The role of hope in supporting purpose following childhood adversity

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) relate negatively to meaning in life in adulthood yet show resilience when it comes to purpose. Hope is a positive emotion that is experienced within negative experiences. As the feeling of hope and the experience of purpose are both tied to desired future outcomes, we predicted that hope would promote a sense of purpose, especially for people who have experienced difficult childhoods. Study 1 (N = 559) used a correlational design and found that hopeful feelings more strongly predicted purpose as ACEs increased. Study 2 (N = 665) experimentally induced hope (versus hopelessness) which led to greater purpose only among those with high ACEs. Across studies, the predicted pattern was unique to purpose, and was not found with coherence or significance, two other facets of meaning. Overall, hope appears to be a mechanism by which purpose is maintained for people who have experienced childhood trauma.