The hopelessness scale for children: psychometric characteristics and concurrent validity

Kazdin, Alan E.; Rodgers, Antoinette; Colbus, Debra

doi:10.1037/0022-006x.54.2.241

Cited by 396Optimism, Hope, and Well-beingAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive ProcessesPsychometric Methodologies and Testing

The hopelessness scale for children: psychometric characteristics and concurrent validity

Kazdin, Alan E., Rodgers, Antoinette, Colbus, Debra·1986·Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology

DOI 10.1037/0022-006x.54.2.241

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Hopelessness is a critical factor in the development of depression and the emergence of suicidal tendencies.
“For more than a half-century, investigators have pointed to hopelessness as a critical factor in the development of depression and the emergence of suicidal tendencies (Abramson et al., 1990; Franklin et al., 2017; Kazdin et al., 1986; Menninger, 1959).”
From A hope intervention for adolescents: a randomized controlled trial delivered by paraprofessionals (2025) · cites this paper as Kazdin et al., 1986

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“Hopelessness was assessed using the Hopelessness Scale for Children ( Kazdin, Rodgers, & Colbus, 1986 ), a 17-item true–false scale measuring adolescents’ negative expectancies for the future.”
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“In a recent psychometric evaluation of this instrument, the HPLS was found to be internally consistent, items discriminated high and low hopeless children, and item-total score and test-retest reliability were in the moderate range, ( Kazdin, Rodgers, & Colbus, 1986 ).”
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“The CHS has shown good construct validity (Abela et al., 2002; Kazdin et al., 1986; Spirito, Williams, Stark, & Hart, 1988) and alpha coefficients ranging from .45 to .97 (e.g., Abela, 2001; Guerra, Huesmann, Tolan, Van Acker, & Eron, 1995; Kazdin et al., 1986), with a¼ .64 in a sample of African…”
Background
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“The HSC ( Kazdin et al., 1983, 1986 ) is a 17-item true/false scale; scores may range from 0 to 17. Adequate internal consistency (Alpha = .97) as well as test-retest reliability (r = .52) following a 6-week interval has been previously reported with children (Kazdin et al., 1986).”
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“This item was selected because it had strong factor loading as well as item-total scale correlation (Kazdin et al., 1986).”
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Result
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“; American Psychiatric Association, 1994 ) or drawn from existing child-report measures including the Children's Depression Inventory (Kovacs, 1983 ), the Depression Self-Rating Scale (Asarnow & Carlson, 1985 ), and the Hopelessness Scale for Children (Kazdin, Rodgers, & Colbus, 1986 ).”
Method
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“Hopelessness—Hopelessness was assessed with the Hopelessness Scale for Children (HSC; Kazdin, Rodgers, & Colbus, 1986), a 17-item true-orfalse measure of negative expectations toward the future, designed for children and adolescents aged 6 to 13 (HSC; Kazdin et al., 1986).”
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“The Hopelessness Scale for Children (HSC; Kazdin et al., 1986) was used to assess children's negative expectations about the future.”
BackgroundMethodInfluential
Links Between Parents’ and Children’s Levels of Gratitude, Life Satisfaction, and Hope
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“(as measured by the Child Depression Inventory; Kovacs, 1985), hopelessness (Hopelessness Scale; Kazdin, Rodgers, Colbus, 1986), and intelligence (WISC; Wechsler, 1991). Valle et al. (2004) found that the CHS correlated positively with life satisfaction (r = .”
Method
Hopelessness and Violence Among Inner-City Youths
Bolland, J. M., McCallum, D. M., Lian, B. E., Bailey, C. J., & Rowan, P. J. (2001) · Maternal and Child Health Journal · doi:10.1023/a:1013028805470 · Cited by 98 · see citing works
“For instance, the hopelessness measure is based on only 5 of the 17 items from the full Hopelessness Scale (27, 28), plus an additional item that we added, and the two measures of uncertainty about the future do not correlate at a high enough level to merge them into a single scale (r = 0.23).”
MethodResultInfluential
Personality Predictors of Outcome for Adolescents Hospitalized for Suicidal Ideation
Enns, M. W., Cox, B. J., & Inayatulla, M. (2003) · Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · doi:10.1097/01.chi.0000046847.56865.b0 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
A Cross-Cultural Investigation of Cognitions and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents.
Stewart, S. M., Kennard, B. D., Lee, P. W. H., Hughes, C. W., Mayes, T. L., Emslie, G. J., & Lewinsohn, P. M. (2004) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-843x.113.2.248 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
Evaluation of a Group Cognitive-Behavioral Depression Prevention Program for Young Adolescents: A Randomized Effectiveness Trial
