Gabrielle N Pfund
Biographic Data
| ID | 765476 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Gabrielle N Pfund |
| GIVEN NAMES | Gabrielle N |
| FAMILY NAME | Pfund |
| SIGNATURE | PFUND G N |
| AFFILIATIONS | Washington University in St. Louis |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2928-752X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 23 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 19 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 23 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Where Does Purpose Belong in Well-Being Theory?
Is purpose a cause, consequence, correlate, or component of well-being? Sense of purpose can be understood as the extent to which one feels that they have personally meaningful goals and directions guiding them through life. Because models of well-being differ in how they conceptualize what it means to be psychologically well, purpose is treated differently across these frameworks. In this chapter, we begin by considering how purpose fits in vari…
Purpose in Life As Ancient but Nascent
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 …
Discrimination in daily life
Investigating the trivariate reciprocal longitudinal relationships between purpose, loneliness, and cognitive function
Objectives As medical interventions for cognitive decline and dementia continue to evolve, the identification of modifiable psychosocial factors has become increasingly important. Sense of purpose and loneliness represent potential targets for intervention. In this study, we aimed to understand the potentially reciprocal relationship between sense of purpose, loneliness, and cognitive function. Methods The current project draws upon data from the…
Toward Inclusive Screening of Cognitive Impairment
A coordinated analysis of bidirectional associations between life satisfaction and cognitive function
Life satisfaction is an important component of well-being to consider in relation to cognitive function due to its modifiability, potential utility in public health policy, and associations with cognitive health outcomes. However, little is known about the directionality of the association between life satisfaction and cognitive function, and past longitudinal work has yielded mixed findings. Using a coordinated data analytic approach, the curren…
Sense of purpose fluctuations in daily life
The current work uses ecological momentary assessment data in an age and cognitively diverse group of adults to explore if, when, and why individuals feel purposeful in daily life. Seven times per day for 9 days, young adults (age: M = 27.36; 51.4% men, 47.1% women, 1.4% additional gender; 7.0% Asian/Asian American, 28.6% as Black/African American, 1.4% as Indigenous, 5.7% as Latine/Hispanic, 1.4% Middle Eastern, 58.6% White/European American), o…
Correlated Change Between Personality Traits and Perceived Social Support in Old Age
This study investigated correlated change between the Big Five personality traits and perceived social support in old age. Two data waves with an 8-year span from the Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study on Adult Development (ILSE) were utilized. The longitudinal sample for this study consisted of 491 older adults (aged 64–68 years at T1). Four different aspects of perceived availability of social support were assessed (emotional support, practic…
Valuing Versus Having
Using data from Midlife in the United States ( N = 3,767), this study investigates how believing having money or occupational prestige is important for a good life is associated with different aspects of well-being. Actual income was positively associated with sense of purpose, personal growth, self-acceptance, environmental mastery, and life satisfaction; negatively associated with negative affect; and was not associated with autonomy, positive …
Nightly Sleep Predicts Next-Morning Expectations for Stress and Positive Experiences
OBJECTIVE: Abundant research has linked nightly sleep as an antecedent of daily psychosocial experiences; however, less is known about sleep's influence on daily expectations of these experiences. Therefore, this research examined the day-to-day associations of sleep quality, duration, and efficiency with next-day expectations for stress(ors) and positive experiences, as well as whether these expectations were related to end-of-day reports of phy…
Purpose in daily life
Purposeful and purposeless aging
Despite the value of sense of purpose during older adulthood, this construct often declines with age. With some older adults reconsidering the relevance of purpose later in life, the measurement of purpose may suffer from variance issues with age. The current study investigated whether sense of purpose functions similarly across ages and evaluated if the predictive power of purpose on mental, physical, cognitive, and financial outcomes changes wh…
Applying an Allportian Trait Perspective to Sense of Purpose
Sense of purpose captures the extent to which one feels that they have personally meaningful goals and directions guiding them through life. While this construct has illustrated its ability to robustly predict desirable outcomes-ranging from happiness to mortality-the nature of this construct remains unclear. I begin by describing different definitions and measures from the purpose literature. From there, I review the debates suggesting that it s…
