Research Article
’MPower Shows Me Who I Want to Be’: A Qualitative Study of a Youth Purpose Program
Brenna Lincoln 
,
Willow Wood,
Madeline Reed,
Jonathan Sepulveda,
Belle Liang,
Nancy E. Hill,
John Perella
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Lincoln B, Wood W, Reed M, Sepulveda J, Liang B, Hill NE, Perella J. ’MPower shows me who i want to be’: A qualitative study of a youth purpose program. European J Psychol E. 2021;4(2):113-122. doi: 10.12973/ejper.4.2.113
Lincoln, B., Wood, W., Reed, M., Sepulveda, J., Liang, B., Hill, N. E., & Perella, J. (2021). ’MPower shows me who i want to be’: A qualitative study of a youth purpose program. European Journal of Psychology and Educational Research, 4(2), 113-122. https://doi.org/10.12973/ejper.4.2.113
Lincoln Brenna, Willow Wood, Madeline Reed, Jonathan Sepulveda, Belle Liang, Nancy E. Hill, and John Perella. "’MPower Shows Me Who I Want to Be’: A Qualitative Study of a Youth Purpose Program," European Journal of Psychology and Educational Research 4, no. 2 (2021): 113-122. https://doi.org/10.12973/ejper.4.2.113
Lincoln, B Wood, W Reed, M Sepulveda, J Liang, B Hill, NE & Perella, 2021, '’MPower shows me who i want to be’: A qualitative study of a youth purpose program', European Journal of Psychology and Educational Research, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 113-122. Lincoln, Brenna et al. "’MPower Shows Me Who I Want to Be’: A Qualitative Study of a Youth Purpose Program." European Journal of Psychology and Educational Research, vol. 4, no. 2, 2021, pp. 113-122, https://doi.org/10.12973/ejper.4.2.113.
Abstract
Studies have documented widespread academic disengagement in middle and high school students. This disengagement has been tied to a myriad of negative outcomes, including failure to graduate from high school and transition into college and meaningful vocations. Supporting adolescents in cultivating a sense of beyond-the-self purpose is one factor that may combat student disengagement. MPower is a program designed to cultivate beyond-the-self purpose in an effort to promote student engagement and completion of high school (Klein et al., 2019). In a recent quantitative study, MPower participants compared to controls demonstrated a higher GPA, BTS purpose, self-efficacy, and decreased performance approach and performance avoidance goal orientations. In the current qualitative descriptive study, 11th and 12th grade (N=25) students in the Northeastern region of the United States, described their experiences in the MPower program. Three themes associated with the transformative aspects of MPower emerged from focus group data: 1) practice in strategic goal planning, 2) engagement in mentoring relationships, and 3) increased social support within a community. Because fostering youth purpose engenders many promotive and protective factors, these findings hold important implications for implementing similar programs more widely.
Keywords: Adolescents, goal setting, MPower, social support, youth purpose.
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