Re-examining hope: The roles of agency thinking and pathways thinking

A considerable amount of research in hope is driven by Snyder's (1994) model which proposes that hope is positively associated with agency thinking and pathways thinking. However, the current research suggests that hope as understood by the layperson (Hope) is only associated with agency thinking and not with pathways thinking. This was found over four studies using different agency and pathways variables, different Hope variables, different methods, and different cultures. Implications of these findings for Snyder's model are discussed.     

Correlates and predictors of an Arabic translation of the Snyder Hope Scale

Snyder, C. R. (1994) has defined hope as goal-directed thinking in which the person has the perceived capacity to find routes to goals (called pathways thinking), along with the motivation to use those pathways (called agency thinking). Using this definition, Snyder, C. R., et al. (1991) developed and validated the trait Hope Scale. This Hope Scale was translated from English to Arabic for the present sample of Kuwaiti college students. Results showed that the scale manifested excellent internal and test–retest reliabilities. In addition, a principal components analysis affirmed the presence of the two expected factors, pathways and agency components. Furthermore, the concurrent validation of the Arabic Hope Scale (AHS) was also demonstrated. The AHS was positively correlated with measures of positive affect, optimism, satisfaction with life, self-esteem, and extraversion, whereas the AHS was inversely related to measures of negative affect, anxiety, and pessimism. The findings strongly support the use of the AHS in Arabic speaking samples.     

Uncertainty,Belongingness, and Four Needs for Meaning

Hope is defined as the perceived capability to derive pathways to desired goals, and motivate oneself via agency thinking to use those pathways. The adult and child hope scales that are derived from hope theory are described. Hope theory is compared to theories of learned optimism, optimism, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. Higher hope consistently is related to better outcomes in academics, athletics, physical health, psychological adjustment, and psychotherapy. Processes that lessen hope in children and adults are reviewed. Using the hope theory definition, no evidence is found for "false" hope. Future research is encouraged in regard to accurately enhancing hope in medical feedback and helping people to pursue those goals for which they are best suited.     

Assessing psychological health: the contribution of psychological strengths

Balanced assessment of mental health involves assessing well-being and strengths as well as psychopathology. The character strengths of curiosity, gratitude, hope, optimism and forgiveness are assessed in 214 new undergraduates and their relationships to mental health, subjective well-being and self-esteem explored. Scoring the mental health scale for psychiatric caseness, case and non-case students did not differ in character strengths, positive affect or life satisfaction, supporting a dual-factor model. Hope pathways and gratitude predicted mental health. Gratitude, hope agency and exploratory curiosity predicted positive affect. Gratitude and hope agency predicted life satisfaction. Hope agency, hope pathways, exploratory curiosity and gratitude predicted self-esteem, with absorption curiosity as a negative predictor. The benefits of assessing strengths are discussed and interventions designed to develop them.     

The structure of the State Hope Scale

The present research aimed to examine the factorial structure of the State Hope Scale (SHS). In Study 1, using confirmatory factorial analyses, two factorial structures were contrasted: a single-factor mode (representing a general hope construct) and a second-order factor model (with general hope characterized by agency and pathways). Results revealed that the two-factor model was more likely to be replicated. Furthermore, invariance analyses revealed that the two-factor structure applied equally across age groups and gender. In Study 2, the factorial structure of the SHS was evaluated again. Once more, results confirmed the superiority of the two-factor model. In addition, hope was positively linked to mental health.     

The Design and Evaluation of a Hope Enhancement Programme for Adults

The study evaluated the effectiveness of a hope enhancement programme for a group of adults and its impact on general psychological well-being. The intervention programme focused on participants' abilities to set feasible goals, planning ways to reach those goals (pathways) and increase determination and motivation (agency) to reach these goals. The workshop-format programme, consisted of six two-hour sessions conducted over five days. A pre and post-test design included an experimental group (n = 8), control group (n = 8) and ‘chat group’ (n = 8). Findings indicated that the programme increased hope levels of the experimental group as indicated by the Hope Scale and the Hopefulness Subscale of the Hunter Opinions and Personal Expectations Scale. Well-being also improved as indicated by a significant increase in sense of coherence along with a positive change in satisfaction with life. Recommendations for future research were made.     

