlates with multiple markers of
well-being during the adolescent years (e.g., Bronk et al., 2009;
Burrow et al., 2010; Kiang, 2012). These effects hold even at
the daily level, where purposeful youth tend to report more posi-
tive affect from one day to the next (Burrow & Hill, 2011), and
daily positive fluctuations in purpose coincide with being hap-
pier during that day (Kiang, 2012). Similar associations are also
234 Patrick L. Hill, Anthony L. Burrow, and Rachel Sumner
seen in research on daily behaviors. Specifically, emerging
adults report greater well-being on days in which they engaged
in activities that were imbued with meaning and purpose
(Steger, Kashdan, & Oishi, 2008). One mechanism underlying
the link between purposeful engagement and well-being may be
the relation between purpose and hope described earlier (Bronk
et al., 2009). Another possibility is that purposeful youth experi-
ence positive flow experiences more often because they put
themselves in settings that allow for it and set proximal goals
that are both challenging and allow for feedback on progress
toward purpose (see Nakamura & Csikszentmihalyi, 2002, for
more on producing flow). Purposeful youth thus are more likely
to experience engaged living (Froh et al., 2010), demonstrate
greater passion, and be more absorbed in their daily activities,
which in turn promotes well-being.
Second, purpose appears to buffer against the pratfalls and
turbulence of adolescence. For instance, adolescents with
greater purpose appear less likely to drink alcohol and use
drugs (Kinnier, Metha, Okey, & Keim, 1994; Minehan, New-
comb, & Galaif, 2000). In addition, teenagers in high-risk envi-
ronments report less use of violence when they have a sense of
purpose in life (DuRant, Cadenhead, Pendergrast, Slavens, &
Linder, 1994). Finally, youth with purpose in life are less likely
to be depressed or to have suicidal thoughts (e.g., Dukes & Lorch,
1989; DuRant et al., 1994; Kinnier et al., 1994). Therefore, not
only does purpose promote positive outcomes during adoles-
cence, but it also may reduce risk for maladaptive outcomes.
Third, purposeful youth may perform better in school, which
in turn would prepare them for greater success during emerging
adulthood (e.g., better university, job, or scholarship opportuni-
ties). Purposeful adolescents report more positive academic self-
concepts (Dukes & Lorch, 1989), assessed as a combination of
students satisfaction with and perceived importance of their
academic achievement. In addition, purposeful teenagers tend
to perform better on intelligence tasks (Minehan et al., 2000).
Moreover, an intervention to promote purpose and sense of inter-
nal control among high school students led to grade point aver-
age gains (Pizzolato et al., 2011). However, while studies like
these are promising, more work is needed that links purpose to
objective academic outcomes (e.g., grade point average, school
retention); this is an important direction for research.
A DIRECTION FOR PURPOSE RESEARCH
Prior to linking purpose to more objective indicators, the field
would benefit from more rigorous efforts to measure the con-
struct. We have noted the theoretical arguments underpinning
its distinctiveness from related constructs, but few studies have
demonstrated this empirically (although see Hill & Burrow,
2012). Therefore, researchers need to validate a measure of pur-
pose that not only considers it through the lens of adolescent
developmentrather than as a benchmark of adulthoodbut
also differentiates it from constructs such as meaning in life and
Child Development Perspectives, Volume 7, Number 4, 2013, Pages 232236
eudemonic well-being. For instance, remarkably similar instru-
ments are used to study purpose and meaning, with researchers
often borrowing items from one another (Steger, Frazier, Oishi,
& Kaler, 2006). Accordingly, work is needed to more cleanly
distinguish these constructs based on the theoretical distinctions
noted in the literature.
