I am looking at the relationship between them and coping however I wish to think about it from a developmental perspective. Now I am wondering if the keywords I have will capture enough studies in children?
So is the question: "will children understand the terms 'hope' and 'optimism' as your study defines them?"? Please tell us more about your study hypotheses and planned design.
Actually the question is when searching for studies that have hope & optimism as variables with a population made up of children would the researcher call them hope & optimism? Or do psychologists use different terms. Does that make more sense?
As has been stated. These are multi-layered words that have VERY different meanings to 'children'. I think 'children' needs to be defined first as age is an interesting determinant on conceptions. Also we work with young people (7-16) in post-conflict areas in East Africa where using these terms has many challenges. So there is an inevitable historico-cultiural overlay.
Good luck
Tony
Of course, the age I would like to look at is pre-school years preferably. Ages 3-6 but when looking through my searches using my strings there is a lot less use of the key words then in other age groups. It may take some time and a series of systematic review and literature reviews to investigate the key words used within this stage that develop into optimism, hope and coping. Time & determination should give more answers. I think 2014 will be very busy!
Merisa,
Yes, that explanation helped me understand your question. You are performing a literature review and are seeking articles investigating relationships with the variables Optimism and Hope in children ages 3-6.
With these keywords in a properly formatted 'advanced search', you should turn up a number of relevant articles. Hopefully, a literature review or meta-analysis. Within these documents and their meta-data, you should be able to find related keywords to include in a future search.
At this point, if I may be so rude as to make a suggestion, I would recommend having a conversation with your institution's research librarian. They will be able to help you optimize your search parameters and introduce you to a wealth of resources that will make your investigation much more fruitful.
I wish you the best of luck on your journey of discovery.
I happen to have a copy of the Positive Psychology Handbook. Start with this article:
Roberts, M. C., Brown, K. J., Johnson, R. J., & Reinke, J. (2002). "Positive psychology for children: Development, prevention, and promotion. In C.R. Snyder & S.J. Lopez (Eds.) The Handbook of Positive Psychology (pp. 663-675). NewYork: Oxford University Press.
Assessments mentioned in this article (and good search terms for you) are the Childrens's Attributional Style Questionnaire (CASQ) and the Children's Hope Scale (CHS).
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