Small Laughs: Understanding Hope in Early Adolescent Girls

Abstract

Hope is tied to better outcomes across development; however, quantitative studies have shown that girls experience a significant decrease in their hope during early adolescence. Research that has been done on hope in early adolescence uses adult conceptualizations of hope and applies them to an adolescent context. This qualitative study sought to describe and understand the development and experience of hope for early adolescent girls experientially and conceptually. Photo-assisted interviews were conducted with four participants and transcripts were analyzed using Basic Interpretive Inquiry (Merriam, 2002). Experiences of hope common to participants suggested that hope has unique qualities during early adolescence for girls. The following four themes emerged: Experiential Hope, Hope and Identity, Hope in Relationships, and Hope Threatened; Hope Renewed. Implications for counseling and research, as well as directions for future research are discussed.