Anthony L Burrow
Biographic Data
| ID | 643093 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Anthony L Burrow |
| GIVEN NAMES | Anthony L |
| FAMILY NAME | Burrow |
| SIGNATURE | BURROW A L |
| AFFILIATIONS | Cornell University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1247-0985 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 60 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 608 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 59 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2001 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 13 |
Establishing validity and measurement invariance of the Claremont Purpose Scale among adolescents from diverse racial–ethnic backgrounds
The Claremont Purpose Scale (CPS) was designed to assess youth purpose, but the English version has not yet undergone rigorous psychometric evaluation among adolescents. Prior validation efforts have also mostly relied on white‐majority samples, raising concerns about generalizability. With 587 adolescents (M age = 16.38 years, range = 13–19), confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) supported correlated three‐factor and second‐order models equivalentl…
Within‐person variability in daily purpose moderates the association between trait purpose and adolescent adjustment
Purpose is a developmental asset in adolescence, yet little is known about how stability in this sense shapes its benefits. This study examined whether within-person fluctuations in daily sense of purpose moderate links between trait purpose and youth adjustment. Adolescents (N = 321, M[SD] age = 16.14[1.17]) completed baseline surveys of trait purpose and Big Five personality, followed by ~70 daily assessments of purpose, well-being, self-esteem…
Is Purpose Findable?
Recent scholarship on purpose in life has amassed a substantial evidence base for benefits long theorized to be associated with this resource. Yet studies charting these benefits have proliferated unencumbered by comparatively scarce inquiry into how purpose is acquired in the first place. Deficient insight about how it arises within the lifespan impedes understanding of this concept and leaves space for a colloquial view to flourish that purpose…
Purpose as a Timeless Pursuit
Envisioning the experience and study of purpose as timeless pursuits, this chapter is used to imagine five transformative trajectories likely to guide purpose scholarship in the years ahead. These trajectories aim to deepen understanding of purpose across cultural landscapes, against a backdrop of emerging technologies, and amid profound societal changes. They also strive to illuminate innovative solutions for helping more people feel purposeful …
Purpose in Life As Ancient but Nascent: Perspectives from Psychology, Philosophy, and Human Development
Since the pandemic, many have been reflecting on their path, direction, and identity, all tied to a deeper question: What is one's purpose in life? Research reveals that understanding this purpose can significantly impact well-being, health, and personal development. This volume offers fresh insights by bringing together scholars from various fields to explore purpose from different angles. Each contributor delves into what purpose means and why …
Purpose as an Ancient yet Nascent Construct: An Introduction
Inquiry into purpose spans multiple disciplines, perspectives, and centuries. Seemingly inherent in the process of human development is the desire for humans to find a direction for their lives. This chapter provides an introduction to purpose inquiry, underscoring how purpose research shows that the construct can permeate multiple domains of life. We outline some of the frameworks and theoretical traditions that the reader will encounter through…
Discrimination in daily life: Effects on sense of purpose and derailment
And still, we rise: A mixed-methods study examining derailment, posttraumatic stress, and resilience among Black adults during the Covid-19 pandemic
Findings highlight Black Americans' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and deepen our understanding of factors that exacerbate risk and promote resilience within the context of a global public health crisis. Implications for culturally responsive strategies to better support Black Americans' mental health needs are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)
Trajectories and predictors of adolescent purpose development in self-driven learning
Purpose offers several important benefits to youth. Thus, it is necessary to understand how a sense of purpose develops in supportive contexts and what psychological resources can help. From 2021 to 2022, this study investigated purpose change among 321 youth (M age = 16.4 years; 71% female; 25.9% Black, 33.3% Asian, 15.6% Hispanic/Latinx, 13.4% White, 9.7% multiracial) participating in GripTape, a ~10-week self-driven learning program. Many yout…
The Identity Disclosure Matrix: A Conceptual Framework for Why and How We Share Our Identities
