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Hope and Optimism as Human Strengths in Parents of Children With Externalizing Disorders: Stress is in the Eye of the Beholder
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We examined hope as a potential resiliency factor for the daily strains of raising children with disruptive behavior disorders. In light of the motivational component of hope theory, initiating and sustaining effort toward goals (i.e., agency), we were interested in hope's relation to constructs addressing self-esteem, familial functioning, and stress. Two hundred, fifty-two parents of children with externalizing disorders completed self-report questionnaires. Significant associations were foundamong hope and parental and familial functioning indices (e.g., warm and nurturing parenting styles, cohesive and active family environment, adaptive coping strategies). Considering their conceptual overlap, we tested the unique predictive power of hope and optimistic attributions on indices of psychological functioning. Separate regressions indicated that hope significantly predicted psychological functioning beyond what was accounted for by social desirability, the severity of child symptoms, and optimistic attributions. Hope agency compared to hope pathways (i.e., perceived ability to generate strategies to obtain goals) accounted for the vast amount of variance in regression models. In contrast, optimistic attributions failed to predict any of the variables of interest. Treatment and prevention strategies are suggested with an integrated focus on both the disruptive behaviors of children and parental character traits.
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... One might expect that pairing fathers with positive messages would generate positive emotions in young people. Mothers are often perceived as more emotional than fathers (Eisenberg et al., 1996), expressing less hope and more negativity (Clark et al., 2000;Kashdan et al., 2002;Klimes-Dougan et al., 2007). Hence, one might expect that interplaying mother figures with negative messages would elicit negative emotions in young people more effectively. ...
... In this case, socializing agents like parents may inhibit or foster the expression of emotion (Klimes-Dougan et al., 2007). Although parental role often magnifies children's negative responses (e.g., Garside & Klimes-Dougan, 2002;Muris et al., 1996), parents can also bring hope to children (e.g., Kashdan et al., 2002;Prinsloo, 2006). These findings demonstrate that parental communication and message appeals can be triggering factors for children's responses. ...
... In family studies, fathers are perceived as better hope givers than mothers (e.g., Kashdan et al., 2002;Morgan et al., 2011). A hope message frame, per se, leads to enthusiasm (e.g., Ferrer et al., 2012;Howard, 2006). ...
Parental communication is still relatively meaningful in Asian families with hierarchical, vertical, and authoritative relationships. Meanwhile, children's pro‐environmental behaviour in emerging Asian nations tends to be passive, leading to a need for intervention from the closest parties, often the parent, whose familial role in green communication has not been examined. This study uses social learning theory to examine the interplay of parent‐like spokespeople and message appeals in affecting young adults' cognitive and emotional responses, which is expected to influence the ad liking and believability of green advertisements and switching intention to green products, such as eco‐friendly straws. A laboratory experiment was conducted with 240 subjects. The results showed that the frame of a father‐like figure conveying a hope appeal generated the greatest enthusiasm and argument quality for young adults. Mother‐like figures speaking a fearful message frame were the best generator for young adults' anger and threat appraisal. Ad liking was significantly impacted only by a mother‐like spokesperson who spoke a fearful appeal mediated by anger and a father‐like spokesperson who delivered a hope appeal mediated by argument quality. Young adults' willingness to switch to eco‐friendly straws was indirectly influenced by the interaction effect of a mother‐like spokesperson and fear appeal type mediated by ad believability.
... First, hope actually implies the absence of full confidence, and second, hope incorporates desire into actions, engaging imagination, thoughts, feelings, and perception in the service of fulfilling the desire. Not surprisingly, there is considerable evidence that hope predicts beneficial psychological functioning where sheer optimism fails to do so (e.g., Kashdan et al., 2002;Rand et al., 2011). ...
... To date, this idea of hope as a mental resource has been demonstrated mostly in contexts of adversity such as illness or crises (e.g., Felder, 2004;Stanton et al., 2002). Even studies of hope in the context of parenting have typically considered it with respect to stress and coping (e.g., hope among parents of children with illnesses or disorders; e.g., Kashdan et al., 2002). Less is known about hope as a resource within relatively normative (though still challenging) parenting situations and circumstances, like early parenthood. ...
Hope is a mental resource and a robust predictor of well-being, which allows individuals to better cope with hardship. Little is known about dyadic hope – i.e., hope serving as a joint resource within intimate relationships. We examined dyadic hope in a sample of 100 couples in early parenthood, a challenging though common phase in couples’ lives. Three months after becoming parents, both partners completed daily diaries for 3 weeks, reporting their daily hope, stressors, and three types of outcomes: individual, relational, and parental. Using multilevel actor-partner interdependence models, we found that greater hope (both daily and person-level) was positively associated with better actor and partner outcomes of all three kinds. Additionally, hope buffered various daily stressors. Our results show that hope is a personal and shared resource for couples in this pivotal juncture, and thus may constitute a target for future interventions.
