Purpose and youth connection to other people, nature and the transcendental

Abstract

Research indicates that young people today find their lives less meaningful than in the past, and they have more difficulty finding their life. This article focuses on what purpose and meaning young people experience in relation to their own lives, other people, nature, and the transcendental. There is evidence that experiencing strong moral relationships with oneself, other people, and nature and the environment has a positive effect on the lives of individuals and helps them cope with difficulties and challenges. Increasingly, a strong spiritual connection to reality is seen as an important part of a healthy life and coping with trauma and illness (Huber et al., 2011). It is important to distinguish between spiritual health and mental health. Spiritual health is defined in this research as the meaningful relationships individuals form with other people, natural and transcendent realities, and the purpose they experience in their lives. Purpose and meaning in a person’s life (i.e. spiritual health) have been defined as a person’s meaningful relationships with themselves, other people, nature, and a higher power (Gomez & Fisher, 2003). Such ideas can be traced back to philosophy and the view that we humans are unique beings, in many respects, who have free will and a significant ability to shape our own lives while we are bound to certain material and social realities (Páll Skúlason, 2015). An international comparative study with over 70,000 participants in 12 countries showed that in all countries, young people scored highest on meaningful relationships with their own selves, i.e. they considered it most important to feel a sense of purpose and joy, then came connections with others, nature, and the lowest score was always a connection with a higher power or the transcendent (Michaelson et al., 2023).

The study is based on data from the international survey Health Behavior in SchoolAged Children (HBSC) and the Icelandic Youth Survey, which was submitted in the spring of 2022. There were a total of 1288 participants, of which 51.8 % were boys and 48.2% were girls. The respondents were from the 8th grade (N = 705) and the 10th grade (N = 583) of primary school. It is based on the so-called “Spiritual Health” scale, developed by an international research team (Gomez & Fisher, 2003; Michaelson, Brooks et al., 2016; Shaver et al., 2020). The study examines and confirms the scale’s validity in the Icelandic context. The results show that the majority of young people experienced meaningful connections with other people and nature and believed it was important to find a personal purpose. Young people’s connection with the transcendental was the least, i.e., connecting with a higher power and considering it important to meditate or pray. Unlike previous studies, it was found that connection with others was the factor that scored the highest, but the connection with one’s own self closely followed. The results also show that boys in Iceland score slightly higher than girls on the relationship with the transcendental, which does not follow the multinational studies. Relatively fewer young people of immigrant origin than of Icelandic origin thought it was important or very important to feel a connection with others and with oneself. Furthermore, students from grade 8 scored significantly higher on the mental health scale than students from grade 10, which is comparable to what is generally found in the multinational studies (Michaelson et al., 2023; Michaelson, Brooks et al., 2016). Religious activities have decreased significantly in the Western world and also in Iceland. Today, 58 % of the population is registered in the National Church; in 2011, around 78 % of the Icelandic population was in the National Church, and in 1998, around 90 % of the population (Hagstofa Íslands, n.d.). At the same time, the number of religious organisations in the country has multiplied and now counts over 50 (Hagstofa Íslands, n.d.). The multinational culture has increased the religious diversity and gives individuals the freedom to find a place, or not, in a religious community.

It is thought-provoking that a fifth of young people from the 8th to 10th grade in Iceland are unsure or do not think it is important to experience a purpose in their lives. Previous research has shown that strong, meaningful relationships and mental health can have a protective effect on young people, especially marginalised young people (Makanui et al., 2019), and can reduce the likelihood of risky behaviour (Hatala et al., 2021). Therefore, the findings of this study show that specific attention should be paid to the group of young people who do not feel a personal purpose in life. The results of this study show that there is a reason to consider how to create a community and scope for young people to experience personal purpose and find meaningful relationships with other people, nature, and the transcendental.