Psychological inquiry into identity has focused predominantly on its construction, contents, or consequences for individuals. However, often overlooked in identity research agendas are the motivations that drive people to disclose their identities to others. Contemporary research suggests that identity has become a psychosocial currency individuals can exchange to navigate social interactions toward desired aims. Here, we introduce the Identity D…
Purpose and goal pursuit as a self‐sustaining system: Evidence of daily within‐person reciprocity among adolescents in self‐driven learning
OBJECTIVE: Despite long-standing assumptions that a sense of purpose in life and goal pursuit are mutually supportive, empirical evidence of their reciprocity remains deficient. In the context of a unique out-of-school time program that empowers youth to pursue passions through self-driven learning, we examined whether purpose and one aspect of goal pursuit-perceptions of goal progress-work together to sustain themselves and each other over time.…
Derailment in adolescence: Factor analytic structure and correlates
Derailment is the sense of being "off-course" in life. But what could this mean for adolescents, who are often establishing identity and self-direction for the first time? We examined the structure and correlates of the Derailment Scale and its short form, the Derailment Scale-6 (DS-6), among middle-to-late adolescents (N = 452). Both scales exhibited unidimensionality, but the DS-6 demonstrated superior fit and correlated with cross-sectional di…
Purpose in daily life: Considering within-person sense of purpose variability
The role of purpose in the stress process: A homeostatic account
Daily Adolescent Purposefulness, Daily Subjective Well-Being, and Individual Differences in Autistic Traits
Profiles of personal and ecological assets: Adolescents’ motivation and engagement in self-driven learning
Interacting with supportive adults predicts greater same‐day psychosocial functioning among adolescents in a self‐driven learning program
INTRODUCTION: Supportive adults are a critical component of effective out-of-school time (OST) youth programs, yet the short-term dynamics that underlie their role are poorly understood. Within GripTape, a US-wide self-driven learning program, we examined if interactions with program-assigned adults (i.e., Champions) correspond with youths' daily psychosocial functioning (i.e., sense of purpose, self-concept clarity, and self-esteem). METHOD: Par…
Linking mean level and variability in affect to changes in perceived regard: A dyadic longitudinal burst study of African American couples
High positive affect and low negative affect have been repeatedly tied to better individual and interpersonal well-being. However, research has focused on mean levels whereas the day-to-day unfolding of affect and its impact on romantic relationships remain largely understudied. Here, we examined the links between mean levels and variability in affect and changes in perceptions of partner regard —the extent to which people believe that their part…
Psychological Science in the Wake of Covid-19: Social, Methodological, and Metascientific Considerations
The COVID-19 pandemic has extensively changed the state of psychological science from what research questions psychologists can ask to which methodologies psychologists can use to investigate them. In this article, we offer a perspective on how to optimize new research in the pandemic’s wake. Because this pandemic is inherently a social phenomenon—an event that hinges on human-to-human contact—we focus on socially relevant subfields of psychology…
Purposefulness and daily life in a pandemic: Predicting daily affect and physical symptoms during the first weeks of the Covid-19 response
OBJECTIVE: Sense of purpose has been associated with greater health and well-being, even in daily contexts. However, it is unclear whether effects would hold in daily life during COVID-19, when people may have difficulty seeing a path towards their life goals. DESIGN: The current study investigated whether purposefulness predicted daily positive affect, negative affect, and physical symptoms. Participants (n = 831) reported on these variables dur…
Do I Like You? Effects of Daily Negative Events and Implicit Self-Esteem on Daily Implicit Partner Regard
The current study examines explicit and implicit self-esteem as moderators of the daily association between negative events and implicit partner regard among cohabitating African American couples ( N = 360). In a 21-day diary study, individuals with low (vs. high) implicit self-esteem showed a negative association between negative non-relationship and non-interpersonal events and implicit partner regard that day. Age was also a significant modera…
The pandemic and social experience: For whom did discrimination and social isolation increase