Conceptualizing,Measuring, and Nurturing Hope

Hope is defined as the process of thinking about one's goals, along with the motivation to move toward (agency) and the ways to achieve (pathways) those goals. After discussing other related concepts, the scale for measuring hope is introduced, and the role of hope in the counseling process is described.     

Evaluation of the Bifactor Structure of the Dispositional Hope Scale

The Dispositional Hope Scale (DHS; Snyder et al., 1991) is composed of items assessing an individual's perception of his or her agency and pathways. This study examined support for the bifactor structure and relation of the factors in this model with depressive symptoms. It also examined cross-gender measurement invariance for the bifactor model. A community sample of 413 women and 257 men completed the DHS. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated more support for the bifactor model than the 1- and 2-factor models. Results also indicated full measurement invariance across gender for the bifactor and the 2-factor models. The general and the specific agency factors, but not the specific pathways factor, correlated with depressive symptoms. The better support for the bifactor model suggests that ideally hope has to be measured and examined by factors reflecting high covariance for agency and pathways, and also factors reflecting unique variances for agency and pathways. The support for full cross-gender measurement invariance indicated that there are no differences in measurement and scaling properties for the DHS across ratings provided by women and men, and therefore the DHS ratings can be scored in the same way for women and men.     

Hope,goals, and pathways: Further validating the hope scale with observer ratings

ABSTRACT

Objective: For the past two decades, hope theory has been an important framework for conceptualizing goal pursuits. Surprisingly there has been little effort to test the underlying suppositions of hope theory or to further validate the Hope Scale.

Method: In Study 1, participants (N = 162, M_age = 19, 61% female) completed the Hope Scale and nominated goals they would like to accomplish in the next few months. Goals were coded on several dimensions. In Study 2, participants (N = 118, M_age = 19, 59% female) completed the Hope Scale, measures of optimism and self-efficacy, and generated workable pathways for achieving standardized goals.

Results: Hope scores predicted setting objectively important, prosocial, long-term, and challenging goals. Hope (but not optimism or self-efficacy) was associated with generating more pathways for standardized goals.

Conclusions: The results of these studies generally support the tenets of hope theory and provide further validation for the Hope Scale. As expected, people with higher hope were more likely than their lower-hope counterparts to engage in what has been considered successful goal-setting behavior. Hope is associated with important goal-relevant behaviors and efforts to increase hopeful thought may be important in helping individuals to move toward important life outcomes.     

The positive role of hope on the relationship between loneliness and unhappy conditions in Hungarian young adults: How pathways thinking matters!

ABSTRACT

In this study, we examined loneliness and hope components as predictors of unhappy conditions (viz., anxious symptoms, depressive symptoms, & suicidal ideation) in young adults. The sample was comprised of 489 Hungarian college students. Results of conducting hierarchical regression analyses indicated that loneliness and hope pathways (but not hope agency) were important unique predictors of anxious symptoms, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation. Moreover, in part, consistent with the notion that hope might buffer the negative effects of loneliness on unhappy conditions, evidence for a significant Loneliness × Hope Pathways interaction effect in predicting each of the three indices of unhappy conditions was found. In contrast, the Loneliness × Hope Agency interaction effect was not found to be significant. Some implications of the present findings for the study and treatment of unhappy conditions in adults are discussed.     

