Child Development, March/April 2019, Volume 90, Number 2, Pages 344–358

The title for this Special Section is Children’s Subjective Well-Being, edited by
Ferran Casas

Hope, Material Resources, and Subjective Well-Being of 8- to 12-Year-Old

Children in Israel
Avital Kaye-Tzadok Asher Ben-Arieh and Hanita Kosher
Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Ruppin Academic Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Center

Few studies have examined the links among hope, material resources, and subjective well-being (SWB) of children
from their own perspectives. The article examines lack of material resources as a risk factor, hope as a human
strength, and a possible moderator regarding children’s SWB. The study employed a nationally representative sam-
ple of 2,977 Jewish and Arab Israeli children (ages 8–12). As predicted, there was a significant positive relation
between hope and SWB, and a negative relation between lack of material resources and SWB. Hope was found to
moderate the relation between lack of material resources and SWB. Furthermore, for 10- and 12-year olds, differences
were found regarding the strength of the relations of the variables, suggesting a possible developmental trend.

Subjective well-being (SWB) is defined as people’s
perceptions, evaluations, and aspirations regarding
their lives (Campbell, Converse, & Rodgers, 1976).
SWB of children has become a growing topic of
scholarly interest, relevant to psychologists, pedia-
tricians, pedagogues, policy makers, and society at
large. The study of children’s SWB has rapidly
developed over the last 2 decades (Ben-Arieh,
Casas, Frønes, & Korbin, 2014). Although initial
studies were directed at developing measures that
capture children’s SWB (e.g., Casas, 2011; Huebner,
1991), recent studies are aimed at a better under-
standing of what affects children’s SWB (Dinisman
& Ben-Arieh, 2015; Huebner, Suldo, Smith, &
McKnight, 2004). Despite such efforts, too little is
known about the factors contributing to children’s
SWB (Dinisman & Ben-Arieh, 2015). There is much
interest both in factors that contribute to high levels
of SWB and in vulnerability or risk factors that
might be negatively related to it. Two such factors
This research was supported by the Jacobs Foundation.
The Jacobs Foundation had no involvement in study design; in
the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing
of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for
publication.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to
Avital Kaye-Tzadok, The Paul Baerwald School of Social Work
and Social Welfare Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
Israel 9190501 and Department of Social Work, Ruppin Aca-
demic Center, Emek Hefer, Israel 4025000. Electronic mail may
be sent to avitalkayetzadok@gmail.com.
that have been separately studied in relation to chil-
dren’s SWB are hope as a protective factor and lack
of material resources as a possible risk factor.
Understanding factors related to children’s low
and high SWB requires attention to the risk and
protection framework, which has widely influenced
child development literature (Masten & Powell,
2003). However, child development literature and
SWB literature have, so far, rarely crossed paths
despite the possible mutual contribution. It has
been argued that researchers and practitioners inter-
ested in positive child development need to pay
explicit attention to SWB (Park, 2004). More specifi-
cally, in the child development literature, it has
already been shown that lacking material resources
is a risk factor entailing possible negative outcomes
to development (Bradley & Corwyn, 2002), whereas
hope has been found to positively contribute to
development (e.g., Sharabi, Levi, & Margalit, 2012).
Such literature has mostly examined child develop-
ment from adult-centered measures. Understanding
how such variables may be related to children’s
lives, using child-centered instruments, is needed.
The primary purpose of this article was to con-
tribute to a better understanding of such variables,
© 2018 Society for Research in Child Development
All rights reserved. 0009-3920/2019/9002-0002
DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13130

Hope, Material Resources, and Subjective Well-Being
by studying hope as a human strength that can
serve as a protective factor, possibly related to
higher levels of SWB, and lack of material resources
as a risk factor that may negatively relate to SWB.
The study further explores the interrelation between
these two factors, examining hope as a possible
moderator of the relation between lack of material
resources and SWB. These are analyzed among
Israeli children in middle childhood (ages 8–12)
who reported their SWB in the second wave of data
collection of the International Survey of Children’s
Well-Being (ISCWeB).
Literature Review
Children’s SWB
In the last 2 decades, there has been an increasing
amount of research on children’s and adolescents’
SWB (Ben-Arieh et al., 2014). Yet, much research on
children’s lives and well-being has until recently
focused on objective descriptions and has relied
mostly on adult perspectives rather than the chil-
dren’s subjective evaluations (Ben-Arieh, 2008). Only
in the last few years has there been growing recogni-
tion of the importance of subjective indicators when
exploring children’s lives and growing interest in
studying children’s SWB (Casas, 2011).
As noted above, SWB refers to people’s percep-
tions, evaluations and aspirations regarding their
lives (Campbell et al., 1976). SWB is commonly
addressed as a multidimensional concept, with a
cognitive dimension that refers to people’s global
evaluations of their lives, an affective dimension that
addresses people’s feelings and moods, and a psy-
chological dimension involving a sense of flourishing,
positive feelings about the future, and the extent to
which people feel their basic psychological needs
are met (Diener & Suh, 2000). Two types of SWB
measures exist: comprehensive unidimensional
measures of the person’s global life satisfaction and
multidimensional measures involving specific life
domains (Seligson, Huebner, & Valois, 2003).
The measurement of SWB among children is a
developing field. Although a number of measures
have been developed, there is controversy in the litera-
ture regarding which measure best captures children’s
SWB. Although preliminary findings with all existing
measures are promising for research purposes,
researchers have claimed that additional validation
work needs to be done with each of them to enhance
confidence in their validity (Casas, 2017; Casas & Rees,
2015; Casas, Tiliouine, & Figuer, 2014; Casas et al.,
2012; Gilman & Huebner, 2000; Seligson et al., 2003).
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345
The debated topics refer to, for example, whether
to use a single item or multiitems measures of SWB
(Casas, 2017; Diamantopoulos, Sarstedt, Fuchs, Wil-
czynski, & Kaiser, 2012), as well as debates regard-
ing the appropriateness of the measures for
different age groups and varied cultural contexts
(Casas, 2017). After analyzing the comparability of
three multi-item SWB psychometric scales among
15 countries using samples of 10- and 12-year-olds,
Casas (2017) concluded that for cross-national,
cross-cultural and cross-linguistic comparability it is
advisable to use models that include several SWB
psychometric scales rather than only one scale.
The scientific study of SWB has been of academic
interest alongside the remarkable rise of the posi-
tive psychology movement, which focuses on
human strengths and virtues (Seligman & Csik-
szentmihalyi, 2000). SWB is one of the core con-
cepts of this positive psychology movement
(Demirli, T€urkmen, & Arık, 2015) and is a useful
way of measuring children’s lives because it plays
an important role in the positive development of
children (Park, 2004).
Studies have consistently found considerable
variance in children’s SWB (Bradshaw & Richard-
son, 2009; Klocke, Clair, & Bradshaw, 2014). Such
variance calls for a focus on understanding which
variables are related to higher and lower SWB, as
well as identifying which groups of children have a
higher or a lower level. Lower SWB among children
may indicate special vulnerability and risk (Rees,
Bradshaw, Goswami, & Keung, 2010), and might be
associated with psychological, social and behavioral
problems (Park, 2004). Furthermore, children report-
ing lower SWB have been found to suffer signifi-
cantly more from bullying, family conflict, and
feeling they lack friends or money (Rees, Goswami,
& Pople, 2013). This study aims to identify variables
that might be positively and negatively related to
children’s SWB and find the interrelation between
them.
It has been consistently found that individual
factors, such as personal and demographic vari-
ables, explain a considerable part of the variance in
children’s SWB (Gilman & Huebner, 2003; Park,
2004). Within this group of variables, an interesting
subgroup is that of human strengths or internal
positive variables. This study focuses on one of the
most widely studied human strengths—hope—and
explores its contribution to children’s SWB.
Although studies among adult samples show that
hope is an important determinant of SWB (e.g.,
Peterson & Seligman, 2004), such studies are much
less common among children.