... Existing literature has found that hope is positively associated with psychological wellbeing (Gallagher et al., 2021;Kashdan et al., 2002). Hope supports positive outcomes for both physical and mental health (Alarcon et al., 2013;Gallagher & Lopez, 2009) and is inversely correlated with depression (Chang et al., 2013;Mathew et al., 2014). ...
... The fourth is enhancing hope. Hope is seen by some researchers to be positively correlated with parenting skills (Kashdan, Pelham, Lang, Hoza, Jacob, Jennings, et al., 2002). "Connecting an isolated parent with one or two other parents as a strategy to increase involvement at home or school may be a promising avenue for schools that desire greater connections with families" (Sheldon, 2002, p. 313). ...
The absence of parents from schools is seen as an important factor related to the significant number of adolescents at risk of school failure. Effective parenting is known to be a key protective factor for adolescents at risk for school failure and other maladaptive developmental outcomes. While evidence-based parent management training models exist, their use has been limited by problems regarding recruitment and retention when services are offered through traditional means. We review the literature on parent involvement in schools, the effectiveness of parent education programs, and mutual aid activities. Logistical barriers to parent participation in parent management training programs and other school-related activities are examined, and a strategy using twenty-first-century technology will be described as a means to increase parent involvement in schools.
... This adaptive coping reinforces their optimism and emotional and financial support from other family members. It is then necessary to note that parents raising children who tend to be oppositional, defiant, and non-compliant, those who can set clear goals, believe that they are obtainable, and persevere despite the obstacles are likely to obtain good outcomes (Kashdan et al., 2002) The negative reaction characterized by worrying due to confusion and unclear understanding of ADHD consequently leads to maladaptive coping. Denial as maladaptive coping is a temporary relief from the burden of thinking too much about their child's condition or catastrophizing about it. ...
This study on the “lived” parenting experiences of the mothers of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder revolved on the challenges experienced by the mothers with an ADHD child; their initial responses after diagnosis; their coping strategies; its impact on their well-being and on family relationship; the protective factors to their well-being; and their needs. Consensual qualitative research methodology was used in the study. Ten mothers were the study's participants, chosen by the purposive sample approach. In-depth interview was used and data were evaluated to identify the categories and domains. According to the findings, the mother's biggest struggles are dealing with the child's scholastic issues, physical aggression, stubbornness, and financial troubles. The variety of experiences can be explained by the psychological process that begins when their child is given an ADHD diagnosis. The mothers’ appraisal of their child may be positive or negative, depending on the psychological processes. Healthy coping, optimism, improved family relationships, positive well-being, and early acceptance of their child are all influenced by parents' favorable assessments of their child's condition. Negative appraisal causes harmful coping mechanisms, frustration, poor mental and physical health, and limited social interaction. A psychoeducational intervention anchored from the Positive Psychology framework was proposed to enhance adaptive coping strategies.
... On the other hand, parental hope, optimism, and positive experiences with other parents may enable parenting skill uptake and lead to improved outcomes. Future studies will benefit from measuring the extent to which hope, optimism, and parent group cohesion predict response to psychosocial treatments for ADHD in adolescence as they do in psychosocial treatment implemented during childhood (Kashdan et al., 2002;Lerner et al., 2011). ...
The Summer Treatment Program (STP) is one of the most widely studied psychosocial treatments for children with ADHD and has been adapted for adolescent populations (STP-A). However, there is a discrepancy between small effect sizes of improvement in outcomes and high perceived improvement by parents and adolescents, suggesting that we are not capturing some treatment-related improvements with quantitative pre-post assessments. This study examines parent and young adult perceptions of the impact of participating in the STP-A. Using qualitative interviewing, 22 in-depth interviews were conducted with young adults with ADHD (ages 18–21) and their parents. Informants offered their perspectives of what outcomes they perceived as changing as a result of participating in the STP-A and (2) how (i.e., by what mechanisms) the STP-A produced changes in these outcomes. Self-concept, motivation, executive functioning, parenting practices, and connectedness (e.g., positive interactions with peers and mentors who could provide social support, and encouragement) were reported as key mechanisms to improving functional outcomes with respect to academic, social, and family functioning. Findings highlight that parents and young adults reported improvements in many outcomes and mechanisms that have not been thoroughly measured in past clinical trials of the STP-A or the children’s STP. Implications for improving assessment of intervention effects and intervention development are discussed.
This study aimed to discover the experiences and explored the unheard love (dungngo) language of 'fathers' toward developing parenting programs to increase fathers' involvement in the family.
Parenting provides daily opportunities for growth. Hopeful thinking provides many of the skills that parents need to successfully navigate parenting challenges. Hopeful parents think intentionally about parenting goals, create pathways to reach these goals, and find ways to stay motivated to use the pathways when challenges arise. Research suggests that high hope parents report better psychological adjustment to parenthood than low hope parents. They also engage in more active coping with parenting stressors and show high levels of emotional connection to their children. To date, research on hope and parenting is limited with the literature primarily focusing on parents of children with developmental disabilities and behavioral issues. This article reviews the literature on hopeful parenting, hope based parenting interventions, and the development of domain specific measurement of hope for parenting. Limitations of the existing literature and future directions for research are discussed.
