Hope For Children Research Articles

Refugee adolescents' future hopes, stigmatisation and mental health problems

Aim: In this study, it is aimed that refugee adolescents' hopes for the future, their stigmatisation status and mental health problems. Materials and Methods: The research was conducted as descriptive, relational and instrumental. Research sample of the study was refugee adolescents between the ages of 11-18. It was used the Adolescent Information Form, Brief Symptom Inventory, Internalised Stigma Scale for Children and Adolescents and Children's Hope Scale to collect the data. In total, it was excluded 78 refugee adolescents and conducted with 484 refugee adolescents. Results: It was found that refugee adolescents’ mental symptoms (anxiety, depression, hostility, somatisation and negative self) explained 54.6% of the stigmatisation they experienced. In addition, It was determined refugee adolescents’ mental problems explained 42.7% of their hope for the future. Conclusion: It can be said that adolescents' hopes for the future play a mediating role in the relationship between their psychological symptoms and stigma.

Impact of Covid-19 on Psychosocial Well-Being of School-Going Children: A Cross-Sectional Study.

The mandated closure of schools due to Covid-19 is likely to have a negative impact on school-going children. This study aimed to assess the psychosocial well-being of school children during the pandemic in eastern India. This cross-sectional study was conducted in the outpatient pediatric department of tertiary care teaching hospitals. Children between the ages of 4 and 14 were enrolled. The main outcome measures included the Emotional Symptoms Scale, Conduct Problem Scale, Hyperactivity Scale, Peer Problem Scale, and Prosocial Scale from the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), as well as the Children's Hope Scale. Out of 169 children aged 4-14, 104 (61.5%) were male, 140 (82.8%) were from urban areas, 66 (39.1%) had a family member who was a healthcare worker or frontline worker, and 12 (7.1%) had experienced the death of a family member due to Covid-19. Anxiety-related and depressive symptoms were observed in 81 (47.9%) and 70 (41.4%) children, respectively. Psychosocial difficulties with a 'clinically significant problem likely' were observed in 26 (15.4%) children, more common in males (16.35%, P=0.035) and older children (12-14 years). Children from families with healthcare/frontline workers, Covid-affected families, loss of job in the earning member, and uninvolved parenting style were associated with more psychosocial difficulties. The mean (SD) hope score was 22.46 ± 6.42 in children above eight years. The psychosocial well-being of school-going children is adversely affected during Covid-19, particularly in families with frontline workers, loss of job, and death of family members due to Covid-19. The poor hope score in children aged 8 years and above indicates an adverse impact on their ability to achieve future goals.

Looking a trojan horse in the mouth: problematizing philosophy for/with children's hope for social reform through the history of race and education in the us

looking a trojan horse in the mouth: problematizing philosophy for/with children's hope for social reform through the history of race and education in the us

The Hummingbird Project year 2: decreasing distress and fostering flourishing in a pragmatic pre-post study.

Multi-component Positive Psychology Interventions (mPPIs) in secondary schools have been shown to improve mental health outcomes for young people. The Hummingbird Project mPPI is a six-week program of workshops designed to introduce a variety of positive psychology (PP) concepts to secondary school-aged children in schools to improve well-being, resilience, and hope. The effects on mental distress, however, were not explored. The current study, therefore, was designed to replicate the effects of the Hummingbird Project mPPI on positive mental health and to also explore the effects on symptoms of mental distress. Secondary school-aged children (N = 614; mean age = 11.46 years) from a sample of secondary schools located across the North West of England (N = 7) participated in the study; the majority of children were in Year 7 (94%). The PP concepts explored included happiness, hope, resilience, mindfulness, character strengths, growth mindset, and gratitude. The results showed significant improvements associated with the mPPI in well-being (as measured by the World Health Organization Well-Being Index; WHO-5), hope (as measured by the Children's Hope Scale; CHS), and symptoms of mental distress (as measured by the Young Person's Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation; YP-CORE) from pre- to post-intervention. While acknowledging the limits due to pragmatic concerns regarding the implementation of a control group, the effectiveness of the Hummingbird Project mPPI on well-being was replicated alongside reducing the symptoms of mental distress. Future evaluation, however, will need to implement more robust designs and consider follow-up duration to assess the longer-term effects of the Hummingbird Project mPPI.