346 Kaye-Tzadok, Ben-Arieh, and Kosher
Another group of individual factors found to
explain some of the variance in children’s SWB are
sociodemographic variables (Casas, 2011; Huebner
et al., 2014). Studies have shown that children’s
SWB declines with age, especially from childhood
to adolescence (Klocke et al., 2014; Rees et al.,
2010). Another relevant sociodemographic variable
is gender. In some studies, girls exhibit higher SWB
than boys (Casas, Bello, Gonz alez, & Aligue, 2013),
whereas in others, boys report higher SWB (e.g.,
Bradshaw & Keung, 2011). Additionally, the ethnic
background of children may contribute to variance
in their SWB. Although the majority of studies
reported nonsignificant differences in SWB with
regard to ethnicity (Huebner, Seligson, Valois, &
Suldo, 2006), some have reported modest differ-
ences between ethnic groups (e.g., Bradshaw,
Keung, Rees, & Goswami, 2011).
Hope and SWB
Hope is a core concept in the positive psychol-
ogy movement, which calls for the examination not
only of human weaknesses and pathology but also
of people’s strengths, positive human functioning,
and healthy development (Seligman & Csikszentmi-
halyi, 2000; Valle, Huebner, & Suldo, 2006). One
major psychological strength that has received some
academic attention with children is hope (e.g., Valle
et al., 2006).
Hope is a cognitive set comprising a reciprocally
derived sense of successful agency (goal-directed
determination) and pathways (planning of ways to
meet goals; Snyder, 2000). Snyder’s theory incorpo-
rates three major components of hope: goals—any-
thing an individual has a wish to get or reach;
agency thinking—the tendency to develop and main-
tain motivation to meet desirable goals; and path-
ways thinking—producing possible ways and
planning routes to reach these goals (Snyder, 2005).
Hope has been studied extensively among
adults but only recently among children (Cedeno,
Elias, Kelly, & Chu, 2010). Snyder (2005) suggested
that hope is set by the age of two and that its level
is expected to remain stable as children move
through preschool, middle, and adolescent years.
However, few studies have actually examined stabil-
ity or change in hope levels throughout develop-
ment. Snyder et al. (1997) found no age differences
across their samples (age range 7–17), nor did Mar-
ques, Lopez, and Mitchell (2013) find age differences
in their longitudinal assessment of Portuguese
adolescents. In contrast, in a cross-sectional Turkish
sample, sixth graders were found to have higher
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hope levels than seventh and eighth graders (Atik &
Kemer, 2009).
The relation of hope to children’s SWB could be
twofold—as a direct contributor and as a possible
buffer. Snyder’s (2000) hope theory suggests that
hope provides a central pathway to increased SWB,
as it helps to initiate and sustain action toward
long-term goals. Indeed, goals and meaning are
particularly important to well-being, and people
with high levels of hope implement goals and iden-
tify means of achieving them (Litalien, L€ udtke, Par-
ker, & Trautwein, 2013). Recent studies among
adults have revealed that hope is a significant pre-
dictor of life satisfaction (Demirli et al., 2015) and
happiness (Alarcon, Bowling, & Khazon, 2013).
More specifically, hope has been shown to be
related to higher SWB in both cross-sectional stud-
ies (e.g., Gilman, Dooley, & Florell, 2006) and longi-
tudinal ones (Ciarrochi, Heaven, & Davies, 2007;
Marques et al., 2013).
The studies that have examined the association
between hope and SWB among children have
yielded some similar trends. As with adults, high
hope among children was found to be positively
correlated with global life satisfaction (Valle, Hueb-
ner, & Suldo, 2004). Valle et al. (2006) found that
adolescents reporting a higher level of hope were
more likely to report higher levels of global life sat-
isfaction a year later. In a longitudinal study, Ciar-
rochi et al. (2007) found that high levels of hope
predicted emotional well-being among high school
students. Similarly, Gilman et al. (2006) found that
youth reporting high levels of hope also reported
greater personal adjustment, global life satisfaction,
and a higher grade point average, as well as signifi-
cantly less emotional distress, than students report-
ing average levels of hope.
The second way in which hope can contribute to
SWB is by serving as a buffer when children or
adolescents are faced with stressful life events or
difficult life circumstances (Valle et al., 2006). In
other words, hope is not only helpful in coping
with “normal” circumstances but is pivotal in help-
ing to deal with the difficulties encountered in life
(Barnum, Snyder, Rapoff, Mani, & Thompson,
1998). Hope has been found to mediate between an
array of stressors, traumas and adversities and posi-
tive psychological adjustment among children who
have been exposed to violence (Cedeno et al., 2010),
and adolescents who have survived burn injuries
(Barnum et al., 1998). Valle et al. (2006) found that
hope moderates the relationship between stressful
life events and adolescent well-being among middle
and high school students.