Gillham, J. E., Reivich, K. J., Brunwasser, S. M., Freres, D. R., Chajon, N. D., Kash-MacDonald, V. M., Chaplin, T. M., Abenavoli, R. M., Matlin, S. L., Gallop, R., et al. (2012) · Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology · doi:10.1080/15374416.2012.706517 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
“In past studies, HSC scores have correlated with symptoms of depression and reports of suicidal intent (e.g., Kazdin et al., 1983; Kazdin et al., 1986).”
Background
Trajectories of suicidal ideation among adolescents following psychiatric hospitalization.
Wolff, J. C., Davis, S., Liu, R. T., Cha, C. B., Cheek, S. M., Nestor, B. A., Frazier, E. A., Schaffer, M. M., & Spirito, A. (2018) · Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology · doi:10.1007/s10802-017-0293-6 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
“Depressive Symptoms were assessed using the Children’s Depression Inventory 2 (Kovacs 2010).”
MethodInfluential
Psychological Symptoms Linking Exposure to Community Violence and Academic Functioning in African American Adolescents
Busby, D. R., Lambert, S. F., & Ialongo, N. S. (2012) · Journal of Youth and Adolescence · doi:10.1007/s10964-012-9895-z · Cited by 93 · see citing works
“Items were generated directly from DSM-IV criteria or drawn from existing child self-report measures, including the Children’s Depression Inventory (Kovacs 1983), the Depression Self-Rating Scale (Asarnow and Carlson 1985), the Hopelessness Scale for Children (Kazdin et al. 1986), the Revised Children’s Manifest Anxie…”
MethodInfluential
Evidence Base Update for Brief, Free, and Accessible Youth Mental Health Measures
Becker‐Haimes, E. M., Tabachnick, A. R., Last, B. S., Stewart, R. E., Hasan-Granier, A., & Beidas, R. S. (2019) · Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology · doi:10.1080/15374416.2019.1689824 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Hopelessness and suicidal ideation among adolescents in two cultures
Stewart, S. M., Kennard, B. D., Lee, P. W. H., Mayes, T. L., Hughes, C. W., & Emslie, G. J. (2005) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.00364.x · Cited by 91 · see citing works
Cognitive triad: Relationship to depressive symptoms, parents' cognitive triad, and perceived parental messages
Stark, K. D., Schmidt, K. L., & Joiner, T. E. (1996) · Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology · doi:10.1007/bf01670103 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
The Role of Perfectionism and Depressive Cognitions in Understanding the Hopelessness Experienced by Adolescent Suicide Attempters
Donaldson, D. L., Spirito, A., & Farnett, E. (2000) · Child Psychiatry & Human Development · doi:10.1023/a:1001978625339 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
Academic Pathways between Attention Problems and Depressive Symptoms Among Urban African American Children
Herman, K. C., Lambert, S. F., Ialongo, N. S., & Ostrander, R. S. (2007) · Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology · doi:10.1007/s10802-006-9083-2 · Cited by 90 · see citing works
“A pool of items was drawn from existing child self-report measures, including the Children’s Depression Inventory (Kovacs, 1992), the Depression SelfRating Scale (Asarnow & Carlson, 1985), the Hopelessness Scale for Children (Kazdin et al., 1986) and the RevisedChildren’s Manifest Anxiety Scale (Reynolds & Richmond, 1…”
Method
Cognitions, Stress, and Depression in Children and Adolescents
Garber, J., & Hilsman, R. (1992) · Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America · doi:10.1016/s1056-4993(18)30615-1 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
Self-esteem, depression, hopelessness, and suicidal intent among psychiatrically disturbed inpatient children
Marciano, P. L., & Kazdin, A. E. (1994) · Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology · doi:10.1207/s15374424jccp2302_5 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
Self-citation
Risks for Suicidality in Major Depressive Disorder
Myers, K., McCauley, E., Calderon, R., Mitchell, J. R., Burke, P. M., & Schloredt, K. A. (1991) · Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · doi:10.1097/00004583-199101000-00013 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
Peer victimization predicts heightened inflammatory reactivity to social stress in cognitively vulnerable adolescents
Giletta, M., Slavich, G. M., Rudolph, K. D., Hastings, P. D., Nock, M. K., & Prinstein, M. J. (2018) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/jcpp.12804 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
Internalized and Externalized Anger in Adolescent Suicide Attempters
Lehnert, K. L., Overholser, J. C., & Spirito, A. (1994) · Journal of Adolescent Research · doi:10.1177/074355489491008 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
On the origins of helpless behavior of students with learning disabilities: avoidance motivation?
Sideridis, G. D. (2003) · International Journal of Educational Research · doi:10.1016/j.ijer.2004.06.011 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
Maternal disclosure of mothers' HIV serostatus to their young children.
Murphy, D. A., Steers, W. N., & Stritto, M. E. D. (2001) · Journal of Family Psychology · doi:10.1037/0893-3200.15.3.441 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Developmental perspectives in child and adolescent depressive symptoms in a community sample
