Youth purpose was investigated using a two-phase embedded design with youth participating in Scouts BSA (N = 3,943), ages 9–20 (M = 14.0, SD = 1.9). Participating Scouts were mostly White (91%) and male (98%). In Phase 1, we conducted a two-step cluster analysis on Scouts’ survey responses to three purpose dimensions (personal meaning, goal-directedness, beyond-the-self orientation). Four clusters emerged: Purposeful, Explorers, Dreamers, Nonpurposeful. In Phase 2, we explored qualities of purpose within each cluster and programmatic features and relationships within the scouting context fostering youth purpose with a Scout subsample (N = 30) who completed semi-structured interviews. Results demonstrated that adults supporting scouting, inspiration from older peers, and opportunities to help others and explore new activities supported youth purpose.

使用两阶段嵌入式设计调查青年目的，青年参加童子军 BSA（N  = 3,943），年龄 9-20（M  = 14.0，SD  = 1.9）。参与的童子军大多是白人（91%）和男性（98%）。在第一阶段，我们对童子军对三个目的维度（个人意义、目标导向、超越自我导向）的调查响应进行了两步聚类分析。出现了四个集群：有目的的、探索者、梦想家、无目的的。在第 2 阶段，我们探索了每个集群内的目标质量以及童军活动背景下的计划特征和关系，通过童军子样本培养青年目标（N = 30) 谁完成了半结构化面试。结果表明，支持童子军的成年人、来自年长同龄人的灵感、帮助他人和探索新活动的机会支持了青少年的目标。