Hope is one’s perceived ability to see a better tomorrow and the belief in one’s self that they can get there. Hope is a perception-based construct that has been found in several studies to be influential for the achievement of students at all levels of schooling. This dissertation consists of three studies that further the hope theory literature so that better hope interventions can be developed and used to increase the achievement of disadvantaged and minority adolescents. The first study is a validation of the Children’s Hope Scale (CHS), the most widely used measure of hope in schools. In order to understand more about hope and how to improve it, it needs to be studied at all levels of achievement. The psychometric properties of the CHS were previously only examined in general education samples, making the study of hope at the ends of the range of achievement difficult. In this study, the psychometric properties of the CHS were examined in three different populations that span the range of achievement: an academically gifted, general education, and academically at-risk sample. In addition, invariance was examined to assess whether CHS scores were invariant across the range of achievement and gender. Results indicated that the CHS exhibited strong psychometric properties and high internal consistency in all three samples, suggesting that the CHS was a valid measure of hope in those samples. In addition, CHS scores were found to be invariant across the range of achievement and gender, indicating that CHS scores can be directly compared across the range of achievement and gender.

In the second study, a theoretical framework for how hope may affect disadvantaged students is put forward and examined. In this study, it was asserted that the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and grade point average (GPA) may be partially mediated via hope. Kraus, Piff, Mendoza-Denton, Rheinschmidt and Keltner (2012) asserted and provided evidence that people from different levels of SES have different patterns of thought. More specifically, people from low SES backgrounds think more short term, as a result of their need to fulfill basic needs, whereas people from high SES backgrounds think more long-term, as a result of their basic needs already being comfortably met. With the Kraus et al. (2012) theoretical framework, it was asserted that SES might affect GPA via hope because those that were from high SES backgrounds might achieve more in school because they have more hope, they are able to see the better tomorrow and have more belief in their ability to accomplish that vision than the student who thinks in the short term and is unable to garner the same confidence of someone from a higher SES background. This mediational pathway was tested in two samples, using two different measures of SES. In both samples, hope was found to mediate the relationship between SES and GPA, indicating that hope may be a way to increase the achievement of disadvantaged youth.

In the final study, hope is explored in the school environment to better understand how it relates to demographic and various influential school variables. First, hope clusters were produced using cluster analysis as hope theory suggests that there are four different groups of hope. Using K means cluster analysis, four hope groups were created using pathways and agency scores. These four clusters were found to be valid and theoretically consistent with the four hope groups of hope theory: high hopers (students high in pathways and high in agency), high agency thinkers (students high in agency and around average or lower in pathways), high pathways thinkers (students high in pathways and around average or lower in agency), and low hopers (student low in both agency and pathways). Then, differences among the hope clusters across demographics (grade, sex, SES, and race) and several influential school variables (grades, perceived stress, educational expectations, self-esteem, academic importance, consideration of future consequences, academic self-concept, perceived life chances, and school belonging) were examined to get a better understanding of hope in the school environment. Results indicated that although there were several differences found across demographics, the only difference with a sizable effect was race. Results also indicated that the high hoper profile was the most adaptive profile in school, followed by high agency thinkers, high pathway thinkers, and finally the low hopers. Of special note was that the high agency profile looked very similar to the high hoper profile, indicating that the agency may be the most influential aspect of hope within the school environment and should be given more attention when developing hope-based school interventions.