The Development of the Multidimensional Integrated Hope Scale With Application to Quality of Life and Responsible Financial Behaviour

Kay Pozzebon

doi:10.25907/00176

The psychological understanding of hope has been limited due to the disjunctive nature of the research to date. This thesis aimed to explore the hope construct by identifying the factors that form the structure of hope. A broad review of the health and behavioural sciences literature was undertaken and instruments used to measure hope were also reviewed. In the first exploratory study (N = 303), the 12 most commonly agreed upon dimensions of hope identified in the literature were factor analysed. The results supported a 7 factor model of hope. The 7 hope factors were positive activity, rule based thinking, goal-setting, interpersonal relationships, external control, internal effort, and certainty. In order to confirm the 7 factor model of hope, analyses were conducted on a separate group of participants (N = 245). The 7 factor model of hope was supported and collectively the hope factors were called the multidimensional integrated Hope Scale (mi Hope Scale). The mi Hope Scale has added to the psychological literature by unifying and consolidating the quantitative and qualitative research to date. An additional strength of the mi Hope Scale is that it is a multidimensional model of hope with factors reflecting an emotional, cognitive, social, internal, and external conceptualisation of hope. The mi Hope Scale was further investigated by applying this conceptualisation of hope to quality of life and responsible financial behaviour. Using the same sample as the confirmatory factor analyses (N = 245), the mi Hope Scale and objective and subjective quality of life were assessed in order to determine the nature of the relationship between these two constructs. Results indicated that a bidirectional relationship existed and examination of the significant predictive paths revealed that the relationship was complex as the significant paths varied depending on the direction of the relationship. Goal-setting and interpersonal relationships were the only two mi Hope Scale factors with significant paths for the bidirectional relationship between hope and objective and subjective quality of life. The mi Hope Scale factor of external control was the only factor to not have significant predictive paths. The final exploratory study (N = 423) explored the role of hope in predicting responsible financial behaviour. The 7 factors of the mi Hope Scale as well as 6 financial variables (i.e., financial literacy, income, future orientation, materialism, and the money attitudes factors of retention-time and power-prestige) were tested in the hypothesised model. Results indicated that the mi Hope Scale factor of goal-setting both directly and indirectly (via income and the money attitudes factor of retentiontime) predicted responsible financial behaviour. Rule based thinking was found indirectly to predict responsible financial behaviour through the financial variables ofmaterialism and the power-prestige money attitudes factor. Future research directions could explore the similarities and differences between the mi Hope Scale's conceptualisation of hope and related constructs such as faith, wish, desire, and optimism. Furthermore, future research could investigate the application of the mi Hope Scale in the prediction of other areas, such as coping and adjustment.

The Development of the Multidimensional Integrated Hope Scale With Application to Quality of Life and Responsible Financial Behaviour

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