Contribution of narrative identity and future autobiographical memories integration in the self on meaning and purpose in children

Anhedonia, apathy and a motivation are common experiences among young people. These variables are central symptoms of mental disorders, particularly in depression. Purpose in life has been shown to counteract depressive symptomatology, but this has hardly been studied in children. The construction of personal identity and episodic future thoughts are important variables in defining those purposes. Therefore, the present study investigates how all these variables interact with each other and what role they may play in depression. Children in their last year of primary school in Spain (N = 128, mean = 10 years; 11 months, 54.7 % female) completed the Narrative Identity Awareness Questionnaire, the Depression and Meaning and Purpose scales of the Patient Reported Outcomes Measure Information System and the Episodic Future Thinking Test. The main results of this study were: (1) Narrative identity awareness and episodic future thinking (EFT) are positively related to meaning and purpose, (2) Meaning and purpose is negatively related to depression, and (3) Narrative identity awareness is a good predictor of meaning and purpose. These results highlight the potential use of meaning and purpose in the prevention of depression through the promotion of narrative identity awareness. Future research should explore this in other contexts and analyze in depth the role of mental imagery of the future in relation to life goals and depression. • Depressive symptoms in children negatively correlate with meaning and purpose. • Meaning and purpose should be a key factor in the early prevention of depression. • Fostering children's awareness of narrative identity enhance meaning and purpose. • Future thinking mental imagery is a significant predictor of meaning and purpose.