Hope – A Driving Force of Optimal Human Development
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| Year of publication | 2016 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
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| Description | The chapter brings the overview of several indigenous research studies aimed at exploration of the correlates and predictors of dispositional and perceived hope. The results suggest that dispositional hope in terms of hopeful thinking plays an important role in mental health and well-being of children, students, adults, old people, and also homeless shelter workers and clients. Additionaly, the Czech part of the international project Hope Barometer explored the role of hope in subjective well-being on a large sample of 1,400 Czech respondents aged between 15 and 80 years. We found that more hopeful people were more satisfied with life, maintained high-quality interpersonal relationships, and were also healthier. Perceived hope and meaningfulness turned out to be the two main independent (negative) predictors of depression. The results also show that people who participate in volunteering and charity activities can be significantly happier than other people. They tend to have more optimistic expectations for the future and experience greater meaningfulness and spirituality in their lives. Our findings suggest that the paths to happier life include hopeful and others-oriented mindset, genuine concern for the welfare of others, and altruism. Hope seems to be a driving force of optimal human development and a valuable key to the flourishing of both the individual and the whole society. |