The Role of Hope with School Aged Children

Abstract

Hope has been defined as "the sum of perceived capabilities to produce routes to desired goals, along with the perceived motivation to use those routes" (Snyder, 2000 p. 8). Hope has the potential to influence several aspects of a child's life. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between a child's hope, quality of life, and spirituality. This research study explores how children utilize hope in their everyday life. Participants answered three surveys, Children's Hope Scale, KINDLr, and Youth Spirituality Scale (YSS) and drew their interpretation of Hope. A total of 23 school aged children participated in the study. Participants were in grades first through seventh, ages seven to twelve years. Findings revealed significant correlation between hope and quality of life (r = .571) and hope and spirituality (r = .422). Further analysis revealed significant correlations between Hope sub-scores, agency thinking and pathways, and Quality of life sub-scores. In addition, results revealed the agency thinking and pathways coincide with each other on several dimensions of a child's quality of life. Children's scores on the HOPE scale predicted spirituality, as measured by the YSS, F=4.55 (p=.05) and quality of life, as measured by the KINDLr, F=10.12 (p=.004). Children's drawings revealed numerous, positive, and diverse themes including kindness and compassion towards others, motivation/validation, on-going belief in self, healing/recovery, and, religious.