Supporting generous purpose in adolescence: the roles of school climate and spirituality*

Evidence grows to support the role of purpose on the path to thriving during adolescence, but less is known about what may support purpose development during the adolescent period. The study described here drew from positive youth development (PYD) theory and utilised longitudinal survey data collected from 106 adolescents (M age = 14.15) to test the possible links among generous school climate, spirituality and generous purpose construal. Multivariate regression analyses revealed significant individual associations between generous purpose construal and both generosity among students and community-sensing spirituality. However, both generosity among students and community-sensing spirituality lost their significance as predictors of generous purpose construal when included in the same model. These results are interpreted in a PYD framework, pointing to the potential roles of peers and spirituality in the development of generous purpose, but also highlighting the complex issues at work when measuring correlated aspects of PYD.