Hope is a powerful emotion that has been largely neglected by the social sciences. In this paper, we introduce a theory of hope drawn from multiple disciplines, including psychology, philosophy, theology, and medicine. Our integrative approach features four components: the attachment, mastery, and survival motives, as well as spiritual beliefs. In addition, we describe four different empirical analyses aimed at the development and refinement of a comprehensive set of scales for measuring state and trait hope.

The present investigation sought to distinguish hope from optimism in the context of a 10-wk. prospective study involving reports of health outcomes. Gottschalk's (1985) Hope Scale and Scheier and Carver's (1987) Life Orientation Test which assesses optimism were given to subjects, along with a health questionnaire. Ten weeks later subjects were given a second health questionnaire. To rule out potential confounds we included measures of neuroticism, depression, extroversion, and social desirability. After controlling for the effects of correlated confounds, we found that lower hope scores (but not optimism) were correlated with several dimensions of reported health, including frequency and severity of illness.

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