Hope, Material Resources, and Subjective Well-Being
Considering the dearth of research among chil-
dren, it remains unclear how hope relates to SWB
and whether it can moderate the relation between
stressful aspects of children’s lives and their SWB.
One major stressful aspect of children’s life is lack
of material resources.
Material Resources and SWB
In the last few years, many countries around the
world are facing financial instability. Although the
state of Israel has not experienced an extreme finan-
cial crisis, not all of the population is enjoying its
financial stability. Among OECD (Organization for
Economic Co-operation and Development) coun-
tries, inequality in Israel is the highest (as measured
by the Gini Coefficient). Also, poverty rates are
quite high. In 2015, 19.1% of households were
under the poverty line (one of the highest rates
among OECD countries), and approximately one-
third (30%) of all children are considered to be poor
(National Insurance Institute of Israel, 2016).
Though widely studied among adults, the relation-
ship between material situation and SWB has rarely
been examined among children (Gross-Manos, 2017).
Even when interested in children, most income-
related measures have been adult centered, and
household income has been almost exclusively used
as a proxy of socioeconomic status (see a review by
White, Leavy, & Masters, 2003). Several scholars have
claimed that such adult-centered income measures do
not “tell the whole story” regarding the experience of
children in the household (Lau & Bradshaw, 2016;
Main & Bradshaw, 2012). This is especially problem-
atic when studying children’s own perspectives on
their lives. Therefore, efforts have been made to
develop measures to evaluate children’s material situ-
ation from their own point of view (e.g., Gross-Manos,
2015; Main & Bradshaw, 2012). Many of these efforts
have been based on relative measurements for evalu-
ating children’s material status.
Townsend (1979) was a pioneer in developing a
relative deprivation measurement. He theorized
that people’s needs are conditioned by the society
to which they belong. He developed a deprivation
index under the claim that basic needs depend on
customs and social activities as viewed by the
majority of a population in a particular society.
Townsend’s theories were advanced by Mack and
Lansley (1985), who proposed the term “socially
perceived necessities,” claiming that items become
necessities only when they are socially perceived as
such. More recently, attempts have been made to
draw on this approach with respect to children.
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347
Main and Besemer (2014) suggested defining chil-
dren’s material living standards as the “access chil-
dren have to resources which they can use, directly
or indirectly, to achieve a lifestyle that is in accor-
dance with the social norms of people at their life
stage living within their society” (p. 1449).
Following this view, in the past decade the use
of material resource indices to study children’s
material situation has developed significantly
(Gross-Manos, 2017). The Material Resources State
scale (Gross-Manos, 2015) and the child material
deprivation index (Main & Bradshaw, 2012) both
measure the material items children report having,
together with their subjective perspective regarding
money and things they have. Similar indices have
been used in large-scale studies around the world.
One example is the six-item Family Affluence Scale,
developed by the World Health Organization, refer-
ring to the number of cars, computers, and annual
family vacations in the household, as well as hav-
ing a dishwasher, a bathroom, and the child’s own
bedroom (Torsheim et al., 2016). A similar index is
found in the EU Statistics on Income and Living
Conditions (de Neubourg et al., 2012), and the
OECD’s PISA test, which bases its definition of the
child’s socioeconomic status on the reported lack of
educational possessions in the child’s household
(OECD, 2013). These new measures are child cen-
tric, developed with and answered by children.
The relation between lack of material resources
(or material deprivation) and SWB among children
has been studied only recently. Goswami (2014, p.
132) observed that material deprivation was more
influential than some personality domains, positing
that it is “one of the major factors of children’s and
young people’s well-being.” Other studies found
associations between SWB and the material depriva-
tion of children. For example, Main (2014) found that
high material deprivation was associated with signif-
icantly higher odds (4.4–14.5 times more) of being
unhappy, for all domains of SWB. The child material
deprivation index explained more of the variation in
SWB than conventional measures of material circum-
stances such as parental income poverty (Main &
Bradshaw, 2012). Similar results were obtained with
adolescents in Spain (Casas et al., 2013), Israel
(Gross-Manos & Ben-Arieh, 2017), England (Yin-Nei
Cho, 2017), and Hong Kong (Lau & Bradshaw,
2016). In the first wave of data collection of ISCWeB,
among over 30,000 children worldwide (aged 6–14),
lack of material resources was found to be related to
lower SWB (Dinisman & Ben-Arieh, 2015).
What might explain the relation between lack of
material resources and children’s SWB? Looking at