The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of parenting training based acceptance and commitment (ACT) and filialtherapy on oppositional defiant disorder in pre-school children in Shahrekord and life satisfaction of their mothers. The statistical population of the study consisted of all mothers of pre-school children in Shahrekord, of whom 48 were randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group (each group was 16). The research instrument was Oppositional Defiant Disorder Questionnaire (Swanson et al., 2001) for children and Life Satisfaction (Diner et al., 1985) for mothers which were completed during three pre-test , post-test and 3-month follow-up stages. Data were analyzed using analysis repeated measure ANOVA. The results showed that intervention methods were effective on children and mothers' variables (P< .01). The results also showed that parenting training based ACT and filialtherapy was effective in reducing oppositional defiant disorder (P<0.01). At the same time, it was found, only that parenting training based ACT was effective in improving life satisfacion of the mothers (P <0.01). It was concluded that both interventional methods, especially parenting training based ACT, are effective for children's emotional behavioral problems and improving the life satisfaction of mothers.
Based on the conservation of resources theory and social learning theory, this study looked into the impact of parental childhood maltreatment (CM) history on their children’s aggressive behavior (CAGG) by examining the sequential mediation effect of parental psychological capital (PPC) and harsh parenting (HP). A total of 471 Chinese parents with preschool children reported on CM, psychological capital, and harsh parenting. Besides, children’s aggression was reported by their mothers. The results illustrated that parental CM is related to children’s aggressive behavior through the sequential mediation of psychological capital and harsh parenting. Interventions that reduce harsh parenting and increase parental psychological capital may prevent deleterious effects of parental childhood maltreatment history on child aggressive behavior.
Parenting and family stress treatment outcomes in the MTA study were examined. Male and female (579), 7–9-year-old children with combined type Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), were recruited at six sites around the United States and Canada, and randomly assigned to one of four groups: intensive, multi-faceted behavior therapy program alone (Beh); carefully titrated and monitored medication management strategy alone (MedMgt); a well-integrated combination of the two (Comb); or a community comparison group (CC). Treatment occurred over 14 months, and assessments were taken at baseline, 3, 9, and 14 months. Parenting behavior and family stress were assessed using parent-report and child-report inventories. Results showed that Beh alone, MedMgt alone, and Comb produced significantly greater decreases in a parent-rated measure of negative parenting, Negative/Ineffective Discipline, than did standard community treatment. The three MTA treatments did not differ significantly from each other on this domain. No differences were noted among the four groups on positive parenting or on family stress variables. Results are discussed in terms of the theoretical and empirically documented importance of negative parenting in the symptoms, comorbidities and long-term outcomes of ADHD.
The relations of dispositional hope to various self-reported cancer-related coping activities were examined in 115 college women. Dispositionally high- as compared to low-hope women were more knowledgeable about cancer, and this relationship remained when the shared variances due to previous academic achievement, experience with cancer among family or friends, and positive and negative affectivity were removed. Additionally, high- as compared to low-hope women reported more hope-related coping responses in four separate imagined phases of cancer (prevention/risk, detection, temporal course, and impact), and these relationships remained when shared variances related to previous academic achievement, knowledge about cancer, experience with cancer, and negative affectivity were removed. Hope is discussed as means of maintaining a “fighting spirit” for coping with cancer.
The influence of high versus low hope on problem-solving ability and on coping with stressful academic and interpersonal situations was examined in 211 college students. Consistent with Snyder's(1995) model, high-hope students were found to have greater problem-solving abilities than low-hope students. High-hope students were also found to employ less disengagement strategies than low-hope students for coping with stressful academic situations. No difference was found in the strategies used by high- and low-hope students for coping with stressful interpersonal situations. Separate hierarchical regression analyses indicated that hope was an important predictor of both academic and interpersonal life satisfaction independent of coping activities. Implications of the present findings for both theory and practice are discussed. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
This research sought to integrate C. S. Dweck and E. L. Leggett's (1988) model with attribution theory. Three studies tested the hypothesis that theories of intelligence-the belief that intelligence is malleable (incremental theory) versus fixed (entity theory)-would predict (and create) effort versus ability attributions, which would then mediate mastery-oriented coping. Study 1 revealed that, when given negative feedback, incremental theorists were more likely than entity theorists to attribute to effort. Studies 2 and 3 showed that incremental theorists were more likely than entity theorists to take remedial action if performance was unsatisfactory. Study 3, in which an entity or incremental theory was induced, showed that incremental theorists' remedial action was mediated by their effort attributions. These results suggest that implicit theories create the meaning framework in which attributions occur and are important for understanding motivation.
