Dimensions of Purpose and Mental Health in Youth During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Person-Centered Approach

• In Event: Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: PS 13 Topic - Solicited Content: COVID-19 Related

Abstract

Introduction
The outbreak of COVID-19 has impacted adolescents’ socio-emotional health in many ways. The associations between youth well-being and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic remains largely unexamined. Recent evidence suggests purpose is a protective factor in reframing and managing stressful situations. What remains unclear are the potential influencing factors in individual components of youth purpose and mental health during COVID-19. Our objective is to identify and describe construct-based youth purpose profiles and how profile membership is related to subsequent mental health outcomes.
Research Questions. (1) What are the profiles of youth purpose dimensions? (2) Do purpose profiles predict anxiety? (3) Do purpose profiles predict depressive symptoms?

Methods
The data are from the three-wave Boy Scout of America (BSA) Building Evidence in Scouting Together (BEST) study. We analyzed youth survey data (n = 4,868) from Waves 2 and 3. At Wave 1, youth ranged from 10 to 18 years old (M = 13.97, SD = 2.00), were 91.7% White, 7.7% Latinx, 8.3% Asian, 4.5% Native American, 2.9% Black, 1.3% Middle Eastern, 1% other (youth could select >1 category), and were from various regions of the US (23.5% Northeast, 25.9% South, 34.2% Central, 16.5% West).
Measures. Youth purpose dimensions (meaningfulness, goal orientation, and beyond-the-self orientation) were measured at Wave 2 using the Claremont Purpose Scale (CPS; Bronk et al., 2018). Anxiety severity was measured at Waves 2 and 3 using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) scale (Spitzer et al., 2006). Depressive symptoms were measured at Waves 2 and 3 using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale (Radloff, 1977).

Results
RQ1. A latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to model individual differences of purpose among youth scouts. Results suggested four-classes, based on low AIC and BIC scores, significant Vuong Lo-Mendal Rubin LRT test (p < .001), and high entropy (.86): (1) Purposeful (n = 1,950) youth were high on all three dimensions; (2) Explorers (n = 1,519) were moderate on all dimensions; (3) Dreamers (n = 868) were high on beyond-the-self orientation, moderate on goal directedness, and low on personal meaning; Nonpurposeful (n = 531) youth were low on all dimensions. Figure 1 displays purpose mean scores for each profile.
RQ2. We analyzed mean differences in Wave 3 anxiety scores controlling for prior mental health across youth purpose profiles; they did not significantly vary across profiles (𝝌2 = 4.05, df = 3, p = .2557).
RQ3. We analyzed mean differences in Wave 3 depression scores controlling for prior mental health across youth purpose profiles. Depressive symptoms were higher in the nonpurposeful and dreamers profiles in comparison to the purposeful and explorers profiles (𝝌2 = 25.25, df = 3, p < .001; Figure 2).

Discussion
Youth in the nonpurposeful and dreamers group have lower levels of meaning compared to the other purpose groups. This suggests low levels of personal meaning–regardless of having higher levels of goal orientation or beyond-the-self purpose–may put youth at risk for higher levels of depressive symptoms during COVID-19.

Authors

• Alysandra Zhang, Columbia University
  Presenting Author

• Lauren Alvis, The Hackett Center for Mental Health
  Non-Presenting Author

• Miriam R Linver, Montclair State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jennifer Brown Urban, Montclair State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Alexandra Rush, Montclair State University
  Non-Presenting Author