348 Kaye-Tzadok, Ben-Arieh, and Kosher
the social context of material possessions might be
highly relevant, as discussed by some scholars who
found that children frame the functions of items
within their social experience (Harju & Thorød,
2011; Main, 2013). For example, in Main’s (2013)
study, children discussed mobile phones as relevant
for “building relationships,” “fitting in” and “hav-
ing fun”; a television was needed so as not to be
excluded from conversations with peers; many par-
ticipants related the lack of game consoles to social
exclusion; and having the right clothes was impor-
tant for fitting in with friends. Main (2013) argued
that children’s social and symbolic aspects of mate-
rial belongings are related to their well-being.
To conclude, both the changing economic situa-
tion and the methodological issues involved in
adult centric measures, alongside some initial find-
ings regarding the relation between lack of material
resources and SWB, stress the need to examine
these variables from the children’s perspective.
Study Goals and Hypothesis
This study examines two important factors
which might be related to children’s SWB: hope as
a human strength that can be associated with
higher SWB of children and lack of material
resources which could be correlated with lower
SWB of children. Furthermore, given that young
children are quite limited in their ability to change
their economic situation, it is important to examine
what could possibly buffer its negative influence,
that is, to explore the role of hope as a moderator
between children’s lack of material resources and
their SWB. For this purpose, based on the literature,
we profer three research hypotheses and an
exploratory assessment
1. Hope will be positively related to SWB.
2. Lack of material resources will be negatively
related to SWB.
3. Hope will moderate the relation between lack
of material resources and SWB.
An exploratory assessment will examine whether
the relation between hope and SWB and between
lack of material resources and SWB varies accord-
ing to the age of the child (for ages 10 and 12).
Method
Data Source
This study is based on the Israeli sample in the
second wave of the ISCWeB, a worldwide survey
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of children’s SWB that gathered data from over
54,000 children aged 8, 10 and 12 from 16 countries.
The sampling strategy, measures, and data collec-
tion are explained in detail in the Introduction of
this Special Section.
Study Participants and Sampling
The sample was designed to achieve a nationally
representative sample of Israeli school children
from sixth grade (mainly 11- to 12-year-olds), fourth
grade (mainly ages 9–10), and second grade (mainly
children aged 7–8), with an aim of one thousand
children in each grade. Elementary schools were
used as the primary sampling unit. As a first step,
a list of all schools in Israel was stratified according
to ethnicity (i.e., schools for Arab and for Jewish
children). This was further broken down by reli-
giosity level or religion, respectively (three strata
among Jewish children; four among Arab children).
A third stratification was made by dividing the
schools according to seven geographical districts,
taking into account the proportion of the specific
population in each district. Within each stratum,
schools were selected randomly. The sampling pro-
cess yielded 120 randomly selected schools, which
were gradually approached until 40 school princi-
pals approved participation (while maintaining the
wanted proportions regarding the different stra-
tums). Within each school, one classroom was ran-
domly selected from each of the three grades
(second, fourth, sixth). In November 2013 the sur-
vey began and by June 2014 it was completed as
2,988 questionnaires were collected. The process of
data cleaning included identifying and excluding
cases with high proportions of missing data, and
identifying and excluding cases with systematic
response patterns. After data cleaning, the survey
dataset contained questionnaires from 2,977 chil-
dren. In the sample, there were slightly more chil-
dren in Grades 4 and 2 than in Grade 6. Hence,
weights were applied to the study population used
in the analysis, so that proportion of children from
that stratum in the population is equivalent to the
proportion of children in each stratum. Table 1 pre-
sents the resulting sample. Post hoc power analysis
was performed based on sample size and estimated
effect size. This analysis yielded power of .90.
Instruments
The ISCWeB directly asks children for an assess-
ment of their own well-being. That is, the survey is
based solely on the children’s own evaluations,
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Hope, Material Resources, and Subjective Well-Being 349

Table 1 5 items (of 5) among 8-year-olds (23.7% of 8-year-

Achieved and Weighted Sample by Age and Ethnicity (N) olds met this criteria) and lacking 3–9 items (of 9)
Achieved sample Weighted sample
among 10- and 12-year-old children (24.5% of 10-
to 12-year-olds met this criteria). Among 10- and
Age, years Jewish Arab All Jewish Arab All 12-year olds, the cut-off point for determining
greater lack of material resources was based on
8 677 327 1,004 646 239 885
the suggestion of Gross-Manos (2015), according to
10 706 317 1,023 722 267 989
which a lack of three or more items as indication
12 644 306 950 676 249 925
Total 2,027 950 2,977 2,044 755 2,799
for material deprivation. For the 8-year-olds, no
cut-off point was suggested in the literature, hence
a cut-off point that created similar proportion of
lacking resources, was chosen.

perceptions, and aspirations. For a full review of

the questionnaires, see the Introduction of this Spe-
cial Section. All questionnaires in the survey were
translated from English into Hebrew and Arabic
and validated by back translation.
Four main groups of measures will be described
for the purpose of this article:
Sociodemographic Data
Participants were asked to report, among various
variables, their age and gender.
Hope
Hope was assessed by the Children’s Hope Scale,
created by Snyder et al. (1997). The scale includes
six items, three of which aim to measure sense of
agency (goal-directed determination) and three of
which represent pathways, that is, planning of
ways to meet goals. Answers range from 1 (none of
the time) to 6 (all of the time), and by totaling
responses for all items, a final score is calculated. In
this study, internal consistency was high (a = .85),
similar to that reported by the authors of the ques-
tionnaire (a = .72–.86).
Material Resources
A series of yes or no questions were presented
to the children about things they may have: a tele-
vision, family car, computer, Internet access,
clothes in good condition, mobile phone, own
room, books to read for fun, and equipment for
listening to music. The 10 and 12-year-olds were
asked about the full list and the 8-year-olds were
asked only about the first five items. Lack of
material resources was calculated as the number
of items each child lacked (with a higher score
indicating lacking more items). Children with
greater lack of material resources meant lacking 2–
Subjective Well-Being
The questionnaires for assessing SWB com-
prised of adjusted versions of previously tested
psychometric scales of overall SWB, all described
in the Introduction of this Special Section. Follow-
ing the recommendation by Casas (2017) to use
several SWB scales for cross-cultural and cross-lin-
guistic comparability (rather than one scale), here
we used three such scales, two-dimensional mea-
sures and one for overall SWB. The 10 and 12-
year-olds were given the Personal Well-being
Index-School Children (PWI-SC9), a nine-item
index covering seven domains: standard of living,
personal health, achievement in life, personal rela-
tionships, personal safety, feeling part of the com-
munity, future security, time use, and life as a
student. An 11-point scale was used: from 0 (not
at all satisfied) to 10 (totally satisfied). Cronbach’s
alpha for the 10- and 12-year-olds was a = .84.
Two other questionnaires were given to all three
age groups: The BMSLSS (Brief Multidimensional
Student Life Satisfaction Scale), developed by
Seligson et al. (2003), contains single-item mea-
sures of five key domains in children’s lives: fam-
ily, friends, school, self, and living environment.
An 11-point scale from not at all satisfied to totally
satisfied was used for the 10- and 12-year-olds.
The 8-year-olds were presented with a five-point
emoticon scale, ranging from a very unhappy face
to a very happy one. Internal consistency of the
BMSLSS for the 8-year-olds was a = .61, and
a = .65 for the 10- and 12-year-olds.
Finally, the single-item OLS (overall life satisfac-
tion) that asks children: How satisfied are you with
your life as a whole, using a 0–10 scale, from not at
all satisfied to totally satisfied. For the 8-year-olds,
The wording was slightly changed to fit different
cognitive maturity: How happy you feel with your life
as a whole?, and the answers were given using five-
graded emoticons.
 14678624, 2019, 2, Downloaded from https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cdev.13130 by University Of Wollongong University of Wollongong Library, Wiley Online Library on [18/05/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
350 Kaye-Tzadok, Ben-Arieh, and Kosher

