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Developing a Positive Racial and Ethnic Identity During Adolescence Can Support Healthy Mental and Physical Development and Academic Achievement

Developing a Positive Racial and Ethnic Identity During Adolescence Can Support Healthy Mental and Physical Development and Academic Achievement

During adolescence, we start to form a deeper sense of who we are, what we value, and who we want to be. We become increasingly sensitive to social feedback and better able to think in abstract and complex ways that help us build a deeper sense of self around these questions related to identity. We think more about what it means to be a member of our particular social or cultural group or groups. Healthy development involves creating a positive sense of self and belonging that includes our identity as part of a particular racial as well as ethnic group.

Adolescence In An Important Period for Exploring, Integrating, and Affirming Our Racial and Ethnic Identity

Adolescence is a key window for exploring identity, including our identity as a member of a racial and ethnic group (or groups). Throughout adolescence, youth develop increasing cognitive abilities and social awareness that help them explore more complex identities and build a more nuanced understanding of how people and groups interact. This cognitive and social development often occurs as youth are moving up to middle school and high school–transitions that can introduce diverse new people and experiences. Combined, these changes propel young people to explore the concepts of race and ethnicity and their impact on opportunities and experiences within their immediate community and society at large.

Overall, research on the exploration and development of racial and ethnic identity in adolescence emphasizes its profound impact on adolescents’ social development, mental and physical health, academic achievement, and general well-being.

Developing One’s Racial and Ethnic Identity During Adolescence Has Benefits for Mental and Physical Health

Self esteem

Developing a sense of racial and ethnic identity has been shown to have positive effects on self-esteem during adolescence in youth who identify as Black and African American, Latino and Mexican American, Asian American and Pacific Islander, and Native American.

Mental health

Youth who report feeling a greater sense of belonging to their racial and ethnic groups also report fewer depressive symptoms and decreases in depression over time and those who perceive that their racial and ethnic group is positively regarded by others report lower depression, anxiety, and substance abuse.

Youth who report higher levels of ethnic identity also feel more able to cope with problems, and are less likely to engage in risky health behaviors such as alcohol and drug use.

Adolescents Who Form a Clear Sense of Their Racial and Ethnic Identities May Feel More Engaged In School and More Invested In their Communities

Academic performance

Feelings of belonging to a racial or ethnic group and positive feelings about being a member of a particular racial or ethnic group (or groups) have been linked to better academic performance, increased academic engagement, and positive attitudes about learning and academic achievement in adolescents.

Civic engagement

Developing a stronger racial and ethnic identity in adolescence can also influence young people’s beliefs about the importance of civic engagement to advance their communities and can increase young people’s participation in local and national civic affairs. In Black and Latinx adolescents, more clarity in their racial and ethnic identity by the end of middle school predicted greater beliefs about the importance of engaging with issues affecting their communities.

Helpful behaviors toward others

Black adolescent boys who perceive that their racial and ethnic group is positively regarded by others show higher levels of prosocial behavior such as helping a classmate with homework or trying not to hurt another person’s feelings. Middle school students who engage in and value experiences with people from different cultural groups also report more prosocial behavior like standing up for kids who are bullied or helping those they don’t know that well.

Conversely, when youth who have lower levels of pride in or connection with their ethnic identity experience discrimination, they may be more likely to engage in aggressive or delinquent behavior in late adolescence.

Research Suggests That Having a Stronger Racial and Ethnic Identity During Adolescence Can Protect Against the Negative Impacts of Stress and Race-Based Discrimination

Stressful experiences such as exposure to racial or ethnic discrimination in adolescence can decrease self-esteem and academic achievement and increase symptoms of depression and anxiety. Such discrimination is also linked to externalizing behaviors such as delinquency and aggression, and risky health behaviors such as substance use.

Importantly, research suggests that having a stronger racial and ethnic identity can reduce stress and can also reduce the negative impacts that discrimination can have on academic success and physical health. Having a stronger racial and ethnic identity and higher self-esteem has also been shown to reduce the negative impact of online racial discrimination on Black adolescents’ anxiety levels.

For Black adolescents who experience higher levels of stressful life events (which can include events such as school transition, sickness or loss of a family member, or parental divorce or separation), stronger ethnic identity and activities such as exploring ethnic customs (including special food or music) can protect against negative self-perceptions. Likewise, strong feelings of belonging to a racial and ethnic group or groups can help support expectations of future educational and occupational success.

