Hope, Context, and Equity: Existing Shortcomings and Implications for Future Research on Hope in Children

Scientifically, hope is a multi-faceted cognitive-motivational construct grounded in one’s ability to set goals and then identify routes toward goal attainment and feel confident in pursuing them. Researchers have highlighted the role of hope to promote positive outcomes for children, ranging from improving academic achievement to supporting mental health and serving as a resilience mechanism to adversity. Although the scientific base for the study of hope has been growing, there are still areas that need integration and attention, particularly to understand the role of context in hope development across childhood. Specifically, we briefly review the literature regarding the influence of hope in child development, highlight existing shortcomings regarding the lack of integration of social and contextual factors—which is particularly important in the realm of child development—and tie these shortcomings to theoretical approaches that can be integrated when examining hope. While we acknowledge important hope work to date, our aim is to spur future researchers to contextualize hope in ways that test and further validate hope as a key indicator of developmental thriving in research and practice.