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Hope as Mediator Between Teacher–Student Relationships and Life Satisfaction Among Chinese Adolescents: A Between- and Within-Person Effects Analysis

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Journal of Happiness Studies
Authors:
Qian Nie at Southwest University; University of California, Berkeley
Qian Nie
  • Southwest University; University of California, Berkeley
Zhaojun Teng at Southwest University in Chongqing
Zhaojun Teng
George G Bear at University of Delaware
George G Bear
Cheng Guo at Central China Normal University
Cheng Guo
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Life satisfaction is a critical indicator of student development. Although several longitudinal studies have examined the predictors of life satisfaction, this study has several unique strengths. First, it examines hope (i.e., a positive motivation and power for success and happiness) as a possible mediator variable. Second, it separates between-person effects (i.e., people with hope perceive higher life satisfaction than those who are less hope) and within-person effects (i.e., a hope person perceived higher life satisfaction over time). Participants were 836 Chinese adolescents aged 13–18 years (M = 15.89, SD = 0.68, 59.2% boys). Multilevel statistical models were used to disaggregate between- and within-person effects. Results showed that teacher-student relationships were positively associated with hope and life satisfaction and that hope was positively associated with life satisfaction. These associations were significant both at one point in time (between-person effect) and over time (within-person effect). Moreover, at both the between- and within-person levels hope was found to be a significant mediator of the association between teacher-student relationships and life satisfaction. That is, within a given individual, a more favorable perceived teacher-student relationship at a given time point was a significant positive predictor of hope for that individual, and in turn, hope was associated with significantly greater life satisfaction at that particular time point. Identification of hope as an explanatory mechanism in the association between teacher-student relationships and life satisfaction in Chinese adolescents provides a potential target for interventions to improve students’ well-being.
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Vol.:(0123456789)
Journal of Happiness Studies (2019) 20:2367–2383
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-018-0052-6
1 3
RESEARCH PAPER
Hope asMediator Between Teacher–Student Relationships
andLife Satisfaction Among Chinese Adolescents:
ABetween‑ andWithin‑Person Eects Analysis
QianNie1· ZhaojunTeng1 · GeorgeG.Bear2· ChengGuo1· YanlingLiu1·
DajunZhang1
Published online: 29 October 2018
© Springer Nature B.V. 2018
Abstract
Life satisfaction is a critical indicator of student development. Although several longitudi-
nal studies have examined the predictors of life satisfaction, this study has several unique
strengths. First, it examines hope (i.e., a positive motivation and power for success and
happiness) as a possible mediator variable. Second, it separates between-person effects
(i.e., people with hope perceive higher life satisfaction than those who are less hope) and
within-person effects (i.e., a person with hope perceives higher life satisfaction over time).
Participants were 1108 Chinese adolescents aged 14–18 years (M = 15.89, SD = 0.68,
57.7% boys). Multilevel statistical models were used to disaggregate between- and within-
person effects. Results showed that teacher–student relationships were positively associated
with hope and life satisfaction and that hope was positively associated with life satisfaction.
These associations were significant both at one point in time (between-person effect) and
over time (within-person effect). Moreover, at both the between- and within-person levels
hope was found to be a significant mediator of the association between teacher–student
relationships and life satisfaction. That is, within a given individual, a more favorable per-
ceived teacher–student relationship at a given time point was a significant positive predic-
tor of hope for that individual, and in turn, hope was associated with significantly greater
life satisfaction at that particular time point. Identification of hope as an explanatory
mechanism in the association between teacher–student relationships and life satisfaction
in Chinese adolescents provides a potential target for interventions to improve students’
well-being.
Keywords Teacher–student relationship· Hope· Life satisfaction· Between-person
effects· Within-person effects
* Zhaojun Teng
tzj450@email.swu.edu.cn
* Dajun Zhang
zhangdj@swu.edu.cn
1 Research Center ofMental Health Education, Faculty ofPsychology, Southwest University, No 2,
Tiansheng Road, Beibei District, Chongqing, China
2 School ofEducation, University ofDelaware, Willard Hall Education Building, Newark,
DE19716, USA
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
... Moreover, according to Attachment theory, when the relationship is positive, students perceive their teachers as supportive and caring, which promotes hope through greater feelings of security, less stress, and greater engagement in learning (Ahnert et al., 2012;Bowlby, 1969). Consistent with this theory, empirical studies have found that teacher-student relationships are positively associated with hope, and this association is significant both at one point in time and over time (Nie et al., 2019). In all, there is considerable evidence that teacher-student relationships and hope are correlated and significantly positively correlated over time. ...
... In all, there is considerable evidence that teacher-student relationships and hope are correlated and significantly positively correlated over time. However, previous studies in this area mainly focus on hope as a mediating variable of environmental influence on individual development (Demirci, 2020;Nie et al., 2019), and few studies focus on the underlying mechanisms through which teacher-student relationships affect hope of rural adolescents, which is not conducive to the effective development of targeted intervention work. ...
... As hypothesized, we found that harmonious teacher-student relationships positively affected adolescents' hope, which is consistent with previous results (Nie et al., 2019). The reasons could be as follows: on the one hand, as a relationship resource for students learning at school, the positive relationship between teachers and students can create a harmonious learning atmosphere for students, and effectively motivate students to set learning goals and promote learning behaviours (Shi et al., 2022). ...
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... For instance, Ekinci and Koc (2023) found that hope positively predicted life satisfaction among university students. Similar results have been found among adolescents (Bronk et al. 2009;Nie et al. 2018), early to middle-aged adults (Bronk et al. 2009), and older adults (Chan, Fung, and Huang 2023). However, these studies were also based on Snyder's (1995) theory and examined hope from the cognitive and motivational perspectives. ...