Physically, developing a strong racial and ethnic identity in adolescence has been shown to lessen the impact of discrimination on the body’s biological stress-response systems and lower elevated cytokine levels (which indicate low-grade inflammation) in young adults who were exposed to discrimination in adolescence.

INSIGHT: Multiracial youth
It is important to note that more and more adolescents identify with more than one racial and ethnic identity, and research suggests that these multiracial youth may face unique challenges in developing a stable sense of their racial and ethnic identity. Two factors that help promote positive outcomes for multiracial youth are support from teachers and parents and positive feelings about one’s racial and ethnic identity. This suggests that schools could support multiracial youth through programs or interventions focused specifically at helping students who identify with more than one racial or ethnic group build positive feelings about their racial and ethnic identity.

Research Suggests Adults Can Help Promote Positive Ethnic-Racial Identity for Adolescents In Multiple Settings

Family environment

When parents help adolescents understand their heritage, including cultural values and traditions, young people are more likely to explore and understand their racial and ethnic identity in adolescence. One school-based intervention to promote racial and ethnic identity was shown to be more effective for youth whose families encouraged them to respect the cultural values and beliefs of their ethnic-cultural background.

School environment

School-based learning practices that promote empathy and support, autonomy and agency, and classroom collaboration have been shown to help middle school students explore and feel pride in their racial and ethnic identity. Youth who report more opportunities to learn about their culture in school are more likely to feel pride and other positive feelings about their group membership and to have better grades. For white youth, school-based learning about racial and ethnic identity can shift attitudes about other racial and ethnic groups and improve their ability to consider the perspectives of others.

POLICY INSIGHT: Intervention that supports positive racial and ethnic identity development
The Identity Project is an eight-week intervention created to help high school students understand concepts of race, ethnicity, culture, and discrimination, and explore their own racial and ethnic identity. Youth who participated in the program were more likely to explore and connect with their racial and ethnic identity, which led to higher self-esteem, lower depressive symptoms, and better grades over the following year. Youth who viewed their racial and ethnic identity as an important part of their overall sense of self benefited the most from the Identity Project. A study testing the Identity Project among adolescents in Italy (approximately 70 percent born in Italy and 30 percent born abroad) showed similar effects on enhancing students’ racial and ethnic identity exploration, suggesting that the Identity Project intervention and adapted versions of its curriculum may prove effective in Europe as well as in the United States.

Conclusion

Overall, research shows the importance of a positive racial and ethnic identity for adolescents and its profound impact on mental and physical health, academic achievement, and general well-being. Developing a positive racial and ethnic identity in adolescence can foster a sense of belonging, help build a positive self-concept, and promote resilience against challenges including discrimination. When educators, parents, and policymakers understand how young people develop their racial and ethnic identity, they can more effectively support young people through positive messages about different racial and ethnic identities, school curricula that teach students about different cultural heritages, mental health services that consider a young person’s racial and ethnic identity, and other programs that promote healthy identity development for adolescents.

Policy and Practice Insights

  • Developing a positive racial and ethnic identity in adolescence can foster a sense of belonging, help build a positive self-concept, and promote resilience against challenges including discrimination.
  • Families can play a role in supporting a young person’s positive racial and ethnic identity development by helping them understand their heritage, cultural values, and traditions. ◆ A review of programs that focus on Black adolescent identity exploration found that these programs can also promote other positive developmental outcomes such as improving parent-child relationships.
  • The positive effects of racial and ethnic identity development on self-esteem among adolescents from diverse ethnic-racial groups are well documented in research; however, the experiences of Native American adolescents are too often missing from research literature. ◆ Learn more about the Center for Native American Youth’s efforts to provide “access to accurate data that reflects the collective thoughts, opinions, experiences, and needs of Native youth from across the country.”
  • Research suggests school-based opportunities are one avenue to promote positive racial and ethnic identity development among adolescents. Participants in a school-based program designed to increase racial and ethnic identity exploration among high school students showed increases in their exploration and resolution of their racial and ethnic identity and, in turn, higher self-esteem, lower depressive symptoms, and better grades over the following year.

This summary represents research related to a diverse range of youth. For specific details about each population of young people in the referenced studies, please check the cited references.

Additional Resources

The Connecting Adolescent Brain

Fact Sheet

This fact sheet gives an overview of adolescent brain development and explains how access to resources, opportunities, and meaningful relationships during adolescence can build connections within our brains and with the world around us that support us into adulthood.