Older Adults Place Greater Importance Than Younger Adults on a Purposeful Retirement
Objective: Regarding retirement, some but not all people decline in sense of purpose, and retirees may view maintaining a sense of purpose as nonessential. These findings suggest individual differences both in the importance placed on being purposeful during retirement in general and the discrepancy for purpose importance prior to and during retirement. Method: This study surveyed U.S. adults ( n = 2009, M age = 48.51) asking them about how they …
Well-Being as a Protective Factor Against Cognitive Decline and Dementia
OBJECTIVES: Treatments that target the biological causes of dementia remain limited, making prevention critically important. Well-being-defined broadly as living in accordance with one's potential and experiencing one's life as enjoyable and satisfying-is a promising avenue for prevention. It can be targeted by large-scale, noninvasive interventions and has been linked with better cognitive health and lower dementia risk. In the current review, w…
Individual-level trajectories of religiosity during adolescence and their implications for purpose
grade, and a measure of sense of purpose at age 21 as part of the Oregon Youth Substance Use Project. Findings from latent growth models suggest both a mean-level decline in religiosity as well as individual differences in patterns of change across time. Furthermore, the intercept and change in religiosity throughout adolescence positively predicted sense of purpose at age 21. Results are discussed with respect to how individual differences occur…
Purpose Should Be in the Eye of the Holder, Not the Researcher
Researchers have discussed how best to define and measure purpose in life for decades, and this debate has been reinvigorated by recent work by Burrow et al. (2021), in their discussion of how to capture purpose development within a broader ecological context. However, in their commentary, Bronk and Damon (2021) have suggested that researchers also need to consider whether the individual's stated purpose in life merits development. We suggest her…
Correlated change in sense of purpose and romantic relationship quality
Sense of purpose, or feeling that one has personally meaningful goals and directions guiding them through life, consistently predicts a variety of desirable well‐being, health, and social outcomes. However, work has been limited with respect to evaluating it as a predictor and promoter of romantic relationships or how purpose may develop in these contexts. For instance, healthy romantic relationships could also help individuals develop and mainta…
Being active for a purpose
Purpose as a predictor of satisfaction across relationship domains during the first semester of university
Background: Sense of purpose, or the extent to which one perceives their lives to have meaningful goals and directions, may aid in initiating satisfying and stable new connections while positively maintaining old ones for college students. Purpose: The current study sought to evaluate how a college students' sense of purpose during their first week of college may predict their satisfaction with different relationship types throughout their first …
Identity Formation Among Gay Men, Lesbian Women, Bisexual and Heterosexual Samples
Associations between trauma during adolescence and sense of purpose in middle-to-late adulthood
Early adverse experiences can hold lasting influence on later life outcomes, particularly during formative developmental periods such as adolescence. The current study evaluates the impact of different kinds of adolescent trauma on later sense of purpose in adulthood, using data from the Hawaii Longitudinal Study of Personality and Health. Participants ( n = 545) retrospectively reported three kinds of trauma during adolescence: (1) non-betrayal …
Associations between sense of purpose and romantic relationship quality in adulthood
The current studies investigated the extent that sense of purpose is associated with desirable relationship variables, such as relationship satisfaction, relationship commitment, perceived quality of alternatives, and investment size. Data were collected from two online surveys of 1,001 and 1,594 participants in relationships (Study 1: M = 46.68, SD = 15.77, range = 18-86; Study 2: M = 52.52, SD = 16.05, range = 18-91). Study 1 found that sense o…
Associations between sense of purpose and romantic relationship quality in adulthood
The current studies investigated the extent that sense of purpose is associated with desirable relationship variables, such as relationship satisfaction, relationship commitment, perceived quality of alternatives, and investment size. Data were collected from two online surveys of 1,001 and 1,594 participants in relationships (Study 1: M = 46.68, SD = 15.77, range = 18-86; Study 2: M = 52.52, SD = 16.05, range = 18-91). Study 1 found that sense o…
Purpose as a predictor of satisfaction across relationship domains during the first semester of university
