Purpose Development in College Students: Understanding the Role of Critical Consciousness

• Main Author: White, Allison
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Boston College 2020
• Subjects: adolescents; college students; critical consciousness; positive youth development; purpose
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:108760

Thesis advisor: Belle Liang === Research has documented the benefits of youth purpose (i.e., a sustained intention that facilitates engagement in activities and contributes to the world beyond oneself) (Damon, Menon, & Bronk, 2003). Youth purpose has been considered a developmental asset (Benson, 2006) and predictive of flourishing (e.g., Seligman, 2002). A sense of purpose can also serve as an important psychological resource for people experiencing adversity (e.g., Frankl, 2006). Similarly, critical consciousness (CC) has been associated with positive outcomes among youth, including improved mental health and vocational commitments (Diemer, 2009; Diemer & Li, 2011), and can help youth cope with oppression and marginalization (Diemer, Kauffman, Koenig, Trahan, & Hsieh, 2006). Given the benefits of youth purpose, additional research on how purpose develops is warranted (Liang et al., 2017a). Theoretical models of character development (e.g., Lerner & Callina, 2014) have suggested that purpose and CC develop in similar, parallel ways, though research often has not connected these two constructs explicitly. The youth purpose and CC literatures suggest that a study of the possible link between CC and purpose, whereby CC helps facilitate the development of purpose, is warranted. Therefore, this dissertation sought to expand the literature on purpose development in college students, as well as better understand if and how CC facilitates purpose development in this population. This study included 17 interviews with purposeful college students who had either relatively higher or lower levels of CC, as measured by the Critical Consciousness Scale (CCS) (Diemer, Rapa, Park, & Perry, 2017). A modified Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) method was used to analyze the data and yielded 60 categories to describe the factors that contributed to the students’ purpose development (Hill, Thompson, & Williams, 1997). Additional analyses suggested that CC facilitated purpose development via a healing and/or directing pathway. Students were able to heal from marginalization and trauma, which was important for helping them pursue their goals; and/or they were better able to direct their prosocial motivations toward specific beneficiaries. Implications for practice are discussed. === Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. === Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. === Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.