• Eric S Kim, Carol Ryff, Afton Hassett, Chad Brummett, Charlotte Yeh, and Victor Strecher.
• From the Department of Psychology (Kim), University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada; Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Kim) and Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness (Kim), Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston; Program on Integrative Knowledge and Human Flourishing (Kim), Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Department of Psychology (Ryff) and Institute on Aging (Ryff ), University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin; Department of Anesthesiology (Hassett, Brummett), Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan; AARP Service, Inc (Yeh), Washington, DC; and Department of Health Behavior and Health Education (Stretcher), University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
• Psychosom Med. 2020 Sep 1; 82 (7): 715-721.

ObjectiveIn the United States, 28.6 million people used illicit drugs or misused prescription drugs in the last 30 days. Thus, identifying factors linked with lower likelihood of future drug misuse is an important target for research and practice. Sense of purpose in life has been linked with better behavioral and physical health outcomes. Furthermore, a higher sense of purpose may reduce the likelihood of drug misuse because it has been linked with several protective factors including enhanced ability to handle stress, higher pain tolerance, and lower impulsivity. However, the association between sense of purpose and drug misuse has been understudied. Thus, we tested whether people with a higher sense of purpose at baseline had a lower likelihood of future drug misuse 9 to 10 years later.MethodsThis study included 3535 middle-aged adults from the Midlife in the United States Study who were not misusing drugs at baseline. Using multiple logistic regression models, we assessed whether baseline purpose in life was associated with risk of misusing drugs 9 to 10 years later.ResultsAmong respondents not misusing drugs at baseline, people in the highest quartile of purpose (versus lowest quartile) had a substantially lower likelihood of future drug misuse in a model adjusting for demographic variables (odds ratio = 0.50, 95% confidence interval = 0.31-0.83). Associations remained evident after additionally adjusting for psychological distress, baseline health, and health behaviors.ConclusionsA growing knowledge base suggests that a sense of purpose can be increased. Additional research is needed to evaluate sense of purpose as a novel target in the prevention and reduction of drug misuse.

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