SD = 0.57) than boys (M = 3.48, SD = 0.60); t

Study Ethics and Procedures
The study was approved by the Ministry of Edu-
cation in Israel and by the Hebrew University ethics
committee. Parents were sent a letter regarding the
study, including the date of data collection in their
child’s classroom. Passive consent was obtained (a
parent who did not want their child to participate
in the survey was asked to sign a form). Both par-
ents and children received an explanation of the
general purpose of the study (understanding chil-
dren’s views of their lives) and the assurance that
participation was voluntary and anonymity guaran-
teed. Children completed the questionnaires in their
classrooms during school hours and were free to
withdraw at any given moment.
Statistical Analysis
Analyses were conducted in three steps: First,
differences in SWB by gender and ethnicity were
examined by one-way analyses of variance and
independent-sample t-tests. Second, Pearson corre-
lations were used to examine the relation between
hope, lack of material resources and SWB. Correla-
tions were calculated separately for each age group.
The significance of the difference between correla-
tions of the different age groups was examined
using Fisher r-to-z transformation. Finally, modera-
tion effects of hope on the relationship between lack
of material resources and SWB were examined
using bootstrapping method by PROCESS macro
(Hayes, 2013). To avoid type I errors in multiple
comparisons of moderation tests, we used false dis-
covery method and computed the corrected alpha
for rejection H0 for each moderation analysis.
Results
(874) = 2.52, p < .01, Cohen’s d = .17. In the OLS,
girls also reported higher SWB (M = 3.71,
SD = 0.78) than boys (M = 3.60, SD = 0.93), but the
difference was not significant; t(814) = 1.86,
p = .06, Cohen’s d = .13.
Ethnicity
Among the 10- and 12-year-olds, independent-
sample t-tests indicated that Arab children reported
significantly higher levels of SWB than Jewish chil-
dren on all measures, PWI-SC9: t(1,895) = 3.33,
p < .001, Cohen’s d = .17; BMSLSS: t(1,895) = 4.66,
p < .001, Cohen’s d = .24; OLS: t(978) = 2.77,
p < .01, Cohen’s d = .14. Among 8-year-olds, results
were mixed: for the BMSLSS, Arab children reported
higher SWB (M = 3.59, SD = 0.51) than Jewish chil-
dren (M = 3.51, SD = 0.61); t(508) = 2.00, p < .05,
Cohen’s d = .14; for the OLS, differences between the
Arab children (M = 3.62, SD = 0.84) and Jewish chil-
dren (M = 3.67, SD = 0.86) were not statistically sig-
nificant; t(862) = 0.74, p = .46, Cohen’s d = .05.
Hope and SWB
Hope was found to be positively related to all
three measures of SWB, among all three age groups
(see Tables 2–4), confirming Hypothesis 1. Among
8-, 10-, and 12-year-old children, higher levels of
hope were related to higher SWB, regarding both
overall SWB (OLS) and dimensional SWB (BMSLSS
and PWI-SC9).
To explore whether the relation between hope
and SWB was stronger in a certain age group, we
examined the significance of the difference between
Table 2
Means, Standard Deviations, and Pearson’s Correlations of Study
Variables Among 8-Year-Olds (n = 885)

Preliminary Findings: SWB Lack of

material SWB: SWB:
Gender Range M SD resources BMSLSS OLS
Independent-sample t-tests revealed significant Hope 6–36 29.53 6.88 .09* .47*** .39***
differences in two of the three SWB measures for Lack of 0–5 0.84 1.19 .20*** .14***
10- and 12-year-olds, with girls reporting higher material
SWB, PWI-SC9: t(1,894) = 2.95, p < .01, Cohen’s resources
d = .13; BMSLSS: t(1,894) = 2.72, p < .01, Cohen’s SWB: 0–4 3.53 0.58 .50***
d = .13. For the OLS, girls also reported higher BMSLSS
SWB (M = 9.25, SD = 1.85) than boys (M = 9.15, SWB: OLS 0–4 3.65 0.85
SD = 1.76), but the difference was not significant; t
Note. SWB = subjective well-being; BMSLSS = Brief Multidimen-
(1,878) = 1.24, p = .21, Cohen’s d = .05. Among 8- sional Student Life Satisfaction Scale; OLS = overall life satisfac-
year-olds, the trend was similar. In the BMSLSS, tion.
girls reported significantly higher SWB (M = 3.58, *p < .05. ***p < .001.
 14678624, 2019, 2, Downloaded from https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cdev.13130 by University Of Wollongong University of Wollongong Library, Wiley Online Library on [18/05/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
Hope, Material Resources, and Subjective Well-Being 351

Table 3
Means, Standard Deviations, and Pearson’s Correlations of Study Variables Among 10-Year-Olds (n = 989)

Lack of material
Range M SD resources SWB: PWI-SC9 SWB: BMSLSS SWB: OLS

Hope 6–36 31.6 5.49 .34*** .64*** .57*** .49***

Lack of material resources 0–9 1.72 1.90 .37*** .34*** .24***
SWB: PWI-SC9 0–10 8.93 1.32 .74*** .56***
SWB: BMSLSS 0–10 8.94 1.36 .53***
SWB: OLS 0–10 9.19 1.84

Note. PWI-SC9 = Personal Well-Being Index-School Children, a nine-item index; SWB = subjective well-being; BMSLSS = Brief Multidi-
mensional Student Life Satisfaction Scale; OLS = overall life satisfaction.
***p < .001.