Moreover, studies are needed to clarify the process by which
individuals come to find a purpose, given the multiple routes that
exploration may take (Kashdan & McKnight, 2009), as well as the
potential settings and contexts involved. One seemingly important
context is the home environment: Research has demonstrated the
long-term effects of positive maternal and paternal parenting
practices on adolescents sense of purpose in life (Shek, 1999)
and family conflict is negatively associated with purpose scores
(DuRant et al., 1994). Moreover, the extent to which youth assist
in family activities appears to positively predict their day-to-day
fluctuations in purpose (Kiang, 2012). In addition, the broader
environmental context will likely play a prominent role in youths
purpose development, as seen in work linking exposure to
violence to lower levels of purpose in life among at-risk youth
(DuRant et al., 1994) as well as the literature demonstrating the
potential for the environment to influence identity formation (e.g.,
Phillips & Pittman, 2003; Yoder, 2000). Research should exam-
ine these effects across different samples and socioeconomic
categories to determine which contexts best promote and discour-
age the development of purpose. For instance, environmental
and socioeconomic contexts dictate which extracurricular and
community activities are available to youth, factors that influence
purpose exploration and adolescent development more broadly
(e.g., Benson, 2002; Feldman & Matjasko, 2005).
A final question is, What cant purpose do? Based on the find-
ings discussed earlier, it is difficult to think of a domain of ado-
lescent life that would not benefit from a sense of purpose. If
purpose begets greater subjective well-being while reducing the
likelihood of substance use and psychological symptoms,
purpose should have manifold positive effects. Such a claim is
further supported by the wealth of developmental benefits
associated with identity commitment (e.g., Crocetti, Rubini, &
Meeus, 2008; Luyckx, Schwartz, Goossens, Beyers, & Missotten,
2011) and a sense of agency (e.g., Gillham & Reivich, 2004;
Snyder, 2005), two of the variables most connected to commit-
ment to purpose during adolescence. However, the potential for
these benefits may complicate research on youth purpose as
much as it promotes it. For instance, tests of discriminant valid-
ity become more challenging when dealing with a variable that
could be correlated to a wide array of desirable outcomes. In
turn, it adds to the difficulty in defining purpose as a construct
unique from others in the literature. Therefore, researchers
should define the boundaries of purpose by nominating and
empirically demonstrating those domains most affected when
youth develop a sense of purpose.
Such research could look more deeply at the content of pur-
pose (see Quinn, 2013). Work with emerging adults suggests

that some purposes are more beneficial than others (Hill et al.,
2010), making similar claims to the research on self-focused
versus other-focused (e.g., Cross & Markus, 1991) goals. In
other words, studies should consider whether all purposes are
universally adaptive, or if purpose can be a bad thing when
youth set seemingly disruptive life aims (e.g., advancement in
illegal activities). Moreover, work should examine purpose from
the perspective of how individuals fit in the environment, both
in terms of whether individuals can obtain their purpose and
whether the given purpose is encouraged by society. For
instance, other-focused purposes may lead to greater well-being,
particularly when individuals are in environments that facilitate
them, whereas individuals focused on creative outputs may fail
to thrive in similar settings (Hill et al., 2010).
This aim underscores the need for more experimental research
in the field. Most studies have used correlational approaches,
possibly because of difficulties with experimentally manipulat-
ing purpose. Certainly, the content of purpose is unlikely to
change in the context of a single experimental study. However,
adolescents levels of purpose commitment may fluctuate across
a year (Hill & Burrow, 2012) and even at the daily level (Kiang,
2012). A sense of purpose may be somewhat variable and thus
susceptible to manipulation, allowing for several of our earlier
claims to be tested experimentally (e.g., Burrow & Hill, 2013).
Although such efforts may be moderated by whether the adoles-
cent has a purpose in the first place, experimental work should
establish causality in the field of purpose. For instance, given
the ability for individuals to build from their experiences of
positive affect (Fredrickson, 2001), it would be valuable to know
whether purpose in life and emotional well-being are related
reciprocally. Just as finding a purpose could lead youth to hap-
pier lives, developing a purpose may be facilitated when youth
start from a foundation of positive affect and optimism.
For now, we are left with a positive portrayal of purpose as a
resource that may lead individuals to more positive experiences
during adolescence. Purposeful youth appear more agentic, more
goal directed, and happier in their daily lives than those lacking
this sense of commitment. They report a greater belief in their
ability to manage potential obstacles and seem more likely to
avoid the deepest pitfalls that confront many of their peers.
Accordingly, researchers are left with the task of examining
which settings best foster purpose in youth and demonstrating
the unique role of purpose in explaining adaptive adolescent
development.
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