Examining Hope as a Transdiagnostic Mechanism of Change Across Anxiety Disorders and CBT Treatment Protocols

Hope is a trait that represents the capacity to identify strategies or pathways to achieve goals and the motivation or agency to effectively pursue those pathways. Hope has been demonstrated to be a robust source of resilience to anxiety and stress and there is limited evidence that, as has been suggested for decades, hope may function as a core process or transdiagnostic mechanism of change in psychotherapy. The current study examined the role of hope in predicting recovery in a clinical trial in which 223 individuals with 1 of 4 anxiety disorders were randomized to transdiagnostic cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), disorder-specific CBT, or a waitlist controlled condition. Effect size results indicated moderate to large intraindividual increases in hope, that changes in hope were consistent across the five CBT treatment protocols, that changes in hope were significantly greater in CBT relative to waitlist, and that changes in hope began early in treatment. Results of growth curve analyses indicated that CBT was a robust predictor of trajectories of change in hope compared to waitlist, and that changes in hope predicted changes in both self-reported and clinician-rated anxiety. Finally, a statistically significant indirect effect was found indicating that the effects of treatment on changes in anxiety were mediated by treatment effects on hope. Together, these results suggest that hope may be a promising transdiagnostic mechanism of change that is relevant across anxiety disorders and treatment protocols.     

Preliminary validation of a hope scale for a rare health condition using web-based methodology

An evaluation of a health condition-specific hope scale adapted from the more general dispositional Hope Scale (Snyder et al., 1991) is provided. Participants (N = 202) with a rare, debilitating, and potentially stigmatising health condition were recruited from readers of the Anal Fissure Self Help Page. Data were gathered anonymously using an online survey linked to the website. Consistent with hope theory, this new measure yielded a pathways factor (perceived capacity to find ways to achieve desired goals) and an agency factor (perceived motivation to pursue goals energetically). Respondents with stronger pathways thoughts reported greater benefits from website information for understanding and generating strategies for managing anal fissures. Stronger agency beliefs were related to more frequent website visits, more rereading of first-hand patient accounts, and shorter duration of fissure symptoms. Results offer preliminary support for validity of this scale and for using web-based methodologies to study conditions, such as anal fissure.     

Rainbows in the society: A measure of hope for society

The aim of this study was to develop and validate a measure of social hope. Previous studies have extensively reported on personal hope and its outcomes. Although a few studies have suggested the concept of collective or social hope, there is no instrument to assess the construct. In this study, we created a 5‐item scale, drawing on Snyder's hope theory, and collected two sets of survey data online. Analysis of these data sets revealed that the new scale was structurally unidimensional and internally consistent. In association with Snyder's State Hope Scale, the Social Hope Scale showed convergent and discriminant validity. The social hope construct also exhibited theoretically meaningful relationships with political efficacy and self‐construal (concurrent validity). Finally, social hope was higher for those who had participated in certain types of social activism than it was for those who had not (predictive validity). These results suggest that the Social Hope Scale is a reliable and valid self‐report measure of hopeful thinking for society.     

希望和乐观——两种未来指向的积极预期

在积极心理学中,希望和乐观虽然存在很大程度的概念重叠,但二者本质上是不同的概念。希望的概念核心是以目标为中心的动力思维和路径思维,乐观的概念核心是指向未来的积极预期。作为两种指向未来的积极预期,希望和乐观属于人格特质的范畴,共同成分是对目标的信念;二者的差异性在于对未来预期的方式和对预期事件的个人控制。相关研究发现,相对于乐观,希望通常是主观幸福感和学业成就更好的预测指标。未来研究应明确希望和乐观的整合,验证是否存在控制点的调节作用,并开展跨文化研究。     

中学生网络利他行为与希望的关系:自我效能感与自尊的中介作用

采用希望特质量表、网络利他行为量表、自尊量表和一般自我效能感量表对326名中学生进行调查, 考察中学生网络利他行为对其希望的影响, 以及自我效能感和自尊在其中的中介作用。结果发现:(1)相关分析显示, 中学生网络利他行为、自我效能感、自尊和希望之间呈显著正相关;(2)结构方程模型分析表明, 自我效能感在中学生网络利他行为对希望的影响中起完全中介作用, 自尊在中学生网络利他行为对希望的影响中不起中介作用, 自我效能感和自尊在中学生网络利他行为对希望的影响中起链式中介作用。     