Table 4
Means, Standard Deviations, and Pearson’s Correlations of Study Variables Among 12-Year-Olds (n = 925)

Lack of material
Range M SD resources SWB: PWI-SC9 SWB: BMSLSS SWB: OLS

Hope 6–36 31.56 5.41 .23*** .73*** .59*** .57***

Lack of material resources 0–9 1.41 1.80 .27*** .19*** .13***
SWB: PWI-SC9 0–10 8.94 1.27 .76*** .63***
SWB: BMSLSS 0–10 8.86 1.32 .59***
SWB: OLS 0–10 9.21 1.80

Note. PWI-SC9 = Personal Well-Being Index-School Children, a nine-item index; SWB = subjective well-being; BMSLSS = Brief Multidi-
mensional Student Life Satisfaction Scale; OLS = overall life satisfaction.
***p < .001.

two correlation coefficients using Fisher r-to-z trans-
formation (only for 10- and 12-year-olds, where the
same SWB scales were used). A significant differ-
ence emerged for two of the three SWB measures,
with the correlation higher among 12-year-olds
(PWI-SC9: Z = 3.78, p < .001; OLS: Z = 2.47,
p < .01). The correlations between hope and
BMSLSS were similar for the two age groups.
Lack of Material Resources and SWB
In keeping with Hypothesis 2, lack of material
resources was negatively related to all three mea-
sures of SWB, among all three age groups (see
Tables 2–4). In addition to assessing the relation via
Pearson correlations, independent-sample t-tests
were also used. The t-tests among 10- and 12-year-
olds indicated that children lacking more material
resources reported significantly lower levels of
SWB, PWI-SC9: t(589) = 10.18, p < .001, Cohen’s d =
.65; BMSLSS: t(615) = 8.35, p < .001, Cohen’s d =
.52; OLS: t(1,880) = 6.79, p < .001, Cohen’s d = .36.
A similar pattern was found for 8-year-olds: chil-
dren lacking more material resources reported
lower levels of SWB as measured by the BMSLSS
(M = 3.60, SD = 0.51) than children lacking less
material resources (M = 3.33, SD = 0.73); t
(884) = 6.01, p < .001, Cohen’s d = .46. Results by
the OLS were similar: Children lacking more
material resources reported lower levels of SWB
(M = 3.46, SD = 1.11) than children lacking less
material resources (M = 3.72, SD = 0.75); t(262) =
3.15, p < .01, Cohen’s d = .31.
We further explored the strength of the negative
relation between lack of material resources and
SWB among 10- and 12-year-olds, using Fisher r-to-
z transformation for all three SWB measures. The
correlations with lack of material resources were
significantly higher among 10-year-olds for all three
measures (PWI-SC9: Z = 2.43, p < .001; BMSLSS:
Z = 3.47, p < .001; OLS: Z = 2.49, p < .01). That is,
the relation was stronger for younger children.
Hope as Moderating the Relation Between Lack of
Material Resources and SWB
Moderation effects of hope on the relationship
between lack of material resources and children’s
SWB were examined using bootstrapping method
by PROCESS macro (Hayes, 2013). We used 5,000
iterations and 95% confidence intervals to assess
correlations. In addition, in order to decrease loss

352 Kaye-Tzadok, Ben-Arieh, and Kosher
of statistical power due to entering covariants to
the models, first, residuals for SWB scores were cal-
culated after predicting them by gender and ethnic-
ity. For outcomes of ages 10–12, age was controlled
by entering it as a dichotomous variable. Then,
residuals of SWB scores were entered moderations
models. Interpretation of interaction was conducted
by examining relationship between lack of material
resources and SWB indicators for low (below
1 SD), moderate (between 1 SD and +1 SD),
and high (+1 SD) levels of hope.
Tables 5 and 6 show results for the 8-year-olds
(with BMSLSS and OLS as dependent variables). As
seen in Table 5, the model explained 32% of the
variance in BMSLSS. Hope was positively corre-
lated with BMSLSS, whereas lack of material
resources was negatively correlated. In addition,
hope was found to interact with lack of material
resources in explaining BMSLSS. The interpretation
of interaction showed that individuals low in hope
(b = .394, p < .001) and high in hope (b = .157,
p < .001) had stronger negative correlations
between lack of material resources and BMSLSS in
comparison to individuals moderate in hope
(b = .041, p = .580).
As seen in Table 6, the model explained 19% of
the variance in OLS among the 8-year-olds. Hope
was positively correlated with OLS, whereas lack of
material resources was negatively correlated. In
addition, hope was found to interact with lack of
material resources in explaining OLS. Interpretation
of interaction showed that association between lack
of material resources and OLS was found only
among individuals low in hope (b = .201, p < .05),
but not among children reporting moderate
(b = .107, p = .15) or high (b = .09, p = .06)
levels of hope (Figure 1).
Table 5
Moderation Model of Hope on Relationship Between Lack of Material
Resources and SWB (BMSLSS) of 8-Year-Olds (n = 885)
B (SE) p 95% CI [LL, UL]
Lack of material 6.09 (.53) < .001 [5.04, 7.15]
resources
Hope 6.00 (.46) < .001 [5.09, 6.91]
Hope 9 Lack of 1.11 (.45) .01 [ .201, 0.22]
Material Resources
R2 .32**
R2D .05**
Note. SWB = subjective well-being; BMSLSS = Brief Multidimen-
sional Student Life Satisfaction Scale; SE = standard error of the
B-coefficient.
**p < .01.
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Table 6
Moderation Model of Hope on Relationship Between Lack of Material
Resources and SWB (OLS) of 8-Year-Olds (n = 885)
B (SE) p 95% CI [LL, UL]
Lack of material 1.57 (.77) .04 [ 3.07, 0.06]
resources
Hope 7.64 (.66) < .001 [6.33, 8.94]
Hope 9 Lack of 2.29 (.65) < .001 [ 3.57, 1.00]
Material Resources
R2 .19**
R2D .02**
Note. SWB = subjective well-being; OLS = overall life satisfac-
tion; SE = standard error of the B-coefficient.
**p < .01.
Tables 7–9 present results for the 10- and 12-
year-olds as a unified group (with BMSLSS, PWI
and OLS as dependent variables). As seen in
Table 7, the model explained 35% of the variance in
BMSLSS. Hope was positively correlated with
BMSLSS, whereas lack of material resources was
negatively correlated. However, no significant inter-
action was found to explain the variance in
BMSLSS.
As seen in Table 8, the model explained 25% of
the variance in OLS for the 10- to 12-year-olds.
Once again, hope was positively correlated with
OLS, whereas lack of material resources was nega-
tively correlated with it. In addition, hope was
found to interact with lack of material resources in
explaining OLS. Interpretation of the interaction
showed that association between lack of material
resources and OLS was found only among individ-
uals moderate in hope (b = .125, p < .05) but not
among individuals low (b = .024, p = .77) or high
(b = .06, p = .25) in hope.
As seen in Table 9, the model explained 46% of
the variance in PWI. Hope was positively correlated
with OLS, whereas lack of material resources was
negatively correlated with it. However, no signifi-
cant interaction was found to explain the variance
in SWB as measured by PWI.
Thus, Hypothesis 3 was confirmed for 8-year-
olds, and partially confirmed for 10- to 12-year-
olds.
Discussion
This study examined SWB among 8- to 12-year-old
children in Israel, analyzing its relation to hope and
lack of material resources by age group and taking
into account additional demographic variables.
 14678624, 2019, 2, Downloaded from https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cdev.13130 by University Of Wollongong University of Wollongong Library, Wiley Online Library on [18/05/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
Hope, Material Resources, and Subjective Well-Being 353

