Examining the integrated broaden-and-build model of positive emotions involving hope in a community sample of Argentinian adults: A selective test among victims of interpersonal aggression

The present study sought to provide a test of the integrated broaden-and-build model of positive emotions that incorporates components of hope (agency & pathways) as hypothesized predictors of life satisfaction in a community sample of 171 (137 female & 34 male) Argentinian adults who have been victims of interpersonal aggression. Results of testing for mediation, controlling for negative mood, indicated that positive mood had indirect effects on life satisfaction through hope agency, but not through hope pathways. Importantly, the direct effect of positive mood on life satisfaction became nonsignificant after accounting for hope. Thus, we found evidence for full mediation involving hope agency. Taken together, these findings provide further evidence for the importance of hope agency, but not hope pathways, as an important mechanism that might account for how positive mood fosters well-being in diverse adult populations.