Positive emotions, hope, and life satisfaction in Chinese adults: a test of the broaden-and-build model in accounting for subjective well-being in Chinese college students

ABSTRACT

The present study sought to determine if the positive association between positive emotions and life satisfaction can be understood as a function of hope in Chinese. Consistent with the broaden-and-build model of positive emotions, we tested the hypothesis that positive affectivity, the disposition to experience positive emotions, would be associated with broadening hope agency, building hope pathways, or both, in a sample of 212 Chinese college students. Results examining for bootstrapped mediation testing with multiple mediators indicated that positive affectivity was indirectly associated with life satisfaction through hope agency, but not through hope pathways. In support for partial mediation, however, the association between positive affectivity and life satisfaction remained significant even after including hope components in the model. Some implications of the present findings are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Broaden-and-build model
• hope theory
• positive affectivity
• hope
• life satisfaction
• Chinese
• young adults

Acknowledgments

The first author would like to acknowledge Chang Suk-Choon and Tae Myung-Sook for their encouragement and support throughout this project. The fourth through ninth co-authors contributed equally to the present work and are listed in random order.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.