The Relationship of Family Emotional Climate and Psychological Capital with Academic Hope among First-Grade Secondary School Students in Babol

Abstract

Introduction and Aim: Academic hope is considered one of the most important motivational variables influencing academic achievement, educational persistence, and students’ psychological adjustment, and it is affected by both family-related and individual psychological factors. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between family emotional climate and psychological capital with academic hope among first-grade secondary school students in Babol.

Methodology: This study employed a descriptive-correlational design and was applied in terms of purpose. The statistical population included all first-grade secondary school students in Babol during the 2025–2026 academic year (N=3431), from whom 353 participants were selected through multistage cluster sampling. The research instruments included the Family Emotional Relationship Scale by Hilburn, the Psychological Capital Questionnaire developed by Luthans, and the Academic Hope Scale developed by Khormaee and Kamari. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient and simultaneous multiple regression analysis in SPSS-26 software.

Findings: The findings revealed a significant positive relationship between family emotional climate and academic hope (r=0.48, p<0.01). A stronger positive relationship was also found between psychological capital and academic hope (r=0.61, p<0.01). Multiple regression analysis demonstrated that family emotional climate and psychological capital jointly explained 46% of the variance in academic hope. Among the predictor variables, psychological capital showed a stronger predictive effect on academic hope. In addition, the results confirmed the normal distribution of the data and the absence of multicollinearity in the regression model.

Conclusion: The findings indicate that both a positive family emotional climate and students’ internal psychological resources play significant roles in enhancing academic hope. Therefore, educational and counseling interventions focusing simultaneously on improving family emotional relationships and strengthening students’ psychological capital may contribute to increasing academic motivation, reducing academic decline, and improving adolescents’ educational performance.