Hope and Mental Health: An Investigation of Loneliness, Depression, Stress, and Hope in University Students amid COVID-19

Abstract

This quantitative study explored the relationship between hope, a psychological construct (Snyder, 2000), and college students’ mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic, as measured by their loneliness, depression, and stress levels. Analyzing survey data from a non-random probability sample of 257 college students, results indicate that hope was inversely related with loneliness, depression, and stress suggesting that greater presence of hope is associated with lower levels of such symptoms (r’s ranging -0.15 to -0.23). Noteworthy, hierarchical linear regression tests show that hope was significantly related to depressive symptoms in college students during the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly twice the strength of other predictors. Implications of the study’s findings for public policy, professional practice, and future research are discussed.