This dissertation includes a qualitative analysis of individual interviews with 19 South Sudanese unaccompanied refugee minors (URMs) and a subsequent quantitative analysis based on 30 survey responses in an effort to understand how South Sudanese URMs have adjusted to their new country, the United States. Each of these studies concerns their sense of purpose, acculturation experiences, and identity development in relation to their educational and occupational achievements, as well as their psychological wellbeing over time. For the qualitative analysis, the participants were interviewed during two different phases of the study. The first set of in-depth individual interviews was conducted in 2007 (Phase 1) with 19 South Sudanese URMs who had resettled in the United States in 2001. From 2014-2015 (Phase 2), 11 of the 19 participants from Phase 1 were interviewed again. Using a modified grounded theory approach, these two sets of qualitative data were analyzed in terms of the participants’ purpose development, multidimensional acculturation, identity reformation and integration, educational and occupational achievements, and overall life satisfaction. There are three theoretical frameworks that guide the current research project: a) Damon’s purpose-development theory, b) Ferguson’s tridimensional acculturation theory, and c) Portes and Zhou’s segmented assimilation theory. Based on these three existing theories and their measurements, this study attempts to describe South Sudanese URMs’ identified goals, life purposes, major achievements (especially in terms of education and occupation), changes and modifications to their goals, resettlement challenges, social barriers, and how these factors have influenced their long-term adjustment in the U.S. This study’s findings reveal the prevalence of an other-oriented/beyond-the-self (BTS) purpose among the South Sudanese URMs that helped them to overcome resettlement challenges and promote positive adjustment and psychological wellbeing. The findings also describe how their process of purpose development was closely related to and influenced by their four-dimensional acculturation experiences, with identity reformation and integration providing insights into their educational and occupational achievements and general life satisfaction as the determinants of long-term adjustment. In the following complementary quantitative study, a questionnaire was developed using existing scales and measurements to evaluate the levels of general purpose and BTS purpose, variables of resettlement challenges such as emotional strain and perceived discrimination, and key adjustment outcomes such as educational and occupational attainment. As a result of multiple regression analyses, the moderation effect of prosocial purpose was found to be statistically significant in promoting better adjustment outcomes by buffering the negative impact of resettlement challenges.
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