Text

theses

ETD graduate

Positive purpose has been linked to increased resilience in the face of adversity. Although quantitative and qualitative measures of purpose have traditionally been utilized separately, recent literature points to the need for more comprehensive assessment by integrating these methodologies. Therefore, the present study uses a mixed-methods approach to “triangulate” the construct of youth purpose, and to validate a new qualitative measure of purpose. The sample included students from two urban middle schools who completed a quantitative self-report measure of purpose, and a Purpose Essay – a qualitative measure asking students to define their purpose, and to describe any engagement they had in their purpose. Homeroom teachers also completed a 3-item measure of their perception of students’ purpose. Cluster analysis was used to incorporate thematic codes derived from the Purpose Essays to create “profiles” of students including all three purpose measures. Three cluster patterns were found for both schools in the analysis – fully developed purpose, beyond-the-self without engagement, and self-oriented life goal – additionally, these clusters did not vary across student groups (i.e., grade level, gender, ethnicity). The triangulation of purpose assessments added to the prediction of a general measure of mental health, but not specifically depression or anxiety. Future research would examine a subset of students’ purpose essays in more detail using qualitative coding analyses for further exploration of content and structure.

ETD_11233

M.S.

Includes bibliographical references

doi:10.7282/t3-vsg0-pd75

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