School of Psychology and Counseling, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Teaneck, NJ, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2023 Jun 29;18(6):e0286531. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0286531. eCollection 2023.
Research in recent years has revealed the rate of premature and avoidable deaths from suicide and drug/alcohol misuse is rising in the United States. These are sometimes referred to as deaths of despair based on evidence that they are concentrated in relatively poor communities with less access to social resources and low labor force participation. The pattern was first noted in middle-aged White men but seems to be gradually spreading to other ethnic groups. As a first step in establishing a psychological response to this public health issue, the present article summarizes two studies that compared psychological variables to demographics as predictors of hopefulness. A number of intriguing findings emerged. Despite concerns about American despair and conflict, U.S. residents proved the most hopeful among residents of eight countries. Low-income Americans are particularly hopeful except for low-income Whites. Positive character traits and primal beliefs about the world generally proved to be better predictors of hope than ethnicity, financial status, or their interaction. A number of relationships were found between psychological variables and community demographics. The findings as a group suggest hopefulness is driven more by psychological variables than by life circumstances. It is suggested that psychologists could play an important role in the study of this topic by implementing programs intended to enhance hopefulness in impoverished populations, and by encouraging an intentional communal focus on the importance of enhancing well-being.
近年来的研究揭示，美国因自杀和药物/酒精滥用导致的过早和可预防的死亡人数正在上升。这些死亡有时被称为“绝望致死”，因为有证据表明，它们主要集中在社会资源较少、劳动力参与率较低的相对贫困社区。这种模式最初出现在中年白人男性中，但似乎正在逐渐蔓延到其他族裔群体。作为对这一公共卫生问题做出心理反应的第一步，本文总结了两项将心理变量与人口统计学因素进行比较，以预测希望感的研究。出现了一些有趣的发现。尽管人们对美国的绝望和冲突感到担忧，但与其他八个国家的居民相比，美国居民是最有希望的。除了低收入白人之外，低收入的美国人尤其有希望。积极的性格特征和对世界的原始信仰通常比种族、财务状况或它们的相互作用更能预测希望感。还发现了一些心理变量与社区人口统计学特征之间的关系。这些发现表明，希望感更多地受到心理变量的驱动，而不是生活环境的影响。有人建议，心理学家可以通过实施旨在增强贫困人群希望感的项目，并鼓励社区有意识地关注增强幸福感的重要性，在这一课题的研究中发挥重要作用。
