Hopelessness Research

Hopelessness has many negative consequences in society; weapon carrying at school, partner violence, anxiety, depression, self-directed violence, addiction, and more. Let’s take an in depth look at the research:

• Hopelessness is the leading predictor of suicide, and more closely associated with suicide than depression. “Hope is the bedrock of getting out of suicidal states,” says Jon G. Allen, The Menninger Clinic (APA, 2013)
• Hopelessness is predictive of both loneliness and suicidality, and there is no relation between loneliness and suicidality beyond hopelessness (Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior, 1996)
• Primary predictors of suicide include hopelessness and depression. (Association of Physicians, 2004).
• Suicide is the leading cause of death, globally, for teen girls (World Health Organization, 2008)
• Suicide rates in young girls ages 10-14 are increasing faster than boys, closing the gap (Jama, 2019)
• 1 out of 9 students are self-reporting suicide attempts before graduating high school, with 40% of them in grade school (Journal of Adolescent Health, 2011)
• There are direct effects of depression and hopelessness on suicidal behaviors for males, and direct effects of hopelessness, but not depression, for females. For both males and females, anxiety was directly linked to depression and hopelessness; drug involvement had both direct and indirect effects on suicidal behavior (Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior, 2005)
• In a recent study, 36% of adolescent girls in the US self-reported depression before graduating high school, 25% of girls in UK before age 14, and 70% of US teens age 13-17 said that anxiety and depression is the most critical issue facing themselves or their peers (Pew Research Center, 2019)
• A review of hopelessness and risky behaviour among adolescents living in high-poverty inner-city neighbourhoods idicated the following (Journal of Adolescence, 2003):
• Adolescents react to their uncertain futures by abandoning hope, leading them to engage in high levels of risk behaviour.
• Of 2468 inner-city adolescents surveyed, nearly 50% of males and 25% of females had moderate or severe feelings of hopelessness.
  • Hopelessness predicted of each of the risk behaviours considered: 
    • violent and aggressive behaviour
    • substance use
    • sexual behaviour
    • accidental injury

These results suggest that effective prevention and intervention programmes aimed at inner-city adolescents should target hopelessness by promoting skills that allow them to overcome the limitations of hopelessness.

Hopelessness is an independent risk correlate for adolescent delinquency and violence (Maternal Child Health, 2011):

One in four youth (25.1%) reported levels of hopelessness at least enough to bother them in the previous month.

Moderate-high levels of hopelessness exhibited a statistically significant independent relationship with a range of violence-related outcomes for youth subgroups:

• delinquent behavior
• weapon carrying on school property
• all forms of self-directed violence.

Relationships between hopelessness and interpersonal and intimate partner violence suggest a greater contribution by poor affective functioning for some groups.

Interventions designed to reduce youth violence perpetration may benefit from increased strategies to address youth hopelessness as well as youth mental health in general.

Percentages for lesbian, gay, or bisexual students that experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness (63.0%) and students not sure of their sexual identity with hopelessness (46.4%) as compared to heterosexual students percentages (27.5%) (CDC, 2018)

The Role of Hope in Buffering the Impact of Hopelessness on Suicidal Ideation (PLoS One, 2015)

Identifying the Precursors to Indian Youth Suicide; Helplessness, Hopelessness, and Despair (American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 1999)

Childhood Emotional Abuse and Risk for Hopelessness and Depressive Symptoms During Adolescence (Journal of Emotional Abuse, 2008)

The relation between bullying, victimization, and adolescents’ level of hopelessness (Journal of Adolescence, 2012)

Why are so many Teens Depressed? (PsychCentral, 2018)

Hopelessness and Mortality: In a study of Hope and mortality, 29 percent of people classified as hopeless had died, compared with just 11 percent of the hopeful (Psychosomatic Medicine, 2001)

Gender differences in the association of adult hopelessness with adverse childhood experiences:

Clustering of ACEs may have long-lasting effects by increasing the risk of hopelessness in adulthood, especially in women.

Increased awareness of the frequency of ACEs and their subsequent consequences, such as hopelessness, may encourage health care professionals to undertake preventive work in primary and mental health care (Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol, 2003)

The Economic Costs to Mental Disorders (EMBO Reports, 2016)

The good news? Through our program Hopeful Minds, we finding that Hope is teachable. And higher Hope corresponds to greater emotional and psychological well-being, greater academic performance, and enhanced personal relationships (Snyder, 2003). Research suggests that Hope is teachable (Rand and Cheavens, 2008), and that the greater the hope, the greater the level of well-being (Scioli, 2009).S Continue reading here about the Hope Research.