Findings are consistent with theoretical perspectives on discrimination during times of stress and suggest the need for broader attention to the impact of the pandemic on unfair treatment of stigmatized groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Are All Purposes Worth Having? Integrating Content and Strength in Purpose Research
A prevailing belief is that a sense of purpose in life is worth having, based on evidence that it predicts greater psychological functioning, social relationships, physical health, and longevity. Yet, whether the benefits of having a sense of purpose persist across all contents – or the actual substance of one’s aspirations – lingers as a critical blind spot within this literature. Here, we contend that an ecological systems perspective is needed…
On the conflation of purpose and meaning in life: A qualitative study of high school and college student conceptions
A minimal amount of information is known about how adolescents and emerging adults construe purpose and meaning in life, leaving many researchers to assume youth think about these constructs consistent with scientific understandings. In this preregistered study, we compared adolescent and emerging adult conceptions of purpose and meaning using directed content analysis. High school and college students were randomly assigned to write about purpos…
Associations Between Everyday Discrimination and Sleep: Tests of Moderation by Ethnicity and Sense of Purpose
The ill-effects on health due to everyday discrimination may operate in part on its role in disrupting sleep, an issue that appears to similarly impact several groups. The current research extends these findings to underrepresented groups in the discrimination and sleep literature. Future research is needed to better disentangle the day-to-day associations between sleep and discrimination, and identify which sources of discrimination may be most …
Racial microaggressions and daily well-being among Asian Americans
Although epidemiological studies and community surveys of Asian Americans have found that lifetime occurrences of racial discrimination are associated with increased risk for psychological morbidity, little is known about how exposure to racial discrimination is patterned in everyday life. Extrapolating from previous qualitative research (Sue, Bucceri, Lin, Nadal, & Torino, 2007), this study presents data on the prevalence and psychological corre…
Racial discrimination and the stress process
The unique and combined effects of chronic and daily racial discrimination on psychological distress were examined in a sample of 174 African American doctoral students and graduates. Using a daily process design, 5 models of the stress process were tested. Multilevel random coefficient modeling analyses revealed that chronic exposure to racial discrimination predicted greater daily discrimination and psychological distress. Further, results show…
Racial Microaggressions and Psychological Functioning Among Highly Achieving African-Americans: A Mixed-Methods Approach
Racial microaggressions and their influence on mental health were examined among African American doctoral students and graduates of doctoral programs. Using a mixed-methods approach, the current study first identified the types of microaggressions reported by African American participants (N = 97) and then investigated the mechanism by which these experiences influence mental health over time with a separate sample of African Americans (N = 107)…
Racial Identity as a Moderator of Daily Exposure and Reactivity to Racial Discrimination
The role of racial identity in the stress process was examined in a sample (N = 174) of African American doctoral students and graduates of doctoral programs. Racial discrimination and psychological distress (negative affect, depression, and anxiety) were assessed each day for a period of two weeks. Multilevel random coefficient modeling analyses revealed that unique dimensions of racial identity were associated with greater exposure to daily rac…
The unified model of vegetarian identity: A conceptual framework for understanding plant-based food choices
Vegetarian on purpose: Understanding the motivations of plant-based dieters
Purpose as a form of identity capital for positive youth adjustment
Having a sense of purpose has been discussed as a developmental asset for youth and as an outgrowth of establishing a sense of identity. Using the identity capital model as a theoretical framework, 3 studies examined purpose as a mediator in the relationship between identity and well-being among adolescents and emerging adults. In Study 1A, (n = 110), purpose commitment was positively associated with positive affect, hope, happiness among adolesc…
How many likes did I get: Purpose moderates links between positive social media feedback and self-esteem
Development and validation of the Dietarian Identity Questionnaire: Assessing self-perceptions of animal-product consumption
Profiles of a Developmental Asset: Youth Purpose as a Context for Hope and Well-Being
The development of purpose in life among adolescents who experience marginalization: Potential opportunities and obstacles
