Purpose is an indicator of healthy human development and believed by some theorists and educators to be an important outcome of college. The aim of this study was to test the potential for assessing purpose using a person-centered analysis, thereby providing more individual-specific understanding of students' purpose development, and second by…

In the current study, we focused on measuring the development of important professional attitudes, such as "compassion satisfaction" and "burnout." Students from four different colleges worked in teams to conceptualize innovative engineering products. During the ideation phase of their project, participants completed a…

In this study, it is aimed to examine the predictive effect of the meaning in life on psychological wellbeing and happiness in university students. In the study, it was also investigated whether there was a significant difference between the meaning in life, psychological well-being and happiness scores in terms of gender. The study population of…

Graduating from college is widely associated with social and personal advancement, yet many young graduates are not experiencing these benefits. Drawing on 127 interviews with college graduates in the United States and Spain who face employment precarity or economic instability, this study asks: How do these graduates understand their social…

Academic boredom and self-compassion are among the numerous variables that affect the academic life quality of university students, although the literature investigating these variables together is scarce. In this study, we develop a model to indicate the direct and indirect relationships and effects between academic boredom, self-compassion, and…

Black women student affairs professionals are essential figures and play a vital role in the development and learning of students attending college (Jackson, 2003; Turrentine & Conley, 2001). While the presence of Black women students continues to rise on campus, Black women student affairs professionals continue to be disproportionately…

This study examined whether first-time full-time freshman students' sense of purpose predicted their progress towards a degree. Freshman students (N = 421, 62.2% females) completed self-report measures of sense of purpose and academic commitments within the first month of starting college; a year later, the data on first-year progress towards a…

Purpose in life has consistently been found to be a key element of positive psychological and physical health outcomes (Burrow & Rainone, 2017; Keyes et al., 2002; Ryff, 1989; Ryff & Singer, 1998; Schmutte & Ryff, 1997; Zika & Chamberlain, 1992; Zilioli et al., 2015). Given the current state of the world, with an ongoing pandemic…

This research paper explores the relationship between compassion, meaning-making, and curricular community engaged learning (CEL) in a university setting. We contend that CEL, as a key form of community-focused experiential learning (EL), can play an important role in helping address the wellbeing of students, faculty, and staff by providing…

In the era of knowledge economy, how to promote knowledge sharing behavior of university students deserves close attention from academic and practical circles. As a character strength, purpose in life can predict individuals' thriving and positive development, but its predictive effect on knowledge sharing behavior has not been explored. This…

Understanding the factors that affect student engagement remains important in service-learning. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between purpose in life, civic mindedness, class engagement in service-learning, and personal need for structure. Especially, this study investigated the moderating effect of personal need for…

Religiosity and spirituality often provide core coping structures to believers. College students are regularly put into novel situations and environments in which they must rely on their coping mechanisms, including practices that stem from their potential religious/spiritual identities. However, religious identity group differences in college…

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether meaning in life and hope mediate the association between coronavirus stress and resilience in university students. The participants were 376 (68% female) undergraduate students attending a public university in Turkey. The age of the students ranged from 18 to 38 years (Mage = 20.67, SD =…

Collegiate recovery programs (CRPs) provide support for students in recovery from substance use disorders. Little research exists examining factors relevant to this population, making it challenging to prioritize recovery and educational goals. This study used a national sample (N = 80) of students involved in CRPs to investigate the relationships…

This study explored the relationship between high school sophomores' purpose orientations and their postsecondary completion a decade later by examining the data from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002. Among four types of purpose (career, interpersonal, altruistic, and self-oriented), career and interpersonal purpose orientations were…