ABSTRACT
Objective@#Exploring the relationship between adolescents sense of life purpose and depression as well as the moderating effect of grade, in order to provide evidence for the situation of sense of life purpose among Chinese adolescents.@*Methods@#A total of 1 627 adolescents from grade 4 to 9 in Hebei and Yunnan provinces were selected as the research subjects by using convenient cluster sampling method. The survey was conducted by using the Depression Self Rating Scale for Children and the Revised Youth Purpose Survey, and stratified regression was used for moderating effect analysis with a simple slope test.@*Results@#There were statistically significant differences in the score of depression among adolescents of different genders, mother s education level, father s education level, family economy and academic performances( t/F=-2.70, 3.62, 2.82, 13.67, 13.81, P <0.01). There were statistically significant differences in the score of sense of life purpose among adolescents of different mother s education level, father s education level, family economy and academic performances( F=3.24, 4.27, 7.50, 9.39, P <0.01). Correlation analysis showed that adolescents sense of life purpose was significantly negatively correlated with depression( r=-0.38, P <0.01). Hierarchical regression model results showed that adolescents sense of life purpose significantly negatively predicted depression (β=-0.19, t= -5.93, P <0.01). Grade played a moderating role between adolescents sense of life purpose and depression( β=-0.34, t= -7.54 , P <0.01). The simple slope test showed that depression decreased as the sense of life purpose increased in primary school students(grades 4-6) and in middle school students(grades 7-9), and the decrease of the middle school students was greater( β=-0.19, -0.53, t=-5.93, -16.15, P <0.01).@*Conclusion@#The sense of life purpose negatively predicted depression of adolescents, and grade moderated the relationship between the sense of life purpose and depression. Compared with students in grades 4-6, the improvement of life purpose of middle school students have a more significant protective effect on depression.