This presentation examines the characteristics of youth with different types of purpose in life, as well as the associations between adolescents' life satisfaction, compulsive use of digital environments, purpose in life, meaning in life, and the social support that adolescents receive from significant others - parents, close friends, teachers, classmates and people in school.

Damon (2008) conceptualizes youth purpose as a long-term, stable and high-level intention that is inclusive of one’s search for meaning and that underlies the education process. Adolescents can be categorized according to the type of long-term purpose that they have in their lives (Bronk & Finch, 2010; Heng, Blau, Fulmer, Bi, & Pereira, 2017): (1) youth with self-focused long-term goals, such as having a good career; (2) youth with other-focused goals, such as helping others; (3) youth with both self- and other-focused goals, and (4) youth with neither self- nor other-focused goals. Having purpose in life has been associated with greater life satisfaction across the life span (Bronk, Hill, Lapsley, Talib, & Finch, 2009). Additional variables associated with wellbeing (Ben-Zur, 2009) and life satisfaction (Blau, Goldberg, & Benolol, 2018) are social support and the use of adaptive coping mechanisms. 

In contemporary society, it is important to consider the role that the use of digital technologies plays in determining the life satisfaction of adolescents. While digital technologies have become an integral part of our lives, their excessive use may have negative effects on functioning and wellbeing (Smyth, Curran, & McKelvey, 2018). Compulsive use of digital environments, otherwise known as "internet addiction", refers to excessive use of cyberspace over extended periods of time combined with dysfunction in everyday life, disregard for life events, and social isolation as a result of preferring digital interactions over face-to-face communication (Weinstein & Lejoyeux, 2010). Such use has been found among 1.5%-8.2% of individuals in Europe and the United States (Weinstein & Lejoyeux, 2010), and is particularly prevalent in the Middle East (10.9%, Cheng & Li, 2014). It has been associated with various negative outcomes including behavioral problems (Cao et al., 2011) and diminished life satisfaction (Cao et al., 2011; Cheng & Lee, 2014; Huang, 2010).

This study aims to replicate the previous categorization of purpose in life (Bronk & Finch, 2010; Heng, Blau, Fulmer, Bi, & Pereira, 2017) in a culturally different sample, as well as to add an additional important variable - compulsive digital use, to the  predictive model of adolescents’ satisfaction in life which has been suggested (Benson, 2006; Damon, 2009) and tested (Bronk & Finch, 2010) in previous studies. Moreover, since previous research has indicated that compulsive digital use is associated with impaired social functioning, and that greater social support is associated with greater life satisfaction, we also examined the mediating role of social support in the association between problematic digital use and life satisfaction.

Methods and Materials Public school students in mid-adolescence volunteered to participate in this study. The sample included 190 adolescents aged 14 to 18, 50% of whom were female. The participants resided in central Israel and studied in three large secondary public schools defined by the Ministry of Education as average in socio-economic level. Participation in the study was not related to the schools' activities. The participants completed self-report questionnaires on life satisfaction (Satisfaction with Life Scale; Diener et al., 1985), compulsive digital use (Blau, 2011 based on the internet addiction criteria by Young, 1996), purpose in life (Life Goals Questionnaire; Bronk & Finch, 2010), meaning in life (Meaning in Life Questionnaire Steger, Frazier, Oishi, & Kaler, 2006), and social support (The Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale; Malecki & Demaray, 2002). A cluster analysis was conducted to categorize adolescents into clusters according to type of purpose in life. Correlational analysis was followed by a regression predicting life satisfaction by the other study variables (compulsive digital use, purpose of life clusters, search for meaning in life, presence of meaning in life, and social support variables - parental support, support from close friends, classmates, teachers, and other school staff). Finally, Sobel tests were conducted to examine whether social support mediates the association between compulsive digital use and life satisfaction. Results The following purpose-in-life clusters were found among adolescents: (1) self-focused (n=42); other-focused (n=33); and (3) both other- and self-focused (n=107). A fourth cluster, including participants who with neither self- nor other-focused aims, was excluded from the analysis because of the small number of adolescents (n=3). The participants with both self- and other-focused goals had significantly higher life satisfaction, meaning in life, and social support compared to the other groups. Having other-oriented goals (β=-.15, p=.04) was associated with lower life satisfaction. A higher level of meaning in life (β=.16, p=.03) and greater support from parents (β=.24, p=.00) and teachers (β=.21, p=.03) resulted in greater life satisfaction. Together, these variables explained 26.8% of the variance in life satisfaction. Finally, compulsive digital use was associated with lower life satisfaction (r=-.19, p=.01), as well as with lower support from parents (r=-.21, p=.00) and friends (r=-.19, p=.00), probably because of less engagement in social activities and interactions. Furthermore, a Sobel test indicated that support from parents significantly mediated the association between compulsive digital use and life satisfaction (Z=1.90, p=.05).

In sum, the findings indicate that having a balance between self- and other-focused long-term goals is associated with the highest level for life satisfaction. This raises theoretical and practical questions, such as whether one’s purpose in life can be changed – namely, whether intervention can cause an individual to shift from one orientation (other-focused) to another (self- and other-focused), and what type of intervention and social support are needed. Importantly, compulsive digital use was associated with lower social support from parents, which is in turn associated with lower life satisfaction. It seems that having insufficient parental support is a risk factor for compulsive digital use. On the other hand, compulsive digital use may decrease communication of adolescents with parents, leading to a greater decline in social support.

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