Crushing hope: Short term responses to tragedy vary by hopefulness

Citation

Fletcher, Jason (2018). Crushing hope: Short term responses to tragedy vary by hopefulness. Social Science and Medicine. vol. 201 pp. 59-62

Abstract

This paper explores the consequences of hopefulness when the environment changes. Much literature has documented the importance of a positive outlook in pursuing investments in health and education that pay off in the future. A question that has received less attention is whether a positive outlook creates resilience in the face of setbacks or whether a positive outlook may be a disadvantage in extreme circumstances, especially when there is a large mismatch between expectations and reality. This paper uses the coincidental interview schedule of the Add Health data (N = 15,024) around the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 to examine interactions with this environmental shock and previously elicited measures of hopefulness. The results suggest that increases in depressive symptoms following the attack are concentrated among those young adults who initially expressed the most hopefulness in the future as teenagers.

URL

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.01.039

Keyword(s)

Evolutionary psychology Hopefulness Mismatch Depressive symptoms Trauma

Reference Type

Journal Article

Journal Title

Social Science and Medicine

Author(s)

Fletcher, Jason

Year Published

2018

Volume Number

201

Pages

59-62

DOI

10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.01.039

Reference ID

9299