Hope as a Psychological Factor Affecting Quality of Life in Patients With Psoriasis

Clinical observations and medical reports indicate that psoriasis has a tremendous impact on patients’ lives, lowering their quality in many important areas. However, the vast majority of research deals only with health-related issues. This study aimed to compare the general quality of life of psoriasis patients and healthy volunteers by examining psychological variables thought to modify the quality of life. 42 patients with psoriasis and 42 healthy volunteers matched for gender, age and education level were tested. Flanagan Quality of Life Scale was used to evaluate general quality of life. Basic hope level was assessed with Basic Hope Inventory. Trait hope was estimated using Trait Hope Scale. Psoriasis Area Severity Index was used to assess the severity of the disease. Psoriasis patients have a significantly lower overall quality of life (p?=?0.05), modified by Physical and Material Well-being (p?=?0.01), Personal Development and Fulfillment (p?=?0.03), and Recreation (p?=?0.04). They also have lower levels of trait hope (p?=?0.04) and its agency component (p?=?0.01). There were moderate, negative significant correlations with basic hope and such components of quality of life as Physical and Material Well-being (p?=?0.03, r?=?? 0.34) and Relations with other People (p?=?0.02, r?=?? 0.35). These results support the hypothesis of a reduced general quality of life and trait hope in psoriatics. Thus, psychological help for people suffering from dermatological disorders might be as important as medical intervention. Basic hope can be treated as a resource in coping with these disorders and trait hope as a resource conducive to well-being.     

社会支持对大学生希望的影响机制:自尊和自我效能感的中介作用

为了探讨社会支持各维度和大学生希望的关系及其自尊和自我效能感在其中的作用机制,采用社会支持评定量表、希望特质问卷、自尊量表和一般自我效能问卷对756名大学生进行调查。结果发现:(1)社会支持的主观支持维度对大学生的希望有着显著的正向预测作用,客观支持和支持利用度两个维度对希望的预测作用不显著;(2)自尊和自我效能感在主观社会支持对希望的预测关系中有非常显著的中介作用,而自我效能感的中介效应更显著。     

Hope and Social Support in High School Students from Urban and Rural Areas of Ankara, Turkey

The aim of present study was to investigate the role of specific dimensions of perceived social support from family, gender, and geographic area of residence in predicting hope levels of high school students. Additionally, the factor structure of Turkish Version of the Hope Scale was reexamined due to controversial findings in Turkish literature. The sample was composed of 737 students (407 female, 330 male) from two high schools in rural and urban areas of Ankara, Turkey. Data were collected by administering the Hope Scale (Snyder et al. in J Pers Soc Psychol 60:570–585, 1991), the Perceived Social Support from Family Questionnaire (Güng?r 1996), and a demographic information form. The role of independent variables in prediction of hope was investigated via Multiple Regression Analysis. Due to presence of some suppressor variables in the full model, two separate regression analyses were conducted for rural and urban areas. In the regression analysis for rural area students, informational support was the only predictor of hope levels. On the other hand, urban area students’ hope levels were predicted by love- and esteem-related support, instrumental support, and gender. Lastly, the factor structure of Turkish Version of the Hope Scale was examined through conducting a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to test how well two-factor model fit to current data. Results of the CFA indicated that two-factor model was confirmed.     

Normative data for the Hope Scale using Australian adolescents

The Hope Scale (HS) shows promise as an initial resource to help identify adolescents who lack valuable cognitive strategies needed to reach and maintain mental health. The purpose of the current study was to establish normative data for the HS in Australian adolescents (13–17 years), and to determine whether total hope or subscale scores differed across age, gender, or geographical location. Participants (N = 3913) were recruited from 41 secondary schools throughout regional and metropolitan South Australia. Significant differences were found in total hope scores across age and region and in pathways scores across age, region, and gender. Normative scores are provided.