Children’s Hope in South Africa: A Population-Based Study

Abstract

A growing body of research has provided evidence for the cognitive motivational construct of hope as a psychological strength, particularly for children in adverse social circumstances. In children, hope is defined as a set of cognitions focused on children's agency to contemplate workable goals, to identify pathways to achieve those goals and the intrinsic beliefs about their capacity to activate sustained movement toward those goals. Using data from the third wave of the Children's Worlds International Survey on Children's Well-Being, the study aimed to explore children's hope amongst a random population-based sample of children in South Africa. The study further aimed to explore children's level of hope across the nine provincial regions of South Africa. Data were collected using Snyder et al.'s (1997) Children's Hope Scale (CHS). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to analyze the data, with multi-group CFA used to analyze the data across provincial regions. The study found an appropriate fit structure for the CHS using the overall pooled sample. The mean score on the CHS for the national sample was of 4.781 (SD = 1.082). Measurement invariance demonstrated the tenability of scalar invariance, which indicates comparability across correlations, regressions and mean scores. Mean scores ranged from 4.511 (SD = 1.163) for the Northern Cape to 4.982. (SD = 0.974) for the Western Cape. Five provinces (Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, Free State, Mpumalanga, and KwaZulu Natal) scored below the national mean, while four provinces (North West, Western Cape, Limpopo, and Gauteng) scored above.

Afrikaans adaptation of the children’s hope scale: Validation and measurement invariance

“…The scale authors further established satisfactory test-retest reliability of .71-.73 (Snyder et al, 1997). Validation studies of the CHS in the South African context by Savahl et al (2016), Guse et al (2016), Manuel et al (2020), and Savahl (2020) have also demonstrated acceptable reliability coefficients of .82, .73, .86 and .80 respectively.…”

“…In children, Hope Theory is premised on the notion that goal-directed hopeful thinking develops in the formative years and is a requisite for the child's development and survival (Savahl, 2020). Children's perceptions and evaluations of their capacity to activate resources to respond to challenges and barriers are important considerations for hope in children.…”

“…Along with the considerable reflection and engagement concerning conceptual definitions of hope, there has been an increasing investment in empirical studies exploring children's hope using the CHS across low and middle, and high-income contexts (Savahl, 2020).…”

“…From the South African context, four studies are notable-that of Savahl et al (2016), Savahl (2020), Guse et al (2016), Manuel et al (2020), andSavahl et al (2016) aimed to validate the CHS among a sample of 1022 children aged 13-to 16-years in Cape Town. Using confirmatory factor analysis, the study confirmed a one-factor structure of hope, akin to findings by other authors (see Bickman et al, 2010;Dew-Reeves et al, 2012).…”

The relation between subjective well‐being and career aspirations amongst a sample of adolescents in low socioeconomic status communities in Cape Town

“…One of the most devastating effects of apartheid on the psychological well‐being of children and adolescents is the destruction of the “self”—an effect that is transmitted across generations (Benninger & Savahl, 2017). This manifested as a degeneration of the self‐concept, self‐esteem, hope for the future, optimism and aspirations (Savahl, 2020).…”