Adaptation of the Indonesian Version of the Children's Hope Scale

Hope in children has an important role to increase many positive aspects in life. Hope in children can also increase academic success. There has not been much research on hope in children in Indonesia. Snyder et al. (1997) made two hope measuring tools, the first is hope for adults called the Adult Hope Scale (AHS) and hope for children called the Children’s Hope Scale (CHS). AHS has been adapted into Indonesia by Novrianto and Menaldi (2022). Meanwhile, CHS has not yet been adapted into Indonesia. The purpose of this study is the adaptation of the Children’s Hope Scale into Indonesia with the Indonesian population as the subject. The research subjects were aged between 8 and 16 years according to the theory by Snyder et al. (1997), male and female, totaling 297 children. Data analysis was done using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with the help of Jamovi software. The results of the analysis showed that the Children’s Hope Scale can measure the hope of children in Indonesia (RMSEA = 0.15 [moderate fit]; SRMR = 0.04; TLI = 0.91; CFI = 0.94).
 Keywords: children’s hope, children’s hope scale, hope

Finding Hope in Children’s Books

Finding Hope in Children’s Books

Identifying the Relationship Between Strength of School Social Support and Level of Hope in Children from Low-Income Families

Identifying the Relationship Between Strength of School Social Support and Level of Hope in Children from Low-Income Families

Experiences of poverty-related family risk and internalizing problems in childhood: The mediating role of hope

This longitudinal study examined whether poverty-related family risk groups with varying family resource, parental, and relational risks differed in their children's internalizing problems, and whether children's hope mediated this relationship. A sample of 798 children from poor families (N = 798, Mage = 11.76, SD = 2.56) was obtained from six township public schools in China. Four groups were identified: education and involvement risk group, high risk group, parenting risk group, and family resource risk group. All groups differed in terms of internalizing problems. Compared to the education and involvement risk group, children in the high risk and parenting risk groups demonstrated higher internalizing problems, which was explained by their lower level of hope. These findings highlight that children from poor families are affected by different risk combinations, and hope may be a possible mechanism linking specific risk combinations with children's internalizing problems. These findings have implications for targeted intervention strategies.

Responding to Parental Requests for Nondisclosure to Patients of Diagnostic and Prognostic Information in the Setting of Serious Disease.

Learning that one's child is seriously ill can be devastating, requiring families to decide when and how to share information about diagnosis and prognosis with their child. In most cases, this disclosure is made thoughtfully and collaboratively with the medical team. Some parents, however, may be concerned that disclosure will take away their child's hope, cause emotional pain, or exceed the child's capacity for understanding. Faced with competing obligations of truth-telling to their patient and respect for parental wishes, pediatricians may be unsure how to proceed. This clinical report examines ethical duties and legal considerations, providing practical and culturally sensitive case-based guidance for clinicians to approach parental requests for nondisclosure of diagnostic or prognostic information.

The relationship between negative parenting styles and suicidal ideation among Chinese junior middle school students: The roles of negative emotions and hope

AbstractSuicidal ideation is a prominent public health problem among junior middle school students. Previous researchers have explored the influence of parenting style on adolescents' suicidal ideation, but few researchers distinguished the influence of positive and negative parenting styles. The mediating effect of negative emotions between negative parenting styles and suicidal ideation and the moderating effect of hope among Chinese junior middle school students were focused on in this study. 877 junior middle school students in Hunan, Anhui, and Jiangxi provinces in China were investigated with the simplified Parenting Style Questionnaire, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, Children's Hope Scale, and Self‐rating Idea of Suicide Scale. The theoretical models were tested through the PROCESS macro for SPSS. The results showed that: (1) Negative parenting styles had positive effects on suicidal ideation. (2) Negative emotions mediated the relationship between negative parenting styles and suicidal ideation. (3) Hope moderated the relationship between negative emotions and suicidal ideation. This study implies that we could start by improving adolescents' negative parenting styles and raising their level of hope to prevent and intervene in adolescents' suicidal ideation.

Hope, Context, and Equity: Existing Shortcomings and Implications for Future Research on Hope in Children

Hope, Context, and Equity: Existing Shortcomings and Implications for Future Research on Hope in Children

The Tree(s) of Hope and Ambition: An arts‐based social science informed, participatory research method to explore children's future hopes, ambitions and support in relation to COVID‐19

AbstractThis paper offers a new child‐centred methodology that explores children's visions of their futures, encourages self‐reflection and depth and shares children's voices with peers and researchers, as unbrokered as possible. This final stage of a longitudinal, arts‐based, social science‐informed project was delivered by partnering with schools in socially disadvantaged areas of Bristol, a UK city. Our two‐phase activity used a Tree metaphor to explore children's hopes, ambitions and support, looking forward to recovery from the COVID‐19 pandemic. The analysis combined multi‐disciplinary thematic and visual‐narrative analysis, and revealed diversity, intersection and individuality in themes that scaled out from the child and their family over different timescales. Themes included emotion (concerns; empathy), experiences (happenings, resources skills; aspirations) and relationships, linked to their recent experiences of COVID‐19 mitigation. The paper reflects critically on children's and researchers' positionality, and the complexities involved in developing research methods that encourage children's autonomy, agency and authenticity.

