Relation of hope to self-perception

Hope has been defined as a multidimensional construct, comprising a cognitive determination to accomplish personal goals (agency) and the propensity to plan methods of achieving goals (pathways). This study investigated whether these dimensions of hope were related to dimensions of self-perception. Participants were 96 graduate students from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds enrolled in educational statistics and research methods courses. Correlations indicated that scores on Agency were significantly and positively related to scores on Perceived Self-worth (r = .34), Perceived Job Competence (r = .39), Perceived Scholastic Competence (r = .47), Perceived Social Acceptance (r = .33), and Perceived Creativity (r = .34). In addition, scores on Pathways were significantly related to scores on Perceived Job Competence (r = .34), Perceived Romantic Relationships (r = .33), and Perceived Creativity (r = .42). A setwise multiple regression indicated that scores on Perceived Scholastic Competence and Perceived Job Competence accounted for 21.5% of the variance in Agency. Also, scores on Perceived Creativity and Perceived Romantic Relationships explained 21.8% of the variance in Pathways. It is recommended that researchers explore the causal basis for relations between hope and self-perception.