An analysis of hope as a psychological strength

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2006.03.005Get rights and content

Abstract

Psychologists have placed an increased emphasis on identifying psychological strengths that foster healthy development. Hope, as operationalized in Snyder's hope theory Snyder, C. R., Hoza, B., Pelham, W. E., Rapoff, M., Ware, L., & Danovsky, M., et al. (1997). The development and validation of the children’s hope scale. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 22, 399–421], is one such cognitive-motivational construct that has received recent attention as a potential psychological strength that may serve as a protective factor for adolescents in the face of adverse life events. This longitudinal study, involving middle and high school students, provided evidence of (1) stability of hope reports of adolescents over a 1-year period, (2) predictive validity of adolescent hope reports, and (3) hope's functional role as a moderator in the relationship between stressful life events and adolescent well-being. Taken together, the results provide support for consideration of hope as a key psychological strength in youth. The findings are consistent with theories of motivation in which individual differences in hopeful thinking are conceptualized to play a functional role in linking life events and psychological well being.

Section snippets

Participants

The participants at Time 1 (Fall 2001) consisted of students from three public middle schools and two public high schools from a rural school district in a southeastern state. All students enrolled in the participating schools were invited to participate in the study through a letter that described the research and requested permission for student participation. The rate of students returning parent consent forms varied from 28% to 32% by school, a proportion typical in studies that have

Descriptive statistics

Table 1 presents the means, standard deviations, and internal consistency coefficients of all variables assessed at Time 1 and 1 year later at Time 2. Means and standard deviations for CHS scores at both Time 1 and Time 2 of the current study were higher than the majority of the eight samples reported in the initial validation studies (M = 25.41–27.03; SD = 3.01–6.11) (Snyder et al., 1997, Snyder et al., 1997).

T-tests were employed to determine the significance of the differences between hope scores

Discussion

This study represents an analysis of the cognitive-motivational construct of hope as a psychological strength in adolescents. Three findings were most notable. First, adolescents' CHS scores showed moderate test–retest reliability over a 1-year period. This supports the theoretical premise that hope demonstrates some trait-like properties. The longitudinal design of this study, in which hope scores were reassessed after a 1-year period, is a significant increase in comparison to previous

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the staff and students in Sumter School District II for their assistance in the research.

References (40)

  • L.Y. Abramson et al.

    Hopelessness depression: A theory-based subtype of depression

    Psychological Review

    (1989)
  • T.M. Achenbach et al.

    Child behavior checklist and youth self-report

    (1991)
  • E.M. Anderman et al.

    Motivation and schooling in the middle grades

    Review of Educational Research

    (1994)
  • A. Bandura

    Self-efficacy: The exercise of self-control

    (1997)
  • D.D. Barnum et al.

    Hope and social support in the psychological adjustment of pediatric burn survivors and matched controls

    Children's Health Care

    (1998)
  • R.M. Baron et al.

    The moderator-mediator variable distinction in psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations

    Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

    (1986)
  • A.H. Brand et al.

    Note on reliability of the Life Events Checklist

    Psychological Reports

    (1982)
  • E.C. Chang

    Hope, problem-solving ability, and coping in a college student population: Some implications for theory and practice

    Journal of Clinical Psychology

    (1998)
  • W.F. Chaplin

    The next generation of moderator research in personality psychology

    Journal of Personality

    (1991)
  • J. Cohen

    Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences

    (1988)
  • Curry, L. A., Maniar, S. D., Sondag, K. A., & Sandstedt, S. (1999). An optimal performance academic course for...
  • L.A. Curry et al.

    The role of hope in student-athlete academic and sport achievement

    Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

    (1997)
  • Edwards, L. M., & Lopez, S. J. (2000). Making Hope Happen for Kids. Unpublished...
  • R.C. Gilman et al.

    Children's reports of their life satisfaction: Convergence across raters, time, and response formats

    School Psychology International

    (1997)
  • Harney, P. (1990). The Hope Scale: Exploration of construct validity and its influence on health. Unpublished Master's...
  • T.V. Horton et al.

    Hope and social support as resilience factors against psychological distress of mothers who care for children with chronic physical conditions

    Rehabilitation Psychology

    (2001)
  • E.S. Huebner

    Initial development of the Students' Life Satisfaction Scale

    School Psychology International

    (1991)
  • E.S. Huebner

    Correlates of life satisfaction in children

    School Psychology Quarterly

    (1991)
  • L.M. Irving et al.

    Hope and the negotiation of cancer facts by college women

    Journal of Personality

    (1998)
  • R. Jessor et al.

    Protective factors in adolescent problem behavior: Moderator effects and developmental change

    Developmental Psychology

    (1995)
  • Cited by (0)

    View full text