Determining the Role of Optimism and Hope Beliefs in Student Lives

Optimism and hope are a group of non-cognitive abilities and skills that increase the ability of a person to succeed in coping with educational pressures. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the role of optimism and hope belief in predicting the academic vitality of students of Payame Noor University in Zahedan.

A correlation research design was used to conduct this study. The study population consisted of psychology students of Payam Noor University of Zahedan in the academic year 97-98, 80 of whom were selected by simple random sampling. Data were collected using Shire & Carver's Life Orientation Questionnaires (1994), Schneider's Life Expectations (2008), and Hossein Chari and Dehghanizadeh's Academic Health (2012) and were then analyzed using SPSS-23 software. Pearson correlation and regression models were analyzed.

Pearson correlation coefficient showed that there was a positive and significant relationship between academic life with hope (r = 0.46) at 99% confidence level, but there was not significant relationship between academic life and optimism (0.05≤ p). Also, strategic thinking measures could explain 48% of students' academic vitality.

The results indicate the importance of hopelessness variables in predicting students' vitality in psychology. Therefore, students' hopes can be raised to improve their academic vitality.