Brain development during adolescence is fundamentally a story of connections.

Around age 9 or 10, hormonal changes kick off a period of intense learning and development, when brain cells form, strengthen, and streamline connections in response to our experiences more rapidly than in any period of life after early childhood.

Activity increases especially in the brain networks that propel us to explore the world, learn from our mistakes, and connect with others in new ways. In turn, these new experiences prompt our brain cells to connect with other neurons in ways that help us adapt to new events and new information. These neural connections become stronger the more we use them, while unused connections are pruned away, helping the brain become more efficient at acquiring and mastering new skills and new ways of thinking.

This brain-building learning happens through direct experiences in our environments and interactive, responsive relationships—with our families and peers, in our classrooms and neighborhoods, in community activities, and even online. The resources, opportunities, and experiences we as adults provide in and out of school can help young people’s brains build the extensive networks of connections that will manage the complex knowledge and behaviors needed to navigate adulthood.

Learning by Exploring the World Around Us

One of the networks that changes significantly with the increase in hormones and dopamine at the beginning of puberty is the “reward system” in our brain. Heightened activity in this system increases the feeling of reward we get from exploring the world, taking risks, and learning from the results.

Meanwhile, the network of brain regions that make up the “social brain” also changes during adolescence. These changes help us tune into social and emotional cues, like facial expressions or social rejection and approval, and increase our desire to earn respect and contribute to others. It also enables us to learn the nuances of changing social contexts in ways that help prepare us for adult relationships.

The prefrontal cortex (the region of the brain that orchestrates critical thinking and behavioral control) undergoes its most rapid period of development during adolescence. It builds on many other systems within the brain to manage our responses to the flood of new information and intensifying emotions. Engaging with other people and our environment and learning from our successes and our mistakes, known as “action-based learning,” helps shape the prefrontal cortex by strengthening the connections within it and between it and other brain networks. We learn through repeated practice—which includes trying and sometimes failing—what is adaptive and appropriate in different situations and how to guide our behavior accordingly, in ways that equip us to pursue new forward-looking goals.

When adults provide youth with opportunities to try new things, to practice navigating emotions, and to learn from failures along the way, it helps build the brain connections that we all need to grow into healthy, thriving adults.

Policies, Experiences, and Mindsets Shape the Connecting Brain

Although we can continue to learn new skills and behaviors as adults, the adaptability of the brain during adolescence means that these connections are much more likely to form quickly in response to experiences. The extent of these changes make the adolescent years a critical window when investments in the right policies and programs for youth can shape long-term positive development.

Likewise, this makes the adolescent years a time when negative experiences including racism, other forms of discrimination, poverty, or abuse can create steeper hills for young people to climb toward a healthy adulthood. When adults ensure that all young people, especially those who have experienced earlier adversity, have what they need along their journey, they can build the skills and capacities they need to thrive as adults. This includes opportunities to explore and take healthy risks, to connect with and contribute to those around us, to make decisions and learn from the outcomes, to develop a healthy sense of identity, and to rely on support from parents or other caring adults.

Understanding how and why the brain develops during adolescence lets us provide the support young people need to build healthy connections—in their world and within their brains—that will help our youth and our communities thrive.

Thumbnail Image for Adolescents playing cards

Summer Research Roundup

Research Roundup | Education | Adversity, Bias, & Discrimination

This roundup provides an overview of the new research into adolescent development, including how neighborhoods affect sleep, the link between prosocial behavior and school performance, the role of location in racial discrimination, and the impact of specific types of adversity on brain development.

In this Research Roundup, we provide an overview of recent research about adolescent development that highlights how neighborhoods affect sleep, the link between prosocial behavior and school performance, the differences in perceived racial discrimination across locations in the United States, and the impact of specific types of adversity on adolescent brain development.

Sign up to receive the quarterly research roundup in your inbox. You can suggest research articles for future roundups by emailing CDA@psych.ucla.edu.