In recent decades there has been a dramatic increase in the amount of research focused on purpose in life, demonstrating a host of benefits that emerge for individuals committed to a purpose. As with other constructs in the positive youth development framework, there is a paucity of work investigating how experiences of marginalization impact the development of this psychological asset among adolescents. To catalyze research on this front, we dra…
Changes in racial identity among African American college students following the election of Barack Obama
The current study considered the influence of the 2008 presidential election on the racial identity of African American college students (M(age) = 19.3 years; 26.3% male). The design of the study consisted of 2 components: longitudinal and daily. The longitudinal component assessed 3 dimensions of racial identity (centrality, private regard, and public regard) 2 weeks before and 5 months after the election, and the daily diary component assessed …
Day-to-day fluctuations in experiences of discrimination: Associations with sleep and the moderating role of internalized racism among African American college students
Overall, results suggest that ongoing efforts to reduce discrimination, support the adjustment of racial/ethnic minority students, and address internalized racism are warranted. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved
The value of a purposeful life: Sense of purpose predicts greater income and net worth
Issues in Transracial Adoption and Foster Care
(2001). Issues in Transracial Adoption and Foster Care. Adoption Quarterly: Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 1-4
The pandemic and social experience: For whom did discrimination and social isolation increase
Findings are consistent with theoretical perspectives on discrimination during times of stress and suggest the need for broader attention to the impact of the pandemic on unfair treatment of stigmatized groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Does Purpose Grow Here? Exploring 4-H as a Context for Cultivating Youth Purpose
Most youth development programs strive to promote thriving, but scientific inquiry into how they achieve this aim is rare and often complicated by nuanced program structures and delivery. Across two studies, we explored how one thriving indicator, having a sense of purpose in life, may be cultivated by a statewide 4-H program. In Study 1, an inductive text mining approach called latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) was used to content analyze 63 4-H…
Heterogeneity in patterns of sexual risk behaviors among african‐american youth: Associations with general and race‐specific factors
This descriptive study employed a within‐groups analytic approach to examine patterns of sexual risk behavior and co‐occurring general and race/ethnicity‐specific risk and protective factors in a community sample of African‐American youth (n = 436). Cluster analysis was used to classify young adults by levels of self‐reported past year sexual risk behaviors. MANOVA, ANOVA, and chi‐square analyses indicated significant associations between cluster…
The role of purpose in the stress process: A homeostatic account
Sense of purpose in life predicts greater willingness for Covid-19 vaccination
Purpose in daily life: Considering within-person sense of purpose variability
Linking mean level and variability in affect to changes in perceived regard: A dyadic longitudinal burst study of African American couples
High positive affect and low negative affect have been repeatedly tied to better individual and interpersonal well-being. However, research has focused on mean levels whereas the day-to-day unfolding of affect and its impact on romantic relationships remain largely understudied. Here, we examined the links between mean levels and variability in affect and changes in perceptions of partner regard —the extent to which people believe that their part…
Room for debate (and derogation): Negativity of readers’ comments on Black authors’ online content
The Identity Disclosure Matrix: A Conceptual Framework for Why and How We Share Our Identities
Psychological inquiry into identity has focused predominantly on its construction, contents, or consequences for individuals. However, often overlooked in identity research agendas are the motivations that drive people to disclose their identities to others. Contemporary research suggests that identity has become a psychosocial currency individuals can exchange to navigate social interactions toward desired aims. Here, we introduce the Identity D…
Derailment in adolescence: Factor analytic structure and correlates
Derailment is the sense of being "off-course" in life. But what could this mean for adolescents, who are often establishing identity and self-direction for the first time? We examined the structure and correlates of the Derailment Scale and its short form, the Derailment Scale-6 (DS-6), among middle-to-late adolescents (N = 452). Both scales exhibited unidimensionality, but the DS-6 demonstrated superior fit and correlated with cross-sectional di…
