Poster #12 - Hope at Home: Longitudinal Associations between Parent, Grandparent, and Sibling Relationships and Adolescent Hope

• In Event: Poster Session 15

Abstract

Hope is a cognitive-motivational goal-related skill that can be developed and strengthened during adolescence (Snyder, 2002). Extant literature has shown that hope can aid in education (Ciarroci et al., 2007), mental health (Griggs, 2017), physical health (Rasmussen et al., 2017), and overall well-being (Valle et al., 2006). This boost in positive outcomes is essential for adolescents at this time in history, when a global pandemic has darkened horizons for many and shuttered educational and extracurricular pursuits. In line with the theory of proximal development, hope theorists (Snyder, 1995; Shorey et al., 2017, Callina, 2012) contend that positive connection with salient figures (e.g., parents, caregivers) can facilitate and/or strengthen hope in children and adolescents, however, this supposition is largely untested as longitudinal and family hope work has been minimal. Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate (1) longitudinal growth in adolescent hope and demographic predicters of such change (2) how mother, father, grandparent and sibling relationships differentially associated with hope across six years, and (3) whether associations were moderated by gender in a sample of 462 middle-to-high SES adolescents (Northwest U.S.; Mage Time1 = 12.83, range = 10.2 – 15.5; 53% female; 74% White).
A growth curve model with time-invariant and time-varying covariates run in MPLUS v.8 (figure 1; table 1) had adequate model fit χ2(272) = 391.00, p < .001, RMSEA = .04, CFI = .90, SRMR = .05 and suggested that the intercepts (boys: M = 3.69, p < .001; girls: M = 3.12, p < .001) and the slopes (boys: M = .01, p = .50; girls: M = -.03, p = .01) differed from zero (slope for girls only). Girls had a higher intercept, but significant decline in hope whereas boys’ mean-level hope was lower but stable. Notably, time-invariant covariates of income, family structure and household size were not significantly associated with intercepts or slopes, except larger family size was negatively related to hope slope for girls. Time-varying covariates of mother, father, grandparent, and sibling connection showed that across age, girls showed patterns of significant positive relations between sibling relationships and hope through early adolescence, which was then superseded by grandparent relationship for late adolescence. Interestingly, for boys, siblings (marginally) and grandparents were important for hope in early adolescence and then siblings became more influential in late adolescence (figure 1). Surprisingly, mother and father relationships showed minimal associations with hope for both genders across adolescence.
Results suggest adolescent hope development should be investigated by gender and that sibling and grandparent involvement in the lives of adolescents can have a significantly positive impact over and above parental support, although patterns differed. It is possible that parents provide a foundation for hope development in early childhood, but that more tangential but high-quality relationships sustain hope and maintain goal setting/seeking in the teen years. Adolescence is an important time to establish life-trajectory goals and secure hope in defense of hopelessness or mental illness (Alarcon et al., 2013). Our results evidence family networks as multidimensional support systems where adolescent hope can flourish.

Authors

• Anna Sellers Calley, Brigham Young University
  Presenting Author

• Ashley Jimenez Fraser, Brigham Young University