The hope construct, will, and ways: Their relations with self-efficacy, optimism, and general well-being

This investigation (N = 204) examined (a) the relations between the hope co nstruct (Snyder, Harris et al., 1991, Snyder, Irving, & Anderson, 1991) and its two essential components, "will" and "ways," and the related construct s of self-efficacy and optimism; and (b) the ability of hope, self-efficacy and optimism to predict general well-being. Maximum-likelihood factor anal ysis recovered will, ways, self-efficacy and optimism as generally distinct and independent entities. Results of multiple regression analyses predicti ng well-being indicated that (a) hope taken as a whole predicts unique vari ance independent of self-efficacy and optimism, (b) will predicts unique va riance independent of self-efficacy, and (c) ways predicts unique variance independent of optimism. Overall, findings suggest that will, ways, self-ef ficacy, and optimism are related but not identical constructs. (C) 1999 Joh n Wiley & Sons, Inc.