Issues in Transracial Adoption and Foster Care
(2001). Issues in Transracial Adoption and Foster Care. Adoption Quarterly: Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 1-4
Transracial, same-race adoptions, and the need for multiple measures of adolescent adjustment
Using a multimeasure approach, the current study investigated 12 indices of academic, familial, psychological, and health outcomes for 4 groups of transracial and same-race adopted adolescents. A secondary analysis of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health data showed that Asian adolescents adopted by White parents had both the highest grades and the highest levels of psychosomatic symptoms, whereas Black adolescents adopted by Blac…
Racial Identity: Toward an Integrated Developmental Psychological Perspective
This article outlines current knowledge and lines of research regarding racial identity and, in particular, African American racial identity. A developmental psychological framework is proposed as a means of integrating and synthesizing 2 lines of racial identity research that have emerged within the existing literature: (a) the developmental line of research and (b) the adjustment outcome line of research. The proposed integration of the current…
Heterogeneity in patterns of sexual risk behaviors among african‐american youth: Associations with general and race‐specific factors
This descriptive study employed a within‐groups analytic approach to examine patterns of sexual risk behavior and co‐occurring general and race/ethnicity‐specific risk and protective factors in a community sample of African‐American youth (n = 436). Cluster analysis was used to classify young adults by levels of self‐reported past year sexual risk behaviors. MANOVA, ANOVA, and chi‐square analyses indicated significant associations between cluster…
Racial discrimination and the stress process
The unique and combined effects of chronic and daily racial discrimination on psychological distress were examined in a sample of 174 African American doctoral students and graduates. Using a daily process design, 5 models of the stress process were tested. Multilevel random coefficient modeling analyses revealed that chronic exposure to racial discrimination predicted greater daily discrimination and psychological distress. Further, results show…
Racial Identity as a Moderator of Daily Exposure and Reactivity to Racial Discrimination
The role of racial identity in the stress process was examined in a sample (N = 174) of African American doctoral students and graduates of doctoral programs. Racial discrimination and psychological distress (negative affect, depression, and anxiety) were assessed each day for a period of two weeks. Multilevel random coefficient modeling analyses revealed that unique dimensions of racial identity were associated with greater exposure to daily rac…
Profiles of a Developmental Asset: Youth Purpose as a Context for Hope and Well-Being
Racial Microaggressions and Psychological Functioning Among Highly Achieving African-Americans: A Mixed-Methods Approach
Racial microaggressions and their influence on mental health were examined among African American doctoral students and graduates of doctoral programs. Using a mixed-methods approach, the current study first identified the types of microaggressions reported by African American participants (N = 97) and then investigated the mechanism by which these experiences influence mental health over time with a separate sample of African Americans (N = 107)…
Purpose as a form of identity capital for positive youth adjustment
Having a sense of purpose has been discussed as a developmental asset for youth and as an outgrowth of establishing a sense of identity. Using the identity capital model as a theoretical framework, 3 studies examined purpose as a mediator in the relationship between identity and well-being among adolescents and emerging adults. In Study 1A, (n = 110), purpose commitment was positively associated with positive affect, hope, happiness among adolesc…
Changes in racial identity among African American college students following the election of Barack Obama
The current study considered the influence of the 2008 presidential election on the racial identity of African American college students (M(age) = 19.3 years; 26.3% male). The design of the study consisted of 2 components: longitudinal and daily. The longitudinal component assessed 3 dimensions of racial identity (centrality, private regard, and public regard) 2 weeks before and 5 months after the election, and the daily diary component assessed …
Viewing Purpose Through an Eriksonian Lens
