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The Relations between Hope and Subjective Well-Being: a Literature Overview and Empirical Analysis

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  • Emma Pleeging

    (Erasmus University Rotterdam)

  • Martijn Burger

    (Erasmus University Rotterdam)

  • Job Exel

    (Erasmus University Rotterdam)

Abstract

How we perceive the future can greatly affect how we feel in the present. Even a currently positive situation is hard to bear when we know the future will be grim. Indeed, previous research has found that more hopeful people are happier. However, both hope and subjective well-being are multidimensional concepts comprising emotion (i.e., anticipation and affect), cognition (expectation and satisfaction) and, to some degree, motivation. Since most studies include only one dimension of hope and subjective well-being, little is known about how different aspects of hope relate to different aspects of subjective well-being. This study aims to gain insight into these relationships by providing an overview of the existing empirical literature on hope and subjective well-being. Subsequently, cross-sectional data of a representative sample of the American population are used to further examine the relationship between hope and subjective well-being. Our findings from both the literature and our empirical analysis show that positive expectations are only weakly associated with all domains of subjective well-being, whereas cognitive and emotional hope are most strongly related to subjective well-being. This finding indicates that the more passive characteristics of positive expectations have less of an impact on subjective well-being than a more agentic hopeful disposition.

Suggested Citation

  • Emma Pleeging & Martijn Burger & Job Exel, 2021. "The Relations between Hope and Subjective Well-Being: a Literature Overview and Empirical Analysis," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 16(3), pages 1019-1041, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:ariqol:v:16:y:2021:i:3:d:10.1007_s11482-019-09802-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s11482-019-09802-4
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Travis J. Lybbert & Bruce Wydick, 2018. "Poverty, Aspirations, and the Economics of Hope," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 66(4), pages 709-753.
    2. İlhan Yalçın & Asude Malkoç, 2015. "The Relationship Between Meaning in Life and Subjective Well-Being: Forgiveness and Hope as Mediators," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 915-929, August.
    3. Foster, Gigi & Frijters, Paul, 2014. "The formation of expectations: Competing theories and new evidence," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 66-81.
    4. Sonja Lyubomirsky & Heidi Lepper, 1999. "A Measure of Subjective Happiness: Preliminary Reliability and Construct Validation," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 46(2), pages 137-155, February.
    5. Foster, Gigi & Frijters, Paul & Johnston, David W., 2012. "The triumph of hope over disappointment: A note on the utility value of good health expectations," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 206-214.
    6. Ed Diener & Derrick Wirtz & William Tov & Chu Kim-Prieto & Dong-won Choi & Shigehiro Oishi & Robert Biswas-Diener, 2010. "New Well-being Measures: Short Scales to Assess Flourishing and Positive and Negative Feelings," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 97(2), pages 143-156, June.
    7. Ruut Veenhoven, 2000. "The Four Qualities of Life," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 1-39, March.
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    4. Deldar Morad Abdulah & Bayar Mohammed Omar Abdulla & Pranee Liamputtong, 2023. "The lived experience of surviving from the Islamic State attack and capture in Iraq and Syria: An arts-based qualitative study with Yazidi young women," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 69(1), pages 117-133, February.

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