Background: Sense of purpose, or the extent to which one perceives their lives to have meaningful goals and directions, may aid in initiating satisfying and stable new connections while positively maintaining old ones for college students. Purpose: The current study sought to evaluate how a college students' sense of purpose during their first week of college may predict their satisfaction with different relationship types throughout their first …
Purpose in daily life
Purposeful and purposeless aging
Despite the value of sense of purpose during older adulthood, this construct often declines with age. With some older adults reconsidering the relevance of purpose later in life, the measurement of purpose may suffer from variance issues with age. The current study investigated whether sense of purpose functions similarly across ages and evaluated if the predictive power of purpose on mental, physical, cognitive, and financial outcomes changes wh…
Being active for a purpose
Associations between trauma during adolescence and sense of purpose in middle-to-late adulthood
Early adverse experiences can hold lasting influence on later life outcomes, particularly during formative developmental periods such as adolescence. The current study evaluates the impact of different kinds of adolescent trauma on later sense of purpose in adulthood, using data from the Hawaii Longitudinal Study of Personality and Health. Participants ( n = 545) retrospectively reported three kinds of trauma during adolescence: (1) non-betrayal …
Associations between sense of purpose and romantic relationship quality in adulthood
The current studies investigated the extent that sense of purpose is associated with desirable relationship variables, such as relationship satisfaction, relationship commitment, perceived quality of alternatives, and investment size. Data were collected from two online surveys of 1,001 and 1,594 participants in relationships (Study 1: M = 46.68, SD = 15.77, range = 18-86; Study 2: M = 52.52, SD = 16.05, range = 18-91). Study 1 found that sense o…
Identity Formation Among Gay Men, Lesbian Women, Bisexual and Heterosexual Samples
Individual-level trajectories of religiosity during adolescence and their implications for purpose
grade, and a measure of sense of purpose at age 21 as part of the Oregon Youth Substance Use Project. Findings from latent growth models suggest both a mean-level decline in religiosity as well as individual differences in patterns of change across time. Furthermore, the intercept and change in religiosity throughout adolescence positively predicted sense of purpose at age 21. Results are discussed with respect to how individual differences occur…
Purpose Should Be in the Eye of the Holder, Not the Researcher
Researchers have discussed how best to define and measure purpose in life for decades, and this debate has been reinvigorated by recent work by Burrow et al. (2021), in their discussion of how to capture purpose development within a broader ecological context. However, in their commentary, Bronk and Damon (2021) have suggested that researchers also need to consider whether the individual's stated purpose in life merits development. We suggest her…
Correlated change in sense of purpose and romantic relationship quality
Sense of purpose, or feeling that one has personally meaningful goals and directions guiding them through life, consistently predicts a variety of desirable well‐being, health, and social outcomes. However, work has been limited with respect to evaluating it as a predictor and promoter of romantic relationships or how purpose may develop in these contexts. For instance, healthy romantic relationships could also help individuals develop and mainta…
Being active for a purpose
Purpose as a predictor of satisfaction across relationship domains during the first semester of university
Background: Sense of purpose, or the extent to which one perceives their lives to have meaningful goals and directions, may aid in initiating satisfying and stable new connections while positively maintaining old ones for college students. Purpose: The current study sought to evaluate how a college students' sense of purpose during their first week of college may predict their satisfaction with different relationship types throughout their first …
Applying an Allportian Trait Perspective to Sense of Purpose
Sense of purpose captures the extent to which one feels that they have personally meaningful goals and directions guiding them through life. While this construct has illustrated its ability to robustly predict desirable outcomes-ranging from happiness to mortality-the nature of this construct remains unclear. I begin by describing different definitions and measures from the purpose literature. From there, I review the debates suggesting that it s…
Older Adults Place Greater Importance Than Younger Adults on a Purposeful Retirement
Objective: Regarding retirement, some but not all people decline in sense of purpose, and retirees may view maintaining a sense of purpose as nonessential. These findings suggest individual differences both in the importance placed on being purposeful during retirement in general and the discrepancy for purpose importance prior to and during retirement. Method: This study surveyed U.S. adults ( n = 2009, M age = 48.51) asking them about how they …
