Sheffield Hallam University - Hope wins, no need for charity

Students who are more hopeful are more likely to get better marks, psychologists at Sheffield Hallam University have found. The researchers studied about 200 undergraduate psychology students to discover how psychological make-up relates to academic performance. It also found that female students were likely to be less optimistic than males. Katie Hanson, research support officer at Sheffield Hallam, who led the study, said: "The next step is to look at increasing hopefulness among those students who do not naturally have this characteristic, as this should increase their academic performance. This, in turn, should make them more employable in the future."