Research suggests that our paths to finding purpose can be shaped by early childhood experiences.There are a multitude of early childhood experiences that may shape how adolescents and adults develop a sense of purpose. Early personal resources like good health, strong social connections, and positive engagement in activities and the natural world tend to support children to develop meaningful life goals.

Five Childhood Experiences That Lead to a More Purposeful Life

Early childhood adversity including experiences of emotional abuse, physical abuse, socioeconomic disadvantage, family structure disadvantage (for example, parents divorcing or dying), and health disadvantage (for example, poor early physical or emotional health) can hinder our development of purpose, even decades later.For some people, though, hard times in childhood end up inspiring them to pursue a particular calling and gain greater clarity on their life direction.

Adversity

Frequent conflict saps the child’s energy and enthusiasm, and in turn likelihood to live an active, engaged lifestyle, which has been suggested as a primary pathway by which individuals find what makes their lives purposeful.Research suggests that children who had more early conflict with their mothers—based on their own opinions, not their parents’—had a decreased sense of purpose in early adulthood regardless of how stressed and satisfied with life they were.

Conflict

Parental attachment refers to the bond between a child and their primary caregivers that depends on their warmth and responsiveness.Separation-individuation is an identity development process in which an independent, mature sense of self emerges during adolescence and young adulthood. Research found that students who had a higher sense of purpose tended to have more secure attachments to their parents and fewer problems with the separation-individuation process.

Attachment and Separation-Individuation

As parents, teachers, and other adults interested in fostering noble purpose among youth, then, it is important to expose young people to a wide variety of activities.Young children may not immediately recognize that a certain activity is very important to them. Instead, their commitment may grow gradually over the course of participating in the activity, as they discover their strengths and the ways they can contribute to the world.

Exposure to Diverse Activities

Researchers found that more purposeful students tended to have stronger memories of the beauty of nature during early childhood and early adolescence.Because purpose goes hand in hand with <a href="https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/what_humble_kids_have_in_common">humility</a>, which we may feel when in nature, it may be that this diminished sense of self makes room for children to “<a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2011-29137-004">engage with some aspect of the world beyond the self</a>”—a foundational part of purpose.

Nature

Research suggests that our paths to finding purpose can be shaped by early childhood experiences.