A Longitudinal Examination of Locus-of-Hope, Need Satisfaction and Life Satisfaction Through a Serial Mediation Model

What the paper says

Hope, as positive motivational cognition dependent on pathways and agency thinking, is a powerful predictor of life satisfaction. However, the original theory was criticized for over-relying on individual efforts, leading to the extension of the theory by including external agents (family, peers and spirituality) as sources of hope—a concept known as external locus-of-hope. Although hope was identified as a source of psychological strength, limited data exists on how locus-of-hope, especially external sources, is related to well-being. Self-Determination Theory (SDT) is a promising framework for further investigation of the role of external agents -in addition to the role of personal resources- in goal-achievement. In the goal-attainment process, hope theory addresses “how” people pursue goals rather than “why” goals are pursued, which is the subject of SDT. The present study, by integrating these two perspectives, aims to investigate the relations among locus-of-hope, need satisfaction, and well-being. The longitudinal relations among internal locus-of-hope, external locus-of-hope (family, peers and spirituality), need satisfaction, and life satisfaction were examined with a sample of 247 students from Türkiye ( M age = 21.17). The findings indicate indirect effects of T1 family and peers locus-of-hope dimensions on T3 life satisfaction through serial mediation of T1 internal locus-of-hope and T2 need satisfaction. These findings underscore the importance of social agents in hopeful thinking and provide empirical support for integrating hope theory with psychological need satisfaction in understanding life satisfaction.