The Mediating Roles of Future Work Self and Hope on the Association Between Perceived Social Support and Depressive Symptoms Among Chinese Vocational School Students: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Depressive symptoms are serious mental health problems, which are harmful for adolescents' physical and psychological development. Limited studies have focused on depressive symptoms of vocational high school students, who are more susceptible to mental health problems than high school students. Based on the main effect model of social support and self-regulation theory, the current study aims at exploring two potential mediating roles of hope and future work self on the relationship between perceived social support and depressive symptoms among vocational high school students by a cross-sectional study. A total of 521 vocational high school students aged 14-21 (M= 16.45; SD= 0.91) participated in the survey. There were 266 males (51.1%) and 255 females (48.9%). The multidimensional scale of perceived social support, the future work self scale, the children's hope scale, and the center for epidemiologic studies depression scale were applied in the study. The results revealed that: (1) perceived social support, future work self, and hope were negatively related to depressive symptoms (r = -0.25 to -0.35, p < 0.001); (2) students who perceived more social support have fewer depressive symptoms (β = -0.22, p < 0.001); (3) perceived social support predicted a more salient future work self and then was associated with higher levels of hope, which in turn, was related to lower levels of depressive symptoms (β = -0.02, and 95% CI = [-0.035, -0.005]). Perceived social support was the protective factor against vocational school students' depressive symptoms. More specifically, stronger perceived social support predicted a more salient future work self, which promoted high level of hope, and ultimately decreased vocational school students' depressive symptoms. The findings provide enlighten implications for interventions on depressive symptoms among vocational high school students.

How does parental emotion regulation influence Chinese migrant children's resilience? The chain mediating role of self-efficacy and hope.

To examine the chain mediating role of self-efficacy and hope in the relationship between parental emotion regulation and migrant children's resilience, the study investigated 745 migrant children (mean age = 12.9, SD = 1.5, 371 boys) from four schools and their parents in Guiyang City, Guizhou Province, China. All children were asked to complete the Adolescent Resilience Scale, the General Self-Efficacy Scale, and the Children's Hope Scale. Their parents completed the Parental Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. Structural equation modeling showed that parental emotion regulation could not only directly influence children's resilience but also indirectly influence it through two paths: the independent mediating role of self-efficacy and the chain mediating role of self-efficacy and hope. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of how parental emotion regulation influences migrant children's resilience and provide important practical guidance for enhancing migrant children's resilience.

Unaccompanied migrant children and indebted relations: Weaponizing safeguarding

AbstractUK statutory guidance for practitioners suggests that indebtedness is an area where safeguarding red flags should be raised and action taken to minimize the risk of exploitation. Yet, our research shows that unaccompanied migrant children have complex indebted relationships, which can range from extractive to connective. Drawing on interviews with unaccompanied children, we show that these indebted relationships can include financial debt to smugglers, responsibilities to support transnational families, as well as social obligations to peers and others. Their accounts present a nuanced understanding of the taboo nature of indebted relationships, not to be shared with the practitioners in their lives. This is due, in part, to the potential threat of reporting to the Home Office, which might jeopardize their immigration status. In response to this weaponization of social care, we demonstrate how children turn to peer networks of support, creating their own alternative forms of social protection. In so doing, we complicate critiques of adultification, which traditionally highlight the ways that racially minoritized children may be treated as adults—to their detriment. In so doing, we show that because indebtedness is normatively linked to adulthood, unaccompanied children's hopes and fears may be rendered unsayable and therefore unsupportable in social care, all in the name of safeguarding.

Agency and life satisfaction in Bedouin children in occupied Palestinian territory: a cross-lagged longitudinal study

BackgroundBedouin children living in occupied Palestinian territory are at risk of developing trauma-related pathologies because of chronic exposure to political and military violence. Little is known about psychological wellbeing and life satisfaction in this group of children, or their coping skills and survival skills in adjusting to these conditions. MethodsOur longitudinal study aimed to assess the function of agency in predicting life satisfaction as a moderator for traumatic stress. We reasoned that the more that children show agency over time in activating domains of life satisfaction, the more they can be satisfied with their life and the less they will present signs of trauma. A cross-lagged path model (CLPM) was used to assess 143 children living in Bedouin communities located northeast of Jerusalem (area E1, Al Khan Al-Ahmar). The CLPM, a discrete time structural equation model to analyse panel data in which two or more variables are repeatedly measured at different timepoints, was run in January, 2019 (Time 1) and after 6 months (Time 2). We used the Children's Hope Scale (CHS) as a measure of agency, the Multidimensional Student Life Satisfaction Scale (MSLSS), and the Children's Revised Impact of Event Scale (CRIES). FindingsThe mean age of participants was 12·02 years (SD 2·05); 65 (46%) were male and 78 (55%) were female. Agency scores had a medium total positive standardised effect on life satisfaction (β=0·25 [95% CI 0·149 to 0·449]; p=0·004) and a small direct standardized effect on trauma symptoms (β=0·08 [0·139 to 0·450]; p=0·023). The indirect effect of agency on trauma was –0·04 (95% CI –0·119 to –0·101]; p=0·044). Life satisfaction had a small statistically significant effect on trauma (β=–0·17 [–0·484 to –0·191]; p=0·037). Statistically significant total standardised effects were found between agency, life satisfaction (β=0·25 [0·161 to 0·476]; p=0·010), and trauma symptoms (β=–0·13 [–0·317 to 0·203]; p=0·044) at Time 1. Similarly, agentic competencies were found to be more related to life satisfaction (β=0·14 [0·025 to 0·338]; p=0·047;) than to trauma symptoms (β=–0·10 [–0·543 to 0·036]; p=0·145) at Time 2. The inclusion of the cross-lagged paths increased the fit of the model significantly. InterpretationChildren are acting for their wellbeing, mobilising personal and contextual resources. Such agentic attitudes contribute to easing their lives under occupation and minimising negative effects on their mental health despite the prevailing chronic traumatic conditions. Children implement skills of resilience rather than yield to the negative effects of political and military violence. The more that children perceive themselves as agentic in activating life satisfaction, the more effectively they deploy their survival skills and resilience. FundingNone.