Figure 1. Hope moderates lack of material resources in predicting SWB. SWB = subjective well-being; BMSLSS = Brief Multidimen-
sional Student Life Satisfaction Scale; OLS = overall life satisfaction. [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

Table 7 Table 9
Moderation Model of Hope on Relationship Between Lack of Material Moderation Model of Hope on Relationship Between Lack of Material
Resources and SWB (BMSLSS) of 10- and 12-Year-Olds (n = 1,814) Resources and SWB (PWI) of 10- and 12-Year-Olds (n = 1,412)

B (SE) p 95% CI [LL, UL] B (SE) p 95% CI [LL, UL]

Lack of material 0.10 (.02) < .001 [ 0.14, 0.07] Lack of material 1.64 (.25) < .001 [ 2.14, 1.15]
resources resources
Hope 0.26 (.01) < .001 [0.22, 0.29] Hope 8.42 (.28) < .001 [7.86, 9.98]
Hope 9 Lack of 0.06 (.27) .812 [ 0.60, 0.47] Hope 9 Lack of 0.37 (.24) .12 [ 0.85, 0.09]
Material Resources Material Resources
R2 .35** R2 .46**
R2D .00 R2D .00

Note. SWB = subjective well-being; BMSLSS = Brief Multidimen- Note. SWB = subjective well-being; PWI = Personal Well-Being
sional Student Life Satisfaction Scale; SE = standard error of the Index; SE = standard error of the B-coefficient.
B-coefficient. **p < .01.
**p < .01.

Table 8
Moderation Model of Hope on Relationship Between Lack of Material SWB by providing insight into factors related to
Resources and SWB (OLS) of 10- and 12-Year-Olds (n = 1,801) high and low levels of SWB. The study yielded four
major findings: a positive relation between hope
B (SE) p 95% CI [LL, UL] and SWB; a negative relation between lack of mate-
rial resources and SWB; hope as moderating the
Lack of material 1.00 (.38) .01 [ 1.76, 0.24]
resources
relation between lack of material resources and
Hope 9.37 (.43) < .001 [8.52, 10.23] SWB; and age differences (between ages 10 and 12)
Hope 9 Lack of 0.87 (.36) .01 [ 1.58, 0.16] in the strength of the relations between variables.
Material Resources Hope was found to be positively related to SWB
R2 .26** in all age groups, confirming Hypothesis 1. This
R2D .02* reinforces findings regarding the contribution of
hope to SWB (e.g., Ciarrochi et al., 2007; Marques
Note. SWB = subjective well-being; OLS = overall life satisfac- et al., 2013), in keeping with Snyder’s (2000) Hope
tion; SE = standard error of the B-coefficient.
*p < .05. **p < .01. theory, which suggests that hope provides a central
pathway to increased SWB because it helps to initi-
ate and sustain action toward long-term goals. The
Most of the hypotheses of the study were sup- current findings teach us that, for children, the abil-
ported by the data. The study contributes new ity to set goals and the belief that there are several
knowledge to the current literature on children’s ways of reaching these goals is important with