One theme in Erik Erikson's work is the importance of finding a purpose for life. This article discusses the role of purpose in Erikson's writings and uses this review as a foundation for investigating Erikson's claims. Using a longitudinal sample of adolescents, Study 1 shows that identity and purpose development are intertwined processes insofar as increased commitment on one dimension corresponds to increased commitment on the other. Study 2 d…
Positive emotions and the social broadening effects of Barack Obama
Past experiments have demonstrated that the cognitive broadening produced by positive emotions may extend to social contexts. Building on this evidence, we hypothesized that positive emotions triggered by thinking about Barack Obama may broaden and expand people's sense of self to include others. Results from an expressive-writing study demonstrated that African American college students prompted to write about Obama immediately prior to and afte…
Racial microaggressions and daily well-being among Asian Americans
Although epidemiological studies and community surveys of Asian Americans have found that lifetime occurrences of racial discrimination are associated with increased risk for psychological morbidity, little is known about how exposure to racial discrimination is patterned in everyday life. Extrapolating from previous qualitative research (Sue, Bucceri, Lin, Nadal, & Torino, 2007), this study presents data on the prevalence and psychological corre…
Identity and Purpose as Predictors of Subjective Well-Being in Emerging Adulthood
Identity and purpose in life can serve as internal assets during the transition to adulthood. Although these two facets of the self are closely linked, they are usually studied separately. The rare research that has considered identity and purpose together has focused exclusively on commitment in these domains, neglecting the process of exploration that often precedes commitment. The current study built on existing work by investigating identity …
Illuminating Pathways to Civic Purpose
A multitiered sculpture entitled The Illuminated Crowd adorns a popular street in Montreal. The sculpture depicts a diverse group of people confronting a new idea. The people on the foremost tier, where the sunlight shines brightest, are best positioned to see and appreciate the idea for what it is. There is a collective attention among them, with all eyes concentrating on the spectacle ahead. Yet, the view forward is increasingly obscured for pe…
The Distance Between Selves: The Influence of Self-Discrepancy on Purpose in Life
The present investigation (total N = 643) sought to examine for the first time self-discrepancy theory in relation to purpose in life. Negative associations were found between purpose and discrepancies in perceptions of one's actual and ideal personality (Study 1) and body image (Study 2). Study 3 further demonstrated experimentally that individuals describing differences between their actual and ideal physique reported less purpose than those de…
Room for debate (and derogation): Negativity of readers’ comments on Black authors’ online content
Persevering with Positivity and Purpose: An Examination of Purpose Commitment and Positive Affect as Predictors of Grit
Sense of Purpose and Parent–Child Relationships in Emerging Adulthood
Individuals can find a purpose or direction for life prior to reaching adulthood, with parental figures often functioning as scaffolds. However, research is lacking with respect to understanding whether purposeful emerging adults have more positive relationships with their parents. The current studies provide initial insights into this possibility using two university samples ( N = 553). Study 1 demonstrated that emerging adults who report a high…
The value of a purposeful life: Sense of purpose predicts greater income and net worth
How many likes did I get: Purpose moderates links between positive social media feedback and self-esteem
The unified model of vegetarian identity: A conceptual framework for understanding plant-based food choices
Vegetarian on purpose: Understanding the motivations of plant-based dieters
Autistic Traits and Purpose in Emerging Adulthood: Associations with Pathways to Purpose and Perceived Adult Status
This study examined how two individual differences—autistic traits and sense of purpose—predict perceptions of purpose development and adult status. Participants ( N = 805, M age = 25.42 years) were surveyed via Qualtrics Panels. While sense of purpose positively correlated with each purpose pathway and perceived adult status, autistic traits negatively related to each outcome. We then tested the unique and interactive effects of autistic traits …
Development and validation of the Dietarian Identity Questionnaire: Assessing self-perceptions of animal-product consumption
Psychology (51 works) · Social Psychology (38 works) · Developmental psychology (34 works) · Social Psychology (21 works) · Sociology (18 works) · Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction (14 works) · Medicine (11 works) · Racial and Ethnic Identity Research (11 works) · Youth Development and Social Support (11 works) · Clinical Psychology (10 works)