Introduction: Drawing from positive youth development theory, the research team examined purpose in life among adolescents diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Methods: Members of the research team conducted paired interviews about purpose in life with adolescents diagnosed with an ASD and one of each adolescent's parents. Data collection took place in the south-central region of the US. The eight adolescent participants were in middle school, high school, and early college. The research team open-coded interview transcripts and condensed these codes into meta-codes to aid in determining the form of purpose for each participant.Results: Similar to what has been found in studies of neurotypical youth, participants distributed diversely across the forms of purpose, with all but one participant demonstrating some aspect of purpose. Conclusions: The authors recommend practitioners consider the variety of supports they could provide to adolescents diagnosed with an ASD and consider encouraging these youth when their creative interests are sparked. Additionally, the research team invites the scholarly community to further investigate specific contextual supports and to develop ways of measuring purpose that do not rely on advanced language and social skills.

Grounded in both resiliency science and positive youth development, the research team set out to understand the strengths and resources of adolescent refugees living in northeast Texas. In coordination with a local refugee services agency, members of the research team conducted the Tree of Life activity with 16 participants ranging in age from 13 to 20 years. Identifying 16 codes in the qualitative analyses of participants' drawings, they organized these codes into 3 themes: self-efficacy, values, and relationships. The authors recommend the use of Tree of Life and other creative arts activities to Journal of Youth Development | http://jyd.pitt.edu/ | Vol. 14 Issue 2 DOI 10. 5195/jyd.2019.692 Examining Resiliency Through Tree of Life 131 facilitate the discovery of strengths and resources in adolescent refugees, by which they may progress beyond survival of adversity to resiliency and thriving.