The Central Role of Daily Hopeful Feelings in Predicting Well‐Being: A Network Perspective
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Objective Hope is associated with many positive outcomes. However, most research on hope has focused on its cognitive aspect, with few studies examining the affective aspect. To further clarify the nature of hope and its association with well‐being, this study examined the relationship between the affective aspect of hope—namely, hopeful feelings—and various aspects of well‐being. Method A daily diary analysis was conducted with 187 Chinese adults (mean age = 28.17 ± 5.56). Hopeful feelings and affective (positive and negative emotions), eudaimonic (meaning in life), and evaluative (life satisfaction) aspects of well‐being were assessed twice per day (morning and night) for 14 consecutive days. A multilevel vector autoregressive model was used to investigate the temporal, contemporaneous, and between‐person networks of hopeful feelings with positive emotion and well‐being. Results Hopeful feelings had the strongest outstrength in the temporal networks and were the most central node in the between‐person networks. In addition, hopeful feelings exhibited significant cross‐lagged predictive roles on all the well‐being nodes except negative emotion. Conclusions These findings revealed a close association between hopeful feelings and well‐being, with hopeful feelings predicting various aspects of daily well‐being. Future interventions to improve well‐being should focus on the enrichment of daily hopeful feelings.
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... A sense of hope mediates the relationship between bullying and students' emotional difficulties [41]. The sense of hope can alleviate the negative effects of bullying victimization and improve students' adaptability and subjective well-being [42,43]. A sense of hope helps to reduce individual loneliness [44] and enhance individual life satisfaction and subjective well-being [45]. ...
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Compared with traditional forms of bullying (e.g., physical bullying, verbal bullying), cyberbullying victimization can bring heavy psychological damage to the victim of bullying. Studies have found that cyberbullying victimization leads to higher levels of depression and causes anger and emotional problems. Nevertheless, existing studies mainly focus on traditional bullying while affording scant consideration to the longitudinal impact of cyberbullying on mental well-being. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of cyberbullying victimization on middle school students’ loneliness while simultaneously investigating the mediating role of perceived social support and the moderating role of feelings of hope. A total of 583 middle school students were surveyed using four self-report questionnaires. Cyberbullying victimization predicts loneliness. Perceived social support mediates the role of cyberbullying victimization in influencing cyberbullying. Sense of hope moderated the direct pathway and the second half of the mediating role pathway. First, many mediating and moderating variables of cyberbullying victimization affect loneliness, and different mediating and moderating variables can be studied in the future. Second, future studies could expand this study’s sample to validate the results of this study. Third, this study only collected data at two time points, and future studies could collect data at multiple time points. Cyberbullying victimization can increase loneliness over time. Perceived social support and a sense of hope can mitigate the effects of cyberbullying victimization on an individual’s mental health.
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... Several reports have shown female experience SWB better than male students in Spain [23] and Norway [24]. Contrary results have been found in Italy [25], Croatia [26], Norway [27,28], China [29], and Nigeria [30]. Others reported no gender differences in Hungary [22], Turkey [31], and Israel [32]. ...
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Though several studies have established the effect of gender and age on the sense of coherence (SoC) and subjective well-being (SWB) among diverse populations, findings have been varied and inconclusive. These inconsistencies have been attributed to the differences in sample characteristics, methodological and cultural disparities. Thus, the present study assessed the following: (1) gender and age effect on SoC, (2) gender and age effect on SWB, and (3) moderating roles of gender and age in the link between SoC and SWB. Through a stratified sampling technique, 724 selected high school students from secondary schools in Northern Ghana completed the World Health Organization-5 Well-Being and Sense of Coherence instruments. The results showed that female students exhibited higher levels of SoC compared to their male counterparts. Whereas younger male and female students showed no significant difference in SWB levels, older female students, compared to older males, exhibited high levels of SWB. Age significantly moderated the relationship between SoC and SWB. With the same level of SoC, younger students were more likely to exhibit higher SWB compared to older ones. The findings call for sustainable gender-and age-based interventions because students subjectively develop SoC mechanisms for improving their well-being.
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Perceived Stress, Hope, and Life Satisfaction Among College Students: A Two-Wave, Half-Longitudinal Study from Turkey
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Evaluating a longitudinal multilevel mediation model of self-concept clarity, hope, and subjective well-being in adolescents
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This study examined the longitudinal relationships among self-concept clarity (SCC), hope, and subjective well-being (i.e., emotional well-being and cognitive well-being). Specifically, we tested both the between-person and within-person associations of SCC with subjective well-being among 2,001 Chinese adolescents (age range 11–24 years, 42.9% males) during the first year. In addition, we examined the longitudinal mediating role of hope. Results showed that SCC had positive correlations with hope and subjective well-being both at one time point and over time. Multilevel mediation analysis indicated that hope could serve as a mediator in the association between SCC and subjective well-being, at both the between-person and within-person levels. Moreover, the model of longitudinal multilevel mediation was found to be moderated by gender and age. Our results indicated that hope could be an underlying mechanism for the longitudinal relationship between SCC and subjective well-being among Chinese adolescents, which provides a potential intervention target for improving adolescents’ well-being.
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The effect of career‐related parental support on life satisfaction among vocational school students
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The current study examines hope and career adaptability as two potential mediators, parent–child closeness as a moderator of the relationship between career‐related parental support and life satisfaction. A total of 521 vocational high school students responded to this study. The result revealed that hope and career adaptability independently and serially mediated the relationship between parental career‐related support and life satisfaction. Moreover, the moderating effect of parent–child closeness on career‐related parental support and hope was found. When students' parent–child closeness was high (vs. low), the indirect pathway linking parental career‐related support to hope to career adaptability to life satisfaction was stronger. This study enlightens parents should give career‐related support to their children and establish a close bond with children.
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