Positive Future Expectancies: When Hopeful Thinking Contributes to Happiness in Children

ABSTRACT

This research investigates positive future expectancies, particularly hope in children, which is comprised of agency thinking, perceiving oneself as capable of achieving goals, and pathways thinking, perceiving oneself as capable of discovering methods toward the desired goals. Two studies (n = 82) were conducted in the United States to examine the role of agency and pathways thinking in children’s trait and state happiness based on children’s self-reports and their parents reports of their children. In Study 1, dyads of typically developing children (M_age = 10.21 years) and their parents (M_age= 43.84 years) completed measures of hope and happiness. Study 2 extended Study 1 to include a diverse sample of children with chronic health conditions (M_age = 11.14 years) and their parents (M_age = 43.48 years). In Study 1, regression analyses revealed that children’s self-reports of agency thinking predict children’s trait and state happiness, p’s < .05. Contrastingly, in Study 2, regression analyses revealed that children’s self-reports of pathways thinking predict children’s self-reports of trait happiness, p < .001. Also, collectively, pathways thinking, agency thinking, and children’s age predict children’s state happiness, p = .025. In both studies, parents’ reports of their children’s hope were not significant predictors of children’s happiness. There also was not an association between parents’ perceptions of their children’s hope and happiness and their children’s self-reported levels. These findings elucidate the cognitive aspects of hope that promote happiness in childhood and advance understanding of the determinants of children’s happiness in the U.S.

Acknowledgments

We extend special thanks to the research assistants in the Cognitive Development Lab, especially Isabella Seip, and the families for their participation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2022.2159962.

Compliance with ethical standards

This research was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board at UNCW.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this investigation are available upon request from the corresponding author, S. P. N.