Well-Being as a Protective Factor Against Cognitive Decline and Dementia
OBJECTIVES: Treatments that target the biological causes of dementia remain limited, making prevention critically important. Well-being-defined broadly as living in accordance with one's potential and experiencing one's life as enjoyable and satisfying-is a promising avenue for prevention. It can be targeted by large-scale, noninvasive interventions and has been linked with better cognitive health and lower dementia risk. In the current review, w…
Correlated Change Between Personality Traits and Perceived Social Support in Old Age
This study investigated correlated change between the Big Five personality traits and perceived social support in old age. Two data waves with an 8-year span from the Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study on Adult Development (ILSE) were utilized. The longitudinal sample for this study consisted of 491 older adults (aged 64–68 years at T1). Four different aspects of perceived availability of social support were assessed (emotional support, practic…
Valuing Versus Having
Using data from Midlife in the United States ( N = 3,767), this study investigates how believing having money or occupational prestige is important for a good life is associated with different aspects of well-being. Actual income was positively associated with sense of purpose, personal growth, self-acceptance, environmental mastery, and life satisfaction; negatively associated with negative affect; and was not associated with autonomy, positive …
Nightly Sleep Predicts Next-Morning Expectations for Stress and Positive Experiences
OBJECTIVE: Abundant research has linked nightly sleep as an antecedent of daily psychosocial experiences; however, less is known about sleep's influence on daily expectations of these experiences. Therefore, this research examined the day-to-day associations of sleep quality, duration, and efficiency with next-day expectations for stress(ors) and positive experiences, as well as whether these expectations were related to end-of-day reports of phy…
Purpose in daily life
Purposeful and purposeless aging
Despite the value of sense of purpose during older adulthood, this construct often declines with age. With some older adults reconsidering the relevance of purpose later in life, the measurement of purpose may suffer from variance issues with age. The current study investigated whether sense of purpose functions similarly across ages and evaluated if the predictive power of purpose on mental, physical, cognitive, and financial outcomes changes wh…
Where Does Purpose Belong in Well-Being Theory?
Is purpose a cause, consequence, correlate, or component of well-being? Sense of purpose can be understood as the extent to which one feels that they have personally meaningful goals and directions guiding them through life. Because models of well-being differ in how they conceptualize what it means to be psychologically well, purpose is treated differently across these frameworks. In this chapter, we begin by considering how purpose fits in vari…
Purpose in Life As Ancient but Nascent
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 …
Discrimination in daily life
Investigating the trivariate reciprocal longitudinal relationships between purpose, loneliness, and cognitive function
Objectives As medical interventions for cognitive decline and dementia continue to evolve, the identification of modifiable psychosocial factors has become increasingly important. Sense of purpose and loneliness represent potential targets for intervention. In this study, we aimed to understand the potentially reciprocal relationship between sense of purpose, loneliness, and cognitive function. Methods The current project draws upon data from the…
Toward Inclusive Screening of Cognitive Impairment
A coordinated analysis of bidirectional associations between life satisfaction and cognitive function
Life satisfaction is an important component of well-being to consider in relation to cognitive function due to its modifiability, potential utility in public health policy, and associations with cognitive health outcomes. However, little is known about the directionality of the association between life satisfaction and cognitive function, and past longitudinal work has yielded mixed findings. Using a coordinated data analytic approach, the curren…
Sense of purpose fluctuations in daily life
The current work uses ecological momentary assessment data in an age and cognitively diverse group of adults to explore if, when, and why individuals feel purposeful in daily life. Seven times per day for 9 days, young adults (age: M = 27.36; 51.4% men, 47.1% women, 1.4% additional gender; 7.0% Asian/Asian American, 28.6% as Black/African American, 1.4% as Indigenous, 5.7% as Latine/Hispanic, 1.4% Middle Eastern, 58.6% White/European American), o…
Psychology (19 works) · Social Psychology (16 works) · Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction (15 works) · Developmental psychology (14 works) · Medicine (9 works) · Aging and Gerontology Research (7 works) · Cognition (7 works) · Social Psychology (6 works) · Personality (5 works) · Big Five personality traits (4 works)