Hope, self efficacy, optimism, and academic achievement: Distinguishing constructs and levels of specificity in predicting college grade point average
Abstract Research shows that Snyder's (1994) goal directed hope construct predicts college GPA. However, studies have documented relatively weak relationships between these variables, possibly because hope was measured regarding goals generally not academic specific goals. Additionally, most studies have not compared variance accounted for in GPA by hope relative to other expectancy constructs. In a cross sectional sample of 89 college students, we administer the Hope Scale, Domain Specific Hope Scale (academic subscale) General Self Efficacy Scale, Academic Self Efficacy Scale, Life Orientation Test Revised (optimism) among others. We test a path analytic model where academic specific expectancies (e.g. academic hope, academic self efficacy) have direct paths to GPA, and generalized expectancies (e.g. general hope, general self efficacy) have paths to these academic specific variables. A modified version of this hypothesized model demonstrated good fit. Generalized hope predicted academic specific hope and academic self efficacy, both of which then predicted GPA. Optimism and general self efficacy did not predict academic specific expectancy variables nor GPA.