Purpose of review: In this review, we synthesize recent research that has reported associations of a higher sense of purpose in life with reduced risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD), and then explore mechanisms that might underlie these associations.
Recent findings: Accumulating observational and experimental evidence suggests that having a higher sense of purpose might influence CVD risk through three pathways: (1) enhancement of other psychological and social resources that buffer against the cardiotoxic effects of overwhelming stress; (2) indirect effects through health behaviors; and (3) direct effects on biological pathways. A sense of purpose in life is emerging as an independent risk factor for incident CVD. A key remaining question is whether purpose causally effects CVD risk; in the "Future Research Directions" section, we focus on work needed to establish causality and provide suggestions for next steps.
Keywords: Cardiovascular disease; Epidemiology; Health psychology; Psychological well-being; Purpose in life, meaning in life.