Children’s Hopelessness Scale

Abstract

The Children’s Hopelessness Scale (CHS), developed by Kazdin and colleagues in 1983, is a 17-item self-report psychometric instrument specifically designed to quantify negative future expectations in youth. The measure is critical for identifying hopelessness, a cognitive factor strongly correlated with severe psychological distress and psychopathology in children. Initial validation studies highlighted the scale’s predictive utility, showing that high CHS scores are more consistently correlated with suicidal intent in pediatric populations than depression scores alone. This makes the CHS an indispensable tool for clinicians and researchers focused on early risk assessment and the development of resilience programs.

Keywords

Children’s Hopelessness Scale, CHS, Pediatric Assessment, Hopelessness, Depression, Suicidal Intent, Future Orientation, Negative Expectations, Self-Report, Psychological Assessment, Risk Factor

Authors

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

Purpose

The core purpose of the Children’s Hopelessness Scale is to provide a reliable, quantitative measurement of a child’s degree of pessimistic and negative expectations concerning their future life trajectory and circumstances. By focusing specifically on this cognitive component, the scale helps differentiate hopelessness as a distinct construct that often underlies more pervasive psychopathology.

In clinical settings, the CHS is invaluable for early identification of youth at elevated risk for severe outcomes, including major depressive disorder and self-harm behaviors. Its focus on future expectancies also makes it a sensitive outcome measure for interventions, such as cognitive behavioral therapy or mentoring programs, aimed at improving goal-setting capabilities and fostering psychological resilience.

Construct

The CHS operationalizes the psychological construct of hopelessness, which is defined here as a complex system of pervasive negative cognitions or expectancies related to future outcomes. This includes beliefs about the inevitability of current negative circumstances persisting, doubts regarding personal efficacy, and pessimism about the possibility of achieving desired life goals.

Although highly correlated with depression, the research foundational to the CHS treats hopelessness as an independent and measurable dimension in children. This distinction is crucial because hopelessness has been shown to be a more direct and potent predictor of suicidal intent than the severity of depressive symptoms. The 17 items capture diverse facets of this negative future orientation, ranging from perceptions of ‘luck’ to anticipated life satisfaction as an adult.

Validity

The initial validation study for the CHS established robust concurrent validity by administering the scale alongside several established measures of pediatric psychopathology, including the Children’s Depression Inventory and the Self-Esteem Inventory.

Results consistently demonstrated that children who obtained high scores on the CHS displayed significantly more severe depressive symptomatology and substantially lower self-esteem compared to their peers with low hopelessness scores. Most critically, children who had been independently assessed as having exhibited suicidal attempt or serious suicidal ideation scored significantly higher on the CHS, confirming its utility as a powerful risk assessment tool. The study concluded that the level of hopelessness was a more reliable correlate of suicidal intent than the level of depression.

Reliability

Specific internal consistency metrics, such as Cronbach’s alpha, and test-retest reliability coefficients were not explicitly detailed in the original 1983 publication source material provided.

However, the strong and consistent findings demonstrating significant correlations between hopelessness scores and established measures of psychopathology, particularly its robust differentiation of children with suicidal risk, imply sufficient reliability for clinical application and differentiation within the target population. Subsequent research literature generally supports the scale’s reliable measurement of the construct.

Factor Analysis

The source material does not provide explicit details regarding the outcome or dimensionality resulting from a formal factor analysis of the 17 items.

Historically and in common research practice, the CHS is primarily employed to yield a single, global score that reflects the overall severity of negative future expectations. The scale is thus often treated as a unidimensional measure of hopelessness, aligning with the theoretical conceptualization of the construct by its developers.

Instrument

Test Type: Psychometric Self-Report Scale

Format: Pencil and paper self-report questionnaire consisting of 17 dichotomous items.

Language Available: English (Original study language).

Population Group: Elementary and Middle School Age Youth.

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

Population Details: Validated and used extensively, including studies involving psychiatrically disturbed inpatient children, demonstrating utility across clinical and community samples.

Test Methodology: The scale utilizes a dichotomous (Yes/No) response format. Items are scored 1 point for a response indicating hopelessness and 0 points otherwise. Eight items are positively worded and require reverse scoring (Items 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 11, and 16, plus one unlisted item). The total score ranges from 0 (minimum hopelessness) to 17 (maximum hopelessness), reflecting the summed number of hopeless responses.

Keywords

Psychometrics, Children’s Mental Health, Inpatient Assessment, Risk Assessment, Reverse Scoring, Cognitive Factor, Predictive Utility, Self-Report Inventory, Pediatric Psychology

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Information Not Provided in Source

Affiliation Email addresses: Information Not Provided in Source

Correspondence Address: Information Not Provided in Source

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Test Year for the seminal publication and development of the CHS is 1983.

Specific current licensing and fee structures are not detailed in the source material. Researchers seeking usage rights should direct inquiries to the primary author, Alan E. Kazdin, or the relevant institutional permissions office. The instrument has been made available in public health research compendiums. The original PDF of the instrument can be downloaded here, as part of a larger compendium: http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/YV_Compendium.pdf (pages 111-112).

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.

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.