【前言】
1.我们关于年轻人目标的研究还远未结束：我们正处于一个非常宏大的项目的数据采集和分析阶段，也是我们期望能够加进这本书里的，对第一轮得出的结论再做优化。
2.My collaborators on“The Good Work Project”are Howard Gardner and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.See H.Gardner，M.Csikszentmihalyi，and W.Damon，Good Work：When Excellence and Ethics Meet(New York：Basic Books，2001)，and also goodwork project.org.
3.The“traveling curriculum”project was done in collaboration with The Project for Excellence in Journalism and The Committee for Concerned Journalists(journalism.org).
4.Our studies in youth purpose are far from over：we are in the midst of an extensive program of data collection and analysis which we expect will substantially add to and refine the first round of conclusions discussed in this book.
5.See Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman，Character Strengths and Virtues：A Handbook and Classification(New York：Oxford University Press，2004).
【第1章】
1.在过去的半个世纪，美国人结婚的平均年龄已经向上增长了5岁，在其他一些工业化国家，这个趋势更为严重。此外，似乎世界各地的婚龄都在增长。
2.青春期这一生命阶段正是现代社会环境的一种反映。关于如何塑造自己的未来，社会给个人提供了非常多样化的选择。现代年轻人面临的选择包括：要做什么样的工作，选择和谁结婚（甚至不结婚），信仰或敬奉什么。他们在构建人生的承诺之前，总要花很多时间去做准备。直到1904年，心理学家（霍尔（G.StanleyHall）才将此预备时期命名为“青春期”。从科学角度来说，青春期这一过渡性人生阶段出现的时间大概有一个世纪多一点，从社会角度来说，可能还没有那么长。
3.本书中报告的数据主要来自于我们研究的第一阶段，是2006年完成的。数据搜集将会持续到2009年。未来这几年当有新的分析数据出来，我们将会报告最新的发现。
4.不包括第4章所描述的一些具有高目标感的年轻人，在本书中所引用的这些事例，都将人名及其明显的特征换掉了。
5.在这一章以及本书后面几章（特别是第3、第4章）引用了杰西卡的例子，她本人并不是我们的调研对象，她和书中展示的其他一些例子是我个人有所了解的人或是从其他观察当中获得的信息所描绘出来的，在这里引用是为了作为例证。在这些例子当中，我换掉了人名和一些个人特征。
6.关于这点，《未做出承诺的人》和1960年出版的保罗·古德曼（Paul Goodman）所写的这本《荒谬的成长》走的是相似的路线，1960年也正是凯妮丝顿的研究结束的时候。古德曼对美国成长起来的年轻人进行的非经验性的调查，从面对文化当中根深蒂固的各种伪善和不好的价值观的年轻人的视角，提出了一些对社会的批评。无论人们怎么看待这些批评的适当性，可以肯定的是，古德曼所认为的年轻人应该是聪明且善解人意的，倾向于理性地审视他们周围的环境。这样一个敏锐且富有鉴别力的年轻人的人物原型在小说中一直都很常见（例如，J.D.塞林格在《麦田里的守望者》中塑造的主人公霍尔顿·考尔菲德）。古德曼将这一人物原型带到了社会学分析和评论中，凯妮丝顿也将经验主义社会科学的镜头转向了这个人物原型。但两个研究都代表着他们精选的观点。
7.See William Damon，Foreword，in Richard Lerner and Laurence Steinberg，eds.，Handbook of Adolescent Psychology(New York：John Wiley，2004)，pp.vii-viii.
8.Erik Erikson，Youth：Identity and Crisis(New York：W.W.Norton，1968).
9.The data reported in this book come mostly from the first phase of our study，completed in 2006.Data collection will continue at least through the year 2009，and we will report new findings as they emerge from our analyses over the coming years.
10.With the exception of some of the highly purposeful youth described in chapter 4，I have changed the names and certain identifying features of all the subjects quoted in this book.
11.See Martin Seligman，Authentic Happiness：Using the New Posi tire Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment(New York：Free Press，2002).
12.Jessica was not a subject in the research studies cited in this chapter and later in the book(especially in chapters 3and 4).She，and a few other examples presented for the sake of illustration，are drawn from my personal acquaintance or other observations.In such instances，I have changed names and certain identifying features.
13.Anthony Seldon，“It Is Worthwhile Teaching Children Wellbeing，”Financial Times，June 25，2007，13：5.
14.Madeline Levine，The Price of Privilege：How Parental Influence and Material Advantage Are Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Unhappy Kids(New York：HarperCollins，2006)，p.5.
15.Laura Pappano，“The Incredibles，”New York Times，Education Life Section，Jan.7，2007，pp.7-12.
16.Alan J.Schwartz，“Four Eras of Study of College Student Suicide in the United States：1920-2004，”Journal of the American College of Health，vol.54，no.6(2006)，pp.353-66.Schwartz reports over 1，400suicides by college and University students in the fourteen-year period ending in 2004.A rule of thumb among counselors is that about ten people attempt suicide for each“successful”act.It is also well known in the suicide literature that reported data are highly uncertain，since many suicides，especially among higher-status people，are not disclosed.See Ann Haas，Herbert Hendlin，and John Mann，“Suicide in College Students，”American Behavioral Scientist，vol.46，no.9(2003)，pp.1224-40.
17.“Suicides Increased by 8%in the 10to 24Age Group，”Wall Street Journal，September 7，2007，p.B 4.
18.Barbara Schneider and David Stevenson，The Ambitious Generation：Motivated But Directionless(New Haven：Yale University Press，2000)，p.8.
19.PBS，Declining by Degrees(2005)，a John Merrow Production.
20.Kenneth Keniston，The Uncommitted：Alienated Youth in American Society(New York：Harcourt，Brace，&；World，1965)，p.17.
21.In this regard，The Uncommitted trod a similar path to Paul Goodman’s Growing Up Absurd，published in 1960，around the time when Keniston was finishing his research.Goodman’s nonempirical examination of growing up in America offers a critique of the society from the viewpoint of young people confronted with the various hypocrisies and bad values embedded in the culture.Whatever one thinks about the validity of the critique，there is no question that the youthful protagonists Goodman had in mind were a smart and sensitive lot，prone to cerebral examinations of their surroundings.This keenly critical youthful persona had long been common in fiction(e.g.，Holden Caulfield in J.D.Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye).Goodman introduced the persona to the world of sociological analysis and critique，and Keniston turned the lens of empirical social science on it.But both studies were representing a select and rarified perspective.
22.Arnett，Emerging Adulthood，p.3.
23.William Damon，Greater Expectatiom：Overcoming the Culture of Indulgence in Our Homes and Schools(New York：Free Press，1996).