Hope and Social Support in High School Students from Urban and Rural Areas of Ankara, Turkey

Abstract

The aim of present study was to investigate the role of specific dimensions of perceived social support from family, gender, and geographic area of residence in predicting hope levels of high school students. Additionally, the factor structure of Turkish Version of the Hope Scale was reexamined due to controversial findings in Turkish literature. The sample was composed of 737 students (407 female, 330 male) from two high schools in rural and urban areas of Ankara, Turkey. Data were collected by administering the Hope Scale (Snyder et al. in J Pers Soc Psychol 60:570-585, 1991), the Perceived Social Support from Family Questionnaire (Güngör 1996), and a demographic information form. The role of independent variables in prediction of hope was investigated via Multiple Regression Analysis. Due to presence of some suppressor variables in the full model, two separate regression analyses were conducted for rural and urban areas. In the regression analysis for rural area students, informational support was the only predictor of hope levels. On the other hand, urban area students' hope levels were predicted by love-and esteem-related support, instrumental support, and gender. Lastly, the factor structure of Turkish Version of the Hope Scale was examined through conducting a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to test how well two-factor model fit to current data. Results of the CFA indicated that two-factor model was confirmed.

The relationship of hope to self-compassion, relational social skill, communication apprehension, and life satisfaction

“…Four items measure agency thinking through responses to items such as, "Even when others get discouraged, I know I can find a way to solve the problem." This scale, and modifications of it for use with particular samples such as children, adults, and other sub-groups of the population, has been reported in the literature as a valid and reliable measure of hope (Chang & Banks, 2007;Hoy, Suldo, & Mendez, 2013;Kemer & Atik, 2012;Marques, Lopez, & Mitchell, 2013;Moraitou & Efklides, 2012). Responses in the present study achieved a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of α = .79, showing good internal reliability for the measure.…”

“…It is embodied in the "perceived capabilities to produce routes to desired goals, along with the perceived motivation to use those routes" (Snyder, 2000, p. 8). Pathways thinking consists of the strategies needed to achieve a goal and agency thinking considers self-efficacy and personal motivation necessary components of hope (Kemer & Atik, 2012). These habits of pathways and agency thinking develop over time as learned dispositions in a person's way of thinking and become mutually influential cognitive processes (Marques, Lopez, & Pais-Ribeiro, 2011).…”

“…Hope predicts high levels of life satisfaction (Hoy, Suldo, Mendez, 2013;Kemer & Atik, 2012;Moraitou & Efklides, 2012). Agency and pathways thinking predict life satisfaction better than reduced stress or high self-efficacy do (Bailey, Eng, Frisch, & Snyder, 2007;O'Sullivan, 2011).…”

“…Past experiences, encouragement, mistakes, reinforcement, negative feedback, social modeling, interpersonal anxiety, and self-construal all form antecedents to communication apprehension (Ayres, 1988;Honeycutt, Choi, & DeBerry, 2009;Merz, 2009). Hope, self-compassion, and relational social skill each individually predict life satisfaction (Gere & Schimmack, 2013;Hoy, Suldo, Mendez, 2013;Kemer & Atik, 2012;Mongrain, Chin, & Shapira, 2011;Moraitou & Efklides, 2012;Neff & Beretvas, 2013;Platsidou, 2013). These individual relationships are noted in the literature.…”

Predicting Hope Levels of High School Students: The Role of Academic Self-Efficacy and Problem Solving

“…Türkçe ölçeklerin alana kazandırılması ile birlikte, bir grup araştırmacı ergen grupları üzerinde umut değişkeninin çeşitli değişkenlerle ilişkisini araştırmaya başlamıştır. Bu araştırmalarda, umut değişkeninin sınav kaygısı (Denizli, 2004), üniversite sınavına giriş puanları (Kemer, 2006), zorbalık (Atik, 2009), siber zorbalık (Peker ve Akbaba, 2016), akademik erteleme (Uzun Özer, 2009), algılanan sosyal destek (Kemer ve Atik, 2012;Peker ve Akbaba, 2016), öznel iyi oluş (Şahin, Aydın, Sarı, Kaya ve Pala, 2012), mesleğe karar verme öz-yeterlikleri (Sarı ve Şahin, 2013) ve sosyal-duygusal öğrenme becerileri (Kabakçı ve Totan, 2013) ile olan ilişkileri incelenmiştir. Umut kavramının tanımlanmasını (Tarhan ve Bacanlı, 2016) ve umutlu düşüncenin diğer düşünme yolları (eleştirel, ilgili ve yaratıcı) ile ilişkini (Tarhan, Bacanlı, Dombaycı ve Demir, 2011) ve barış eğitimi programının lise öğrencilerinin umut düzeylerine etkisini (Sağkal ve Türnüklü, 2017) ele alan çalışmalar da bulunmaktadır.…”