  • The impact of neighborhood disadvantage on sleep changes between childhood and adolescence​
  • The link between helping behaviors and school performance during adolescence across cultures
  • Effects of location on adolescents’ experiences of racial discrimination in the United States
  • The effects of different types of adverse childhood experiences on adolescent brain development

The impact of neighborhood disadvantage on sleep changes between childhood and adolescence

(Sleep Health, May 2025)

Sufficient and restful sleep is essential to healthy adolescent development. Research has found that people who live in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods sleep less and experience more sleep disturbances on average. However, few studies have examined whether these associations between neighborhood disadvantage and sleep change between childhood and adolescence. In this study, Thomas Fuller-Rowell and colleagues investigated the relationship between neighborhood economic disadvantage and sleep in childhood and adolescence. The researchers examined the sleep patterns of 339 youth during childhood (average age about 10 years old) and again in a subset of 167 of the same youth when they were adolescents (average age just over 17 years old). At each timepoint, participants wore wrist monitors for seven consecutive nights. Researchers found that sleep patterns changed between childhood and adolescence: Participants slept fewer hours in adolescence, but also had more efficient sleep compared to when they were younger—meaning that they spent more time actually sleeping between falling asleep and waking with fewer “long wake episodes” in which they were awake for five minutes or longer in the night.

However, the sleep quality of youth residing in neighborhoods with greater socioeconomic disadvantage improved less as they got older compared to youth in neighborhoods with more resources. Researchers also found racial disparities in these patterns–Black children who lived in highly economically disadvantaged neighborhoods experienced less decrease in long-wake episodes between childhood and adolescence. Together, these findings highlight how childhood neighborhoods and racial inequities may shape sleep outcomes as youth progress from childhood to adolescence.

Why this is important: This research provides important insights into how sleep patterns change as youth transition from childhood into adolescence and also sheds light on how neighborhood disadvantage may impact adolescent sleep–which is critical to physical and mental health during this formative period of development.

The link between helping behaviors and school performance during adolescence across cultures

(Applied Developmental Science, May 2025)

Studies have found that prosocial behavior—voluntary actions intended to benefit other people, such as helping or sharing—is associated with a range of beneficial outcomes during adolescence. In this study of 884 adolescents from six countries (Colombia, Italy, Jordan, the Philippines, Thailand, and the United States), Flavia Cirimele and colleagues examined associations between prosocial behavior and school performance over three time points, spanning from when participants were 10 to 16 years old. They found that youth who reported higher levels of prosocial behavior tended to perform better in school (averaged across reading, math, social studies, and science performance) across time. They also found that at time points when an adolescent reported being more prosocial than usual, they also performed better in school than usual. These effects remained after adjusting for differences in the socioeconomic status of their countries of residence. Together, these findings suggest that, across countries with diverse cultures and economic landscapes, prosocial behaviors and educational achievement are interrelated during adolescence.

Why this is important: By studying a large sample of adolescents from countries throughout the world, this research showcases a connection between prosocial behavior and school performance during adolescence across diverse cultural and national contexts. These patterns suggest that prosocial behaviors and academic achievement may benefit each other and support healthy development.

Effects of location on adolescents’ experiences of racial discrimination in the United States

(Journal of Adolescent Health, July 2025)

Research has found that youth experience increasing messaging about race as they enter adolescence and that young people are particularly susceptible to the negative effects of perceived racial discrimination during this stage. Using longitudinal data from over 4,000 youth in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, Christopher Fields and colleagues investigated how levels of perceived discrimination changed between the ages of 10 to 14 and examined whether these patterns differed based on neighborhood or state-level factors. At three time points, participants reported whether they had experienced discrimination or unfair treatment based on their race, ethnicity, or skin color in the past year. The researchers found that non-Hispanic Black, Asian American and Pacific Islander, and multiracial youth reported experiencing significantly increasing rates of discrimination over time, while non-Hispanic White and Native American youth reported that their experiences of discrimination decreased. Additionally, Hispanic youth with immigrant backgrounds reported experiencing more discrimination. Youth living in areas with highly segregated, economically disadvantaged Black households and in states with high anti-Black bias reported greater discrimination, suggesting that structural racism at neighborhood and state level in part shapes experiences of discrimination during adolescence.

Why this is important: We know that discrimination negatively impacts well-being during adolescence. By showing how perceived discrimination increases for young people across multiple racial groups throughout the United States, this work emphasizes the importance of efforts at the community and state levels to decrease adolescents’ experiences of discrimination.

