Children’s Hopelessness Scale

Abstract

The Children’s Hopelessness Scale (CHS) is a specialized, 17-item psychological instrument designed for the quantitative assessment of negative cognitive expectations regarding the future among youth. Developed by Kazdin and colleagues (1983), the CHS targets the cognitive component of hopelessness, a psychological state recognized as a significant clinical indicator of distress and vulnerability.

Initial validation research established the CHS as a potent predictor of severe clinical outcomes, including major depression and diminished self-esteem within psychiatric populations. Critically, the scale demonstrated a stronger correlation with suicidal intent and ideation compared to general measures of depression severity. This finding validates the CHS as an essential clinical screening tool for evaluating acute suicide risk factors in elementary and middle school-aged children.

Keywords

Children’s Hopelessness Scale, Child Assessment, Suicidal Intent, Depression, Future Expectations, Personal Attitudes, Resiliency, Psychological Measurement, Cognitive Vulnerability

Authors

Kazdin, A.E., French, N.H., Unis, A.S., Esveldt-Dawson, K., Sherick, R.B.

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Purpose

The primary purpose of the Children’s Hopelessness Scale is to provide a standardized, quantitative measure of the specific negative cognitive schemata that young individuals hold about their future. It is designed to assess the degree to which a child perceives desired life outcomes as perpetually unattainable and believes that current negative circumstances are likely to persist indefinitely.

Beyond its utility in clinical diagnosis and risk assessment, the CHS serves as a valuable outcome measure for intervention programs. Therapeutic or preventative initiatives that focus on enhancing future planning, goal setting, and fostering resiliency can employ the CHS to track longitudinal changes in a child’s outlook and expectations. By identifying children with high levels of hopelessness, the scale facilitates the targeting of psychological support and preventative care services to those most in need.

Construct

The Children’s Hopelessness Scale fundamentally measures the psychological construct of hopelessness. In the context of the CHS, hopelessness is conceptualized as a pervasive system of negative expectations concerning the self, one’s future trajectory, and the external world. This cognitive profile is widely recognized within psychopathology as a primary vulnerability factor in the etiology of mood disorders, and it is considered a critical, proximal risk factor for self-harm behaviors and suicide attempts.

The 17 items of the scale are structured to capture three core dimensions of this construct, which define the cognitive triad of hopelessness in youth: (1) Negative Feelings about the Future (expectations that only bad things will occur); (2) Loss of Motivation (a perceived inability to exert personal control or effort to change circumstances); and (3) Personal Inadequacy (the belief that one lacks the capability to achieve desired goals).

Validity

The initial validation of the CHS was conducted by Kazdin et al. (1983) using a clinical sample of 66 psychiatrically disturbed inpatient children aged 8 to 13 years. Concurrent validity was established by correlating CHS scores with established measures of related psychological constructs, including the Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI), the Bellevue Index of Depression, the Depression Symptom Checklist, and the Self-Esteem Inventory.

The results demonstrated strong predictive and concurrent validity regarding adverse clinical outcomes. Children who scored highly on the CHS exhibited significantly more severe clinical depression and considerably lower levels of self-esteem compared to their low-scoring peers. Most importantly for clinical application, children independently identified as having engaged in suicidal attempts or exhibiting ideation showed significantly elevated hopelessness scores. This finding supports the scale’s specific utility in assessing suicide risk, suggesting that hopelessness, as measured by the CHS, may be a more sensitive and consistent correlate of suicidal intent than generalized depression severity in this young age group.

Reliability

Specific psychometric data regarding the reliability of the Children’s Hopelessness Scale, such as internal consistency coefficients (e.g., Cronbach’s alpha) and test-retest reliability statistics, were not detailed within the provided source material from the initial validation study. Subsequent research utilizing the CHS should be consulted to ascertain these essential reliability metrics.

Factor Analysis

Information regarding the specific underlying factor structure or the results of formal factor analysis for the Children’s Hopelessness Scale was not provided in the primary source documentation. While the scale is theoretically derived from three core dimensions (future feelings, motivation loss, personal inadequacy), empirical evidence supporting this multidimensional structure requires further investigation beyond the initial publication.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-Report Inventory

Format: Pencil and paper format, consisting of 17 binary (Yes/No) items.

Language Available: English (based on available source material)

Population Group: Elementary and middle school age youth.

Age Group: Typically utilized with children aged 8 to 13 years old.

Population Details: The scale has been specifically used in research settings involving psychiatrically disturbed inpatient children, suggesting its primary utility in clinical populations.

Test Methodology: The scale employs binary scoring. Most items are scored Yes = 1 and No = 0. Eight positively worded items (1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 11, and 16) are reverse coded to ensure consistency in the direction of the construct measurement. Responses are summed to yield a total score ranging from 0 to 17. A maximum score of 17 indicates the highest level of hopelessness, while a minimum score of 0 indicates the lowest level.

Keywords

Psychological Assessment, Cognitive Vulnerability, Suicide Risk Screening, Child Psychiatry, Clinical Psychology, Personal Attitudes and Beliefs, Goals and Future

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not available in source material.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not available in source material.

Correspondence Address: Not available in source material. Original research was conducted at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine (1983).

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Children’s Hopelessness Scale was initially developed and published in 1983. Specific information regarding current usage permissions, copyright holders, and associated licensing fees is not detailed in the available source material. Users should contact the scale authors or associated institutions for formal usage guidelines.

The instrument was compiled in a public health resource, “Measuring Violence-Related Attitudes, Behaviors, and Influences Among Youths: A Compendium of Assessment Tools,” appearing on pages 111-112. The original PDF compendium, which includes the scale items, can be downloaded here: http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/YV_Compendium.pdf

Reference’s

• Kazdin, A.E., French, N.H., Unis, A.S., Esveldt-Dawson, K., & Sherick, R.B. (1983). Hopelessness, depression, and suicidal intent among psychiatrically disturbed inpatient children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 51(4):504-510.
• Kazdin, Alan E.; French, Nancy H.; Unis, Alan S.; Esveldt-Dawson, Karen; Sherick, Rosanna B. Hopelessness, depression, and suicidal intent among psychiatrically disturbed inpatient children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Vol 51(4), Aug 1983, 504-510.

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Items of the Children’s Hopelessness Scale

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

1. I want to grow up because I think things will be better.
2. I might as well give up because I can’t make things better for myself.
3. When things are going badly‚ I know that they won’t be bad all of the time.
4. I can imagine what my life will be like when I’m grown up.
5. I have enough time to finish the things I really want to do.
6. Someday‚ I will be good at doing the things that I really care about.
7. I will get more of the good things in life than most other kids.
8. I don’t have good luck and there’s no reason to think I will when I grow up.
9. All I can see ahead of me are bad things‚ not good things.
10. I don’t think I will get what I really want.
11. When I grow up‚ I think I will be happier than I am now.
12. Things just won’t work out the way I want them to.
13. I never get what I want‚ so it’s dumb to want anything.
14. I don’t think I will have any real fun when I grow up.
15. Tomorrow seems unclear and confusing to me.
16. I will have more good times than bad times.
17. There’s no use in really trying to get something I want because I probably won’t get it.