354 Kaye-Tzadok, Ben-Arieh, and Kosher
respect to their SWB. Importantly, findings for hope
were similar across all three age groups, demon-
strating the importance of goal-directed thinking to
children in middle childhood, although the strength
of this relation (for the 10- and 12-year-olds) varied.
Note that, due to the cross-sectional design of this
study, it could also be argued that potentially
higher SWB leads to higher hope. A longitudinal
design is needed to explore the direction of the rela-
tion between the two variables. However, existing
longitudinal assessments suggest it is hope that
leads to enhanced SWB (e.g., Ciarrochi et al., 2007;
Marques et al., 2013).
As hypothesized, lack of material resources was
negatively related to SWB in all age groups, confirm-
ing Hypothesis 2. These findings reinforce studies
that found a negative relation between lack of mate-
rial resources and SWB (e.g., Dinisman & Ben-Arieh,
2015). They also support the argument for Town-
send’s (1979) theory that items become “necessities”
only when they are socially perceived as such, as this
study suggests that children as young as 8-year-olds
are influenced by their society’s ideas of necessities.
Furthermore, our findings corroborate Main and
Besemer’s (2014) new definition for children’s mate-
rial living standards. Unfortunately, they also lend
support to Pickett and Wilkinson’s (2015, p. S39)
grim conclusion that “Children born into socioeco-
nomically disadvantaged families suffer worse child
well-being and its lifelong implications, in all soci-
eties, worldwide.” Pickett and Wilkinson emphasize
that children’s well-being is affected far more by
inequality than by income level: “extreme income
inequality is in itself a means by which whole popu-
lations of children experience similar effects to indi-
vidual children who are bullied by their peers”
(2015, p. S40). In the context of high inequality in
Israeli society (National Insurance Institute of Israel,
2016), the current results therefore require special
attention. Although inequality was not measured in
the current sample, it can be cautiously assumed that
there may be some overlap between children suffer-
ing from economic inequality and lack of material
resources.
Indeed, our findings might be even more alarm-
ing, because the sample was not limited to poor
children and because lack of material resources was
defined as a lack of some basic items, thus creating
a lower threshold (i.e., some children may be
“only” missing some items but are not considered
poor). The fact that such lack of material resources
was significantly negatively associated with SWB
across all three age groups strengthens the need to
look at access to material resources, and not only
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poverty, especially through children’s subjective
reports.
In keeping with Hypothesis 3, hope was found
to moderate the relation between lack of material
resources and SWB in all age groups (though not
for all measures of SWB). These results support the
suggestion that hope contributes to SWB by serving
as a buffer when children are faced with difficult
life circumstances. Our results showed that, for all
ages, lacking more material resources was related
to lower SWB, but hope (in its moderate to high
levels) moderated this relation. These findings cor-
roborate past studies that have pointed to the mod-
erating nature of hope (e.g., Cedeno et al., 2010).
However, even high hope does not completely
eliminate the negative effect of lack of material
resources on SWB, as children lacking more mate-
rial resources reported lower SWB levels even when
they reported high levels of hope. Therefore, our
findings suggest that high agency and multiple
pathways (i.e., high hope) are not enough to battle
the effect of lacking material resources.
Regarding the exploratory analysis, the current
sample allowed interesting comparisons regarding
possible differences in the strength of relations
across age groups. The relation between lack of
material resources and SWB was stronger among
10-year-olds than 12-year-olds, whereas the relation
between hope and SWB was stronger among the
older children. This points to an interesting pattern,
whereby 10-year-olds might be more vulnerable
than 12-year-olds, as their SWB was more nega-
tively related to lack of material resources and less
positively related to hope. More research is needed
to understand why this age group might be more
vulnerable. At the same time, these findings suggest
that variables are somewhat differentially related to
SWB in different age groups, thus requiring a
developmental perspective for understanding chil-
dren’s SWB.
Our findings regarding differences in SWB levels
by demographic variables offer additional insights.
Although not the main focus of this manuscript,
such findings should be touched upon. In terms of
differences by ethnicity, Arab children reported
higher SWB than Jewish children in most measures.
A study of 12-year-olds in Israel found almost no
significant differences according to ethnicity (Gross-
Manos, Shimoni, & Ben-Arieh, 2015); although their
sample was not representative. This study’s find-
ings are quite intriguing, as the Arab population in
Israel, in comparison to the Jewish population, suf-
fers from higher rates of unemployment and pov-
erty (National Insurance Institute of Israel, 2016).

Hope, Material Resources, and Subjective Well-Being
These unexpected findings might be explained by
unique sociocultural characteristics of the Arab pop-
ulation in Israel, such as strong emphasis on family
ties and authority figures (e.g., Haj-Yahia, 1995).
Further studies and a more in-depth look at this are
needed. Regarding gender, our findings do not pro-
vide an unambiguous trend regarding gender, as
was reported by some authors (Huebner et al.,
2006), but not by others (Bradshaw & Keung, 2011;
Casas et al., 2013; Dinisman & Ben-Arieh, 2015;
Rees et al., 2010). Some recent studies have pointed
that researchers might consider looking beyond
gender differences by examining more subtle or
refined trends such as differences in SWB according
to different domains or according to differing con-
tribution of various factors to SWB of each gender
(see Kaye-Tzadok, Kim, & Main, 2017).
Study Limitations and Future Directions
Despite the numerous strengths of this study, its
limitations need to be acknowledged. First, as dif-
ferent scales were used to assess SWB and lack of
material resources among the 8-year-olds, many
variables could not be compared to this age group.
It is unclear how to resolve this methodological
dilemma, as children of different ages have varying
cognitive skills that should be reflected in the ques-
tionnaires. Second, the high correlations between
hope and SWB raise the question of whether these
are two strictly separate constructs. The claim that
they may not be is hard to dispute, as both are rela-
tively newly developed constructs that have only
been studied among children recently. The relation
between the two can also be seen as strengthening
or validating both, as the two constructs are theo-
retically related to each other. Third, as explained
above, children were drawn from 40 schools; thus,
data are structured in two levels. This may violate
the assumption of independence of errors required
for ordinary least squares (OLS) estimation. We
suggest future studies consider this for more robust
estimation of the moderation effect of hope on the
relation between lack of material resources and
SWB. Finally, the cross-sectional design of this
study does not allow us to infer causality. Longitu-
dinal research on SWB is needed to fill this gap.
Implications of Study Findings
The study contributes new knowledge to the cur-
rent literature on children’s SWB. The role of hope
as a direct contributor to SWB, as well as a modera-
tor in harsh circumstances (i.e., lack of material
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355
resources), is valuable information for clinicians
and other professionals interested in bettering chil-
dren’s lives. This is especially important given that
it is not always possible to influence the material
situation during childhood, but it is possible to pro-
mote hope among children (see interventions
described by Snyder, Lopez, Shorey, Rand, & Feld-
man, 2003). Nevertheless, the alarming findings
regarding the links between lack of material
resources and lowered SWB cannot and should not
be overlooked. We believe that advocates for chil-
dren’s rights and policy makers should be made
aware of these disconcerting differences. Finally,
with respect to research on children, this study
shows that using child-centered measures is not
only possible but actually helps reveal clear
patterns regarding children’s lives from their
perspectives.
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