The effects of different types of adverse childhood experiences on adolescent brain development

(Translational Psychiatry, May 2025)

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been found to have lasting effects on the brain. However, it is unclear how different types of adversity uniquely affect the developing brain. In this study, Yumeng Yang and colleagues examined how different forms of adversity related to brain development in a sample of 5,885 adolescents from the ABCD Study over four years, beginning when participants were between 9 and 10 years old. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the researchers examined functional connectivity, the process by which different brain regions work together and communicate via networks in the brain. The researchers examined whether different forms of adversity predicted differences in how these networks developed during early adolescence. They looked at the effects of both interpersonal adversity (caregiving disruptions, caregiver mental health challenges, maltreatment, and interpersonal trauma) and socioeconomic adversity (low family socioeconomic status, community violence, neighborhood trauma, and neighborhood poverty). Adolescents who had experienced both categories of adversity–more unpredictable or disrupted caregiving, as well as living in high-poverty neighborhoods–showed accelerated development in brain networks that support emotion regulation and executive functioning. The earlier maturation of these networks was associated with decreased performance on cognitive tasks. Together, these findings suggest that the adolescent brain may adapt to stress by accelerating brain development in ways that can negatively affect aspects of cognition.

Why this matters: During adolescence, connections between regions of the brain mature rapidly, enabling our brains to work more efficiently as we develop and learn about the world around us. By demonstrating how adversity may alter this developmental process, this work provides further evidence that stable, supportive caregiving environments and resourced neighborhoods are essential for healthy adolescent brain development. Policies that support consistent and reliable caregiving and provide resources to disadvantaged neighborhoods may be especially effective in supporting adolescents who have experienced adversity.

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Winter 2024 Research Roundup

Research Roundup | Community Engagement | Mental Health | Adversity, Bias, & Discrimination

This roundup provides an overview of recent research about adolescent development that examined the importance of parents’ ethnic-racial identity, the benefits of a mindfulness intervention, the link between agency and sense of purpose, the association between brain development and resilience to stress, and the link between heart rate variability and mental health.

In this issue of our quarterly Research Roundup, we provide an overview of some recent research about adolescent development that examined the importance of parents’ ethnic-racial identity, the benefits of a mindfulness intervention, the link between agency and sense of purpose, the association between brain development and resilience to stress, and the link between heart rate variability and mental health.

You can suggest research articles for future roundups by emailing CDA@psych.ucla.edu or sign up to receive the quarterly research roundup in your inbox.

  • Increasing resilience to stress over time is associated with myelination of prefrontal brain networks during adolescence (July 2024)
  • The protective role of parents’ ethnic–racial identities for young adolescents facing ethnic-racial discrimination (November 2024)
  • Examining The impact of heart-rate variability on emotion regulation in adolescence (December 2024)
  • Mindfulness-based training effects on sleep and brain networks that support awareness of bodily sensations in healthy adolescents (August 2024)
  • Factors that help adolescent increase their sense of purpose through self‐driven learning opportunities (November 2024)

Increasing resilience to stress over time is associated with myelination of prefrontal brain networks during adolescence

(Nature Communications, July 2024)

In this study, Meike Hettwer and colleagues examined whether resilience to adversity during adolescence relates to ongoing development of brain regions that support emotion regulation and cognitive control. In a longitudinal study of 141 adolescents ranging from 14 to 26 years old, the researchers measured mental health and environmental stressors (including dysfunctional family environments, significant adverse life events, and low socioeconomic status) at two timepoints, one to two years apart. The researchers quantified the extent to which each adolescent was susceptible or resilient to stress — that is, whether the youth demonstrated worse-than-expected or better-than-expected mental health given their stressful life experiences. Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at each timepoint, they examined whether resilience to adversity related to myelination, the process by which a protective, insulating layer called myelin develops around neurons, allowing for efficient communication throughout networks in the brain.

The researchers found that adolescents who demonstrated increasing resilience to stress over time also exhibited greater myelination within the anterolateral prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain that supports emotion regulation and cognitive control. Together, these findings suggest that efficient maturation of prefrontal networks helps adolescents effectively regulate their emotions and flexibly adapt to environmental stressors.

Why this matters: These findings suggest that myelination, a critical part of adolescent brain development, may promote resilience in the face of adversity during adolescence by enabling efficient functioning of still-developing emotion regulation networks. Interventions that help build resilience during adolescence, like strong social support, could contribute to these critical connections in the developing adolescent brain.


