The role of hope in college students' adjustment and academic performance

Abstract

Hope, as conceptualized by Snyder (1989; Snyder et al., 1991), has been proposed as an important factor in influencing college students’ general adjustment and academic performance. However, there are critical research gaps in the current literature which limit our understanding of the role of hope at this educational stage. This thesis aims to advance hope research by addressing some of these research gaps. Given this thesis’ focus on academic performance, in Study 1 (N = 1321) we investigated the issue of domain-generality and -specificity of hope, to ascertain if domain-specific academic hope measures should be used when assessing the association between hope and academic-related outcomes. The findings showed that academic hope was related to but distinct from global (domain-general) hope, and it had stronger predictive power on academic-related outcomes than global hope did. These suggest academic hope measures, given their greater relevance to academics, should be incorporated in hope research that is focused on academic-related outcomes. In Study 2, we examined how hope (including global hope and academic hope) is implicated in college students’ adjustment and academic performance through a longitudinal study (N = 433). In Study 2a, we found that, among college freshmen, hope in semester 1 uniquely predicted the level of psychosocial resources and emotional well-being in semester 2. On the other hand, specific dimensions of psychosocial resources in semester 1 uniquely predicted hope in semester 2. The results imply hope works hand in hand with other psychosocial resources and emotional wellness to facilitate freshmen’s adjustment during the college transition period. In Study 2b, we assessed the reciprocal association between hope and academic performance. The results revealed a reciprocal process between academic hope and academic performance which was mediated by academic goal setting. Semester 1 academic hope positively predicted semester 3 academic performance via semester 2 academic goal setting. Likewise, semester 1 academic performance positively predicted semester 3 academic hope via semester 2 academic goal setting. The findings suggest college students’ academic hope is an antecedent as well as an outcome of their academic performance. In Study 3, we used an intensive longitudinal study design (N = 101) to examine intraindividual variations of state academic hope and their associations with ongoing academic goal pursuit over five weeks in an academic semester. Results showed that students with greater trait academic hope tended to experience fewer fluctuations of state academic hope. In addition, state academic hope on one occasion positively predicted that on the ensuing occasion intra-individually. We also found significant within-person concurrent and lagged associations between state academic hope and variables related to academic goal pursuit, suggesting that state academic hope is likely beneficial to academic performance and its variations can be explained by students’ recent experiences related to their academic work. In sum, this thesis helps clarify several important but unresolved issues pertaining to the measurement of hope and its association with college students’ general and academic functioning. Practically, the findings speak to how hope can be enhanced to promote college students’ well-being and academic performance.