Hope as a meaningful emotion: Hope, positive affect, and meaning in life.

= 2,312) examined the emotion of hope as a unique and robust predictor of meaning in life. In cross-sectional data (Studies 1-2), affective hope predicted greater meaning, controlling for other positive affect, and agency/pathways, in the majority of White U.S. samples. Utilizing a daily diary (Study 3), daily hope predicted daily meaning independent of positive emotions, in a Chinese sample. A five-wave longitudinal design (Study 4) replicated Study 3, demonstrating that hope was the only positive emotion to predict meaning in life in future waves. Finally, two experiments tested whether hopeful feelings would explain the effects of cheerful (vs. sadness) mood inductions (Study 5) or hopeful (vs. hopeless) mood inductions (Study 6) on meaning in life. Although in neither study did manipulations directly affect meaning in life, hopeful feelings showed significant indirect effects explaining the condition effects on meaning in life. The present studies support that feeling hopeful contributes to the sense that life is meaningful, controlling for other positive feelings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).