Psychological vulnerability, resilience, and subjective well-being: The mediating role of hope

•The mediating role of hope in the psychological vulnerability/resilience – subjective well-being relationship was tested.•Psychological vulnerability and resilience predicted hope.•Hope positively predicted subjective well-being.•Hope fully mediate the resilience–subjective well-being relationship.•Hope partially mediate the psychological vulnerability–subjective well-being relationship.

The present study examined the mediating role of hope on the association between psychological vulnerability, resilience, and subjective well-being. Participants include 332 undergraduates (195 females and 137 males) from two universities in Turkey. Data were collected using the Psychological Vulnerability Scale, the Brief Resilience Scale, the Dispositional Hope Scale, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule. Structural equation modeling results indicated that hope fully mediated the impact of resilience on subjective well-being and that hope partially mediated the impact of psychological vulnerability on subjective well-being. Moreover, bootstrapping procedure revealed significant links from psychological vulnerability and resilience to subjective well-being through hope. Alternative models indicated mixed support for the variable ordering in the structural model. These findings contribute to the complex nature of the relationship between psychological factors and subjective well-being. The possible explanations and limitations are discussed.