The protective role of parents’ ethnic–racial identities for young adolescents facing ethnic-racial discrimination

(American Psychologist, November 2024)

In this study, Juan del Toro and colleagues explored whether parents reduce the risk of early pubertal development in young adolescents who experience ethnic-racial discrimination. Using data from the ABCD study, the researchers analyzed survey data from 1,651 adolescent siblings (average age = 11.49 years) and their parents. Based on prior work demonstrating that chronic stress, including ethnic–racial discrimination, can accelerate biological aging, they tested whether adolescents who reported greater ethnic-racial discrimination also exhibited advanced pubertal development for their age. They found that adolescents who self-reported greater ethnic-racial discrimination than their siblings showed more advanced pubertal development. However, they also found that parents’ own ethnic-racial identities might play a protective role: The relationship between discrimination and pubertal maturation was weakened in households with parents who reported a greater sense of belonging and commitment to their ethnic-racial group. This suggests that parents’ own ethnic-racial identities can help confer resilience to the negative consequences of discrimination in adolescents.

Why this is important: This study showcases the powerful role that parents can play in promoting resilience in adolescents experiencing ethnic-racial discrimination.


The impact of heart-rate variability on emotion regulation in adolescence

(Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, December 2024)

Research has shown that higher heart rate variability is associated with an increased ability to respond adaptively to stress and effectively regulate emotions. To test this idea, Gillian Debra and colleagues examined whether the association between rumination (repetitive thinking about one’s problems) and negative emotions was reduced in adolescents with higher resting heart rate variability. In a sample of 235 adolescents (average age = 13.48 years), researchers measured adolescents’ heart rate variability while they watched a five-minute video depicting natural landscapes. Then, over fourteen days, participants received five smartphone surveys each day. In each survey, they rated their current negative emotions (sad, angry, anxious, uncertain, and stressed) and indicated how much they had been ruminating about their negative emotions. The researchers found that adolescents with higher heart rate variability showed less of a link between rumination and negative emotions.

Why this is important: This research demonstrates that higher heart rate variability may benefit adolescent mental health in everyday life and suggests that interventions focused on increasing heart rate variability could promote adolescent wellbeing.


Effects of mindfulness-based training on sleep and brain networks that support awareness of bodily sensations in healthy adolescents

(Frontiers in Psychology, August 2024)

In this study, Olga Tymofiyeva, Benjamin Sipes, and colleagues tested the efficacy of a mindfulness intervention in 14-to 18-year-old adolescents. A group of 100 adolescents were randomly assigned to an intervention group or waitlist-control group. Adolescents assigned to the Training for Awareness, Resilience, and Action (TARA) intervention completed a 12-week training program of remote, weekly sessions and at-home practice. During the training, participants learned about topics including stress responses and strategies to regulate emotions and practiced mindfulness techniques including breathing exercises, yoga sequences, and meditation. The researchers assessed brain connectivity, sleep, and emotional well-being before and after the program. Adolescents who completed the TARA intervention, but not those in the control group, reported significantly improved sleep following the program. The researchers also found that the intervention led to increased connectivity within brain networks that support interoception, or awareness of internal bodily sensations, which has been linked to positive mental health.

Why this is important: This research provides evidence that a remote mindfulness intervention may benefit adolescent wellbeing by improving sleep and modifying “interoceptive networks,” the brain circuitry that enables adolescents to tune in to the physical sensations within their own bodies and is related to emotional well-being.


Factors that help adolescents increase their sense of purpose through self‐driven learning opportunities

(Child Development, November 2024)

In this study, Kaylin Ratner and colleagues assessed whether adolescents who participated in a self-driven learning program experienced increases in their daily sense of purpose. During the program, 321 under-resourced adolescents between 14- and 19-year-olds explored a self-identified passion (e.g., software development, animal therapy, criminal justice) for about 10 weeks. Participants were provided with a stipend and were matched with a supportive adult to check in with during the program. For each day of the program, adolescents reported their daily sense of purpose (“How purposeful do you feel today?”), and researchers analyzed how each adolescent’s answer to this question changed over the course of the program. On average, adolescents in the program reported high and relatively stable senses of purpose over time. Adolescents who reported a greater sense of agency — measured by their self-reported motivation and ability to pursue and achieve personal goals — at baseline were more likely to experience increases in their sense of purpose. The authors suggest that interventions that increase one’s sense of agency could help adolescents benefit more from out-of-school opportunities.

Why this is important: These results suggest that increasing young people’s sense of agency during adolescence could provide youth with a greater sense of purpose and make out-of-school learning opportunities even more rewarding.

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