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The Role of Purposeful Work Goals in Promoting Meaning in Life and in Schoolwork

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: dyeager{at}stanford.edu.

	Abstract

What type of work goals provide adolescents with the sense that schoolwork is important and that their lives are meaningful? This mixed-methods study of a diverse sample of 6th-, 9th-, and 12th-grade adolescents (N = 148) investigated the relationship between work goals, purpose, and meaning using a semistructured interview and a survey. Interview analyses showed that multiple motives were normative (68%), and that 30% of adolescents aspired to an occupation that would allow them to contribute to the world beyond themselves. Regression analyses found that adolescents with purposeful work goals also reported more meaning in life and in schoolwork than those who did not.

First published on May 13, 2009, doi:10.1177/0743558409336749

Journal of Adolescent Research 2009;24:423.

A more recent version of this article appeared on July 1, 2009


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