Examining Hope and Resilience among Mississippi Adolescents

<p>Hope theory involves the way in which individuals perceive their abilities in relation to three factors: 1) clearly defined goals, 2) the specific strategies necessary to obtain those goals (called “pathways”), and 3) the sustained motivation necessary to use those specific strategies (called “agency thinking”) (Snyder et al., 1991; Snyder, Lopez, Shorey, Rand, & Feldman, 2003). Hopeful thinking is defined as a belief that an individual can find the pathways to reach a desired goal and the belief that one can use those designated pathways effectively (Snyder, 2002; Rand & Cheavens, 2009). Research shows that hope in adolescents is positively related to areas of psychological adjustment, such as global life satisfaction (Valle, Huebner, & Suldo, 2004) and higher levels of academic achievement (Rand & Cheavens, 2009). Mississippi adolescents are faced with unique challenges, such as problems with educational achievement (Ladner & Myslinski, 2013) and teen pregnancy (National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 2013). This study examined hope and resilience, a related construct, among adolescents in Mississippi within the following three counties: Coahoma, DeSoto, and Lafayette. When exploring hope in North Mississippi, it was found that males demonstrated higher levels of hope, resilience, and self-esteem than did females in this sample; in regards to ethnicity differences, African-Americans reported higher levels of hope than did Caucasians. No differences were found between counties in regards to hope or resilience in this sample. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D. in Psychology

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Year dc:date.available

2016

Author dc:creator

• Schultz, Kristie Vail

Contributors dc:contributor

• Karen A. Christoff
• Debra J. Moore
• Scott A. Gustafson

• adolescents
• hope
• Mississippi
• resilience
• Clinical Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/1518

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:egrove.olemiss.edu:etd-2517