Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3288-1725

Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

PhD

College

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Committee Chair

Nicholas Turiano

Committee Co-Chair

Amy Gentzler

Committee Member

Amy Gentzler

Committee Member

Ray Joslyn

Committee Member

Julie Lockman

Abstract

A sense of purpose in life, defined as a dispositional tendency to pursue goals and activities in line with one’s overarching life direction (Hill, 2016), has been discussed as a key individual difference factor to foster in today’s college students (Colby, 2020; Pfund, Bono, & Hill, 2020). As such, the present dissertation sought to understand the psychosocial and academic benefits associated with having a sense of purpose in life in college via two studies: 1. Assessing changes in a sense of purpose in life across the first year of college and how these changes were associated with academic performance and psychosocial indicators of well-being at the end of that first year in a representative sample of a cohort (2019-2020) of undergraduates from West Virginia University (WVU) 2. Understand the utility of the CliftonStrengths® questionnaire and strengths-based touchpoints through the WVU Purpose Center (in collaboration with Gallup) as it relates to undergraduate academic success, sense of purpose in life, and psychosocial well-being. Study 1 demonstrated that increases in purpose in life were associated with better academic and psychosocial outcomes. Study 2 demonstrated minimal evidence of the predictive validity of the CliftonStrengths® questionnaire, but some evidence in favor of touchpoint exposure being associated with higher levels of self-efficacy and a higher GPA. Findings suggest that a sense of purpose in life is an important individual difference factor to cultivate in college students, but that CliftonStrengths®-based initiatives may not be the most effective means of facilitating purpose development or academic success.

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