Beyond the Role of Interpersonal Violence in Predicting Negative Affective Conditions in Adults: An Examination of Hope Components in Chinese College Students

Abstract

With the growth of positive psychology during the past two decades, increased research has been focused on identifying human virtues that not only foster well-being but also act as positive processes that mitigate the impact of life adversities. Thus, it is useful to examine how positive processes, such as hope, may impact individuals’ psychological adjustment following adversities. This study investigated the relationships among interpersonal violence, hope, as a key human strength, and negative affect conditions in a large sample ( N = 737) of Chinese male and female ( Nfemale = 409) college students. Participants completed measures assessing prior exposure to interpersonal violence, levels of both hope components (i.e., agency and pathways), negative affect, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation. Results from correlational analyses showed that exposure to interpersonal violence was positively and hope was negatively correlated with negative affective conditions. However, hope agency was more strongly correlated with those outcomes than hope pathways. In addition, three separate hierarchical regression analyses indicated that after accounting for demographics (i.e., age and sex) and interpersonal violence, within hope components, only hope agency remained as strong concurrent predictors of negative affective conditions. The present findings in this Chinese sample are consistent with those obtained from Turkey and the United States samples, adding evidence to the more robust role of hope, and hope agency in particular, in predicting negative psychological adjustment associated with interpersonal violence. Efforts made to address the absence of hope agency may be particularly important in future attempts to mitigate negative affective conditions linked to interpersonal violence among Chinese college students.