Date of Award

Fall 2025

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Eugene Huebner

Abstract

Previous literature has highlighted the character strength of hope to be a positive predictor of adolescent well-being and academic achievement (Marques et al., 2011; Dixson et al., 2017). A full understanding of the role of hope in adolescents’ response to low social support may be an effective method to promote more adaptive coping strategies among students and prevent negative behavioral outcomes. A cross-sectional moderation was conducted among 425 students from a rural high school in the Southeastern United States. Researchers assessed students’ hope, perceived social support from caregivers, teachers, and classmates, as well as externalizing and internalizing behaviors. The interaction between hope and perceived social support from caregivers and teachers was significantly related with adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing behaviors. The relationship between perceived classmate support and negative behavioral outcomes was not significantly moderated by hope. Additionally, Johnson-Neyman intervals revealed that perceived caregiver support was related to externalizing behaviors when hope levels among participants were extremely low or high. For participants with lower hope scores, perceived teacher support was significantly and positively related to internalizing and externalizing behaviors. In terms of implications, school professionals should make systematic efforts to implement hope-related interventions that encourage students to view failures as learning opportunities. Implementation of validated interventions such as PATH (Planning Alternative Tomorrows with Hope) are recommended (Pearpoint et al., 1993; Wood et al., 2019).

Rights

© 2025, Olivia Isabelle Pecho Pianpiano

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Available for download on Friday, December 31, 2027

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