“We have hope”: An exploration of hope in highly religious families

• Published date: 01 February 2024
• Author: Heather H. Kelley,Justin J. Hendricks,Joe M. Chelladurai,Loren D. Marks,David C. Dollahite
• Date: 01 February 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12937

RESEARCH

“We have hope”: An exploration of hope in highly

religious families

Heather H. Kelley

1

|Justin J. Hendricks

2

|

Joe M. Chelladurai

2

|Loren D. Marks

2

|David C. Dollahite

2

1

Institute for Disability Research, Policy, and

Practice, Utah State University, Logan, UT

2

School of Family Life, Brigham Young

University, Provo, UT

Correspondence

Heather H. Kelley, 102O Institute for

Disability Research, Policy, and Practice, 6800

Old Main Hill, Utah State University,

Logan, UT 84321, USA.

Email: heather.kelley@usu.edu

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore qualita-

tively the connections among religion, hope, and relationships.

Background: Both hope and religion have often been asso-

ciated with positive individual and relational outcomes.

Some research has found that hope mediates or moderates

the relationship between religion and various outcomes.

Despite the research that has been done to understand con-

nections between religion and hope, little research has

explored these constructs together in a relational context.

Method: Using thematic analysis and a team-based approach,

we completed an analysis of in-depth interviews with a large,

culturally and religiously diverse strengths-based sample of

198 highly religious families.

Results: Two themes relating to the religious antecedents

of hope were identified (religious beliefs and religious prac-

tices) as well as two themes that address the application or

outcomes of hope (hope in family life and the experience

of religious hopes). Several subthemes were also identified

and are discussed and illustrated.

Conclusions: For some families, religious beliefs and specific

religious practices play an important role in fostering hope,

and this hope was reported to enhance various elements of

individual and family life.

Implications: Results provide support for integrating religion

and hope into various individual and relational therapies.

KEYWORDS

family, hope, marriage, parent–child relationships, religion

Hope has been theorized to be a positive psychological trait (Scioli et al., 2011; Snyder

et al., 2005) and has been related to well-being (e.g., subjective well-being, mental health out-

comes, self-esteem) across contexts in prior research (Griggs, 2017; Pleeging et al., 2021;

Received: 15 January 2022Revised: 6 February 2023Accepted: 27 May 2023

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12937

© 2023 National Council on Family Relations.

466 Family Relations. 2024;73:466–483.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare

Yarcheski & Mahon, 2016). Research has shown that religious belief systems can often lead to

hopeful expectations that influence well-being (Callina et al., 2018; Snyder et al., 2002). Although

previous research has explored various connections between hope and religion, little research has

explored these constructs together in a relational (e.g., couple or familial) context. Further, lim-

ited research has delved into how religious hopecan influence individual and relational outcomes.

Thus, in the current study, we use a large, qualitative dataset of highly religious families. These

families were considered highly religious through both clergy and self-reported data on religious

attendance and adherence to religious practices and beliefs. Through interviews with these families,

we explore perceived antecedents and outcomes of hope within a religious–relational context. Out

of many potential definitions of hope, the one that best represents our use of hope in this study is

Scioli et al.’s (2011) definition of hope, which they drew from a number of disciplines, including

medicine, positive psychology, theology, and philosophy. Scioli et al.’s scoping definition of hope

included hope as a multidimensional trait; one of these dimensions was spiritual hope. In this study,

we looked at general trait hope along with religious/spiritual hope specifically.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Religion/spirituality and hope

Religion and spirituality are distinct but related constructs. Religion typically includes beliefs

and practices that are shared by the religious community, whereas spirituality generally indi-

cates more individual feelings of transcendence or connection to a higher power (for review, see

Zaloudek et al., 2017). In previous research, religion and spirituality are often used together or

interchangeably because of the difficulty in separating the two because religious beliefs and

practices often lead to individual, spiritual experiences and spiritual experiences can often

reaffirm religious belief (Zaloudek et al., 2017). Although our participants identify as religious,

many of their experiences are also spiritual in nature. As such, we have opted to include both

terms together in review of previous research and our research questions.

A systematic review of 40 quantitative studies that examined the connection between vari-

ous measures of religion and spirituality and hope found that 73% of the studies identified a sig-

nificant positive, relationship between religion/spirituality and hope; none of the studies

reported a significant negative relationship between the two constructs (Koenig et al., 2012).

This review is now a decade old, but it remains the only systematic review we identified that has

examined religion/spirituality and hope together.

In addition to research on the connections between general measures of hope and religion/

spirituality, previous research has also identified associations between specific dimensions of reli-

gion and hope. Krause and Pargament’s(

2018) national survey of more than 2,000 adults found

that the religious practice of reading sacredtexts was associated with increased hope (using a mea-

sure of hopeful optimism adapted from the LifeOrientation Test; Scheier & Carver, 1985)and

moderated the association between stress and hope. However, conflicting findings have also been

found between prayer and hope, with one study finding that petitionary prayer decreased trait

hope (Paine & Sandage, 2015) and another, using the same measure of trait hope (Snyder, 1995),

found positive associations between prayer and hope (Jankowski & Sandage, 2011).

Given the connections between religion/spirituality and hope identified in previous research,

more recent research has also explored whether hope mediates connections between religion/

spirituality and measures of individual well-being. For example, several studies have found

significant indirect effects among religiosity, hope, and depressive symptoms, in adolescents

and adults in primary care, with religiosity being associated with increased hope and hope

associated with decreased depressive symptoms (Aghababaei et al., 2016; Chang et al., 2013,

2016; Rose et al., 2018).

HOPE IN RELIGIOUS FAMILIES467