“Winter Will Not Be Forever”: Black Emerging Adult Women’s Definitions of Hope

Abstract

Hope has become an important tool for Black Americans as they navigate anti-Black oppression, especially for Black emerging adult women who use hope throughout college. This qualitative study explores how Black emerging adult women define and experience hope. Semistructured interview data came from 21 Black undergraduates (m age = 20.95) attending 16 selective liberal arts colleges in the United States. Findings from an a priori thematic coding analysis yielded three domains. The first domain was hope as connected to future time points. The second domain was hope as connected to faith, religion, and spirituality. The third domain, hope as perseverance, included three themes (1) contexts, (2) behaviors, and (3) perspectives. Findings highlighted participants’ distinct experiences with hope, revealing the metaphors and multidimensionality within their hope. The authors discuss the implications of study findings for supporting Black emerging adult women’s well-being during college.

Keywords

spirituality hope hope theory emerging adults Black women

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