DEVELOPMENTAL ASSETS AND SINGAPOREAN COLLEGE STUDENTS' ADJUSTMENT: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF PURPOSE IN LIFE

Abstract

The Developmental Assets Framework has increasingly received attention in the field of positive youth development, and recently been extended into the literature surrounding late adolescents and emerging adults? thriving outcomes. However, the mechanisms within this framework that bridge developmental assets to their positive outcomes are relatively unexplored. The present study proposed that purpose in life may account for the relationship between developmental assets and adjustment to college. 271 Singaporean college students (mean age = 20.8 years) were surveyed on their experiences of developmental assets, purpose in life and their adjustment in psychological health (i.e., mental health and psychosomatic symptoms) and academics (i.e., grades and academic competence). The positive effects of developmental assets on adjustment were demonstrated in Singaporean college students, validating the Developmental Assets Framework in a new population. Importantly, we found that purpose in life did partially mediate the relationship between developmental assets and mental health, psychosomatic symptoms and academic competence. This suggests that purpose in life is a pathway by which developmental assets have positive effects on college adjustment and calls for future research to further validate this mechanism and explore other possible mechanisms within this framework.