Hope for Latino immigrant youth: A longitudinal test of Snyder's Children's Hope Scale.

To examine the psychometric properties of Snyder's Children's Hope Scale (CHS) with first- and second-generation Latino immigrant youth, using item response theory, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and measurement invariance tests. Stress experienced by youth in 2020 has heightened interest in resilience factors such as hope. The CHS is widely used to measure hope but has not been validated for longitudinal assessments with immigrant populations. Participants were 233 low socioeconomic status first- and second-generation Latino immigrant youth (50.43% female, 62% U.S.-born, and 81% of Mexican heritage). Data were collected at two timepoints spanning 4 weeks. Rather than the original six-item two-dimensional scale, our results supported a four-item one-dimensional scale, with excellent model fit, strong invariance across time, by gender and generation status, good reliability (α = .81), and the expected negative association with stress. The four-item Hope scale is suitable for longitudinal assessments with first- and second-generation Latino immigrant populations and can be used for examining differences by gender and generation status in research and practice to assess youth resilience. This study underscores the need for practitioners and researchers to rigorously investigate the psychometric properties of a measure before its use with diverse populations.

Family and Friends Support and Hope in Chinese Adolescents: The Mediating Effects of Self-Esteem

Structural modeling was used to investigate presumed antecedents of hope in a community-based sample of Chinese adolescents. Specifically, we evaluated the mediating role of self-esteem in the link between social support from family and friends and individual differences in hope. The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and Children's Hope Scale were administered to 1,654 adolescent students (781 boys and 873 girls) from Chinese senior high schools. Social support from family and friends correlated equally with hope levels of participants, demonstrating the importance of both sources of support. Self-esteem fully mediated the relationship between family support and hope and partially (23.6%) mediated the relationship between friends support and hope. Results support a social-cognitive model of the origins of hope among adolescents. Findings also suggest implications for the design of hope-promoting environments for adolescents that extend beyond a focus on the individual to incorporate more comprehensive systemic components, including social support from family and friends. [Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 60(7), 39-46.].

Career-related learning in primary schools: a city collaborative approach in England

ABSTRACT A consistent criticism from the emergent literature on children's career development has been that career-related learning in primary schools has received limited attention. A particular gap in the literature is the application of careers theory applied to pedagogy and employer engagement within primary schools. This article examines an innovative collaborative approach based on research undertaken in seven of the most deprived Wards in Derby city, England and further extended to include 32 primary schools. The mixed-methods study provides insight to children's hopes and aspirations, teacher feedback and the role of business volunteers. Strengths, limitations and future directions of the approach are discussed.

Psychological Difficulties Mediate and Self-Efficacy Moderates the Relationship Between Family Cumulative Risk and Hope Among Chinese Children From Low-Income Families.

This longitudinal study investigated the role of psychological difficulties and self-efficacy in the relationship between family cumulative risk and hope among children from low-income families. The participants were 392 Chinese children from low-income families; the study extended for 2 years, and participants completed data that were collected with the following questionnaires: the Family Cumulative Risk Index, Children's Hope Scale, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire-Difficulties subscale, and General Self-efficacy Scale. The results demonstrated that psychological difficulties played a mediating role in the relationship between family cumulative risk and hope; specifically, family cumulative risk predicted hope of children via psychological difficulties. Self-efficacy moderated the relationship between psychological difficulties and hope. This moderation supported “a drop in the ocean effect”; the protective effect of high self-efficacy worked only when psychological difficulties were at low levels. When psychological difficulties were at high levels, the buffering effect of self-efficacy on family cumulative risk was gradually weakened and eventually lost.