Famous people can positively influence young people by serving as examples of how to be a good person, but very little is known about which famous people youth look up to and why they do so. We coded and analyzed open-response data from 596 adolescents (M[subscript age] = 14.09 years; 58.5% girls, 57.5% White) in the northeastern United States to…

This paper addresses three basic questions about moral motivation. Concerning the nature of moral motivation, it argues that it involves responsiveness to both reasons of morality and the value of persons and everything else of value. Moral motivation is thus identified as reason-responsive appropriate valuing. Regarding whether it is possible for…

Life purpose is a long-term aim to make one's life "count." Education--especially moral education--might be considered a key cultural mechanism for young people to 'thread' their lives into the culture's 'bigger picture' not only of the 'good life' but also of a 'life of good.' How does life purpose relate to educationally important…

Despite acknowledgment that character operates as a multi-faceted system of multiple attributes, few efforts have examined this system by investigating how character attributes may combine in profiles and how profiles are related to individual internal strengths and contextual assets. Using data from 552 adolescents from the Northeastern United…

Life aspirations have aroused much interest in youth studies. Yet, their psychological correlates remain unclear, especially in countries outside the US. The aim of this study was to explore associations among aspirations, values and moral foundations in 157 Mongolian youth, through questionnaires used widely around the world. Correlational and…

This article examines Iranian secondary students' (N = 336) life purposes. Economic and hedonistic life goals were the most valued. Relationships in terms of having a family and children were also appreciated. In the students' views, religiousness was associated with social goals such as helping others in need and volunteering in the community.…

Purpose is an intention over the long-term to have an effect on the world that is both meaningful to oneself and to others. What are schools doing to help students use the knowledge and skills they learn in school in their own lives and aspirations? This is the first study that compares adolescent purposes and life satisfaction in Singaporean and…