Kashani, J. H., Rosenberg, T. K., & Reid, J. C. (1989) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/ajp.146.7.871 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Children's coping with marital conflict and their adjustment and physical health: vulnerability and protective functions.
Nicolotti, L. M., El-Sheikh, M., & Whitson, S. M. (2003) · Journal of family psychology · doi:10.1037/0893-3200.17.3.315 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
Quality and severity of depression in borderline personality disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Köhling, J., Ehrenthal, J. C., Levy, K. N., Schauenburg, H., & Dinger, U. (2015) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2015.02.002 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
Ethnic identity and self-concept in Mexican-American adolescents: Is bicultural identity related to stress or better adjustment?
de Domanico, Y. B., Crawford, I., & Wolfe, A. S. D. (1994) · Child & Youth Care Forum · doi:10.1007/bf02209228 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
“Ramerez (1969), Keefe and Padua (1987), and Szopocznik, Kurtines, and Fernandez (1980) on acculturation and ethnic identity and that of Fitts (1965), Chui (1985), and Kazdin, Rodgers, and Colbus (1986) on self-concept support a four-category acculturation classification based on cultural identity and self-esteem.”
Background
It Gets Better: Future Orientation Buffers the Development of Hopelessness and Depressive Symptoms following Emotional Victimization during Early Adolescence
Hamilton, J. L., Connolly, S. L., Liu, R. T., Stange, J. P., Abramson, L. Y., & Alloy, L. B. (2014) · Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology · doi:10.1007/s10802-014-9913-6 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
“Thus, increasing adolescents’ tendency to think about the future may help CDI Children’s Depression Inventory; FOS Future Orientation Scale; PEV Peer Emotional Victimization; HSC Hopelessness Scale for Children; T1 Time 1; T2 Time 2; T3 Time 3; CI confidence interval *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001 CDI Children’s Depres…”
Influential
Depression in adults with mild mental retardation: Are cognitive variables involved?
Nezu, C. M., Nezu, A. M., Rothenberg, J. L., DelliCarpini, L. A., & Groag, I. (1995) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/bf02229696 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
“The HSC has been found to be internally consistent, show moderate levels of test-retest reliability, and correlate significantly with measures of depression and negative self-esteem among samples of child psychiatric inpatients ( Kazdin et al., 1986 ).”
BackgroundMethodInfluential
Patterns of Community Violence Exposure During Adolescence
Lambert, S. F., Nylund-Gibson, K. K., Copeland‐Linder, N., & Ialongo, N. S. (2010) · American Journal of Community Psychology · doi:10.1007/s10464-010-9344-7 · Cited by 75 · see citing works
“Items for the depression subscale were generated directly from DSM-IV criteria or drawn from existing child self-report measures, including the Children's Depression Inventory (Kovacs 1983), the Depression Self-Rating Scale (Asarnow and Carlson 1985), and the Hopelessness Scale for Children (Kazdin et al. 1986).”
Method
Assessment of hopelessness in suicidal patients
Glanz, L. M., Haas, G. L., & Sweeney, J. A. (1995) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/0272-7358(94)00040-9 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Preliminary examination of the interpersonal psychological theory of suicide in an adolescent clinical sample
Horton, S. E., Hughes, J. L., King, J. D., Kennard, B. D., Westers, N. J., Mayes, T. L., & Stewart, S. M. (2016) · Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology · doi:10.1007/s10802-015-0109-5 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
“Although the IPTS has been widely researched and validated among adults, it has yet to be tested in adolescents using specific measures of the * Sunita M. Stewart sunita.stewart@utsouthwestern.edu 1 University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd, Dallas, TX 75390, USA 2 Children’s Hea…”
MethodInfluential
The trials of childhood: The development, reliability, and validity of the daily life stressors scale
Kearney, C. A., Drabman, R. S., & Beasley, J. F. (1993) · Journal of Child and Family Studies · doi:10.1007/bf01321232 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
“These included (1) the Children's Depression Inventory (Kovacs & Beck, 1977), a 27-item measure that reliably assesses recent depressive symptoms, (2) the Hopelessness Scale for Children ( Kazdin, Rodgers, & Colbus, 1986 ), a 17-item true-false inventory that measures children's attitudes about the future, (3) the Sta…”
Method
Coping With Divorce: A Study of Young Adolescents
Armistead, L. P., McCombs, A., Forehand, R., et al. (1990) · Journal of Clinical Child Psychology · doi:10.1207/s15374424jccp1901_10 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Perceived Family and Social Support: Impact on Children
Kashani, J. H., Canfield, L. A., Borduin, C. M., Soltys, S., & Reid, J. C. (1994) · Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · doi:10.1097/00004583-199407000-00007 · Cited by 68 · see citing works

The Concurrent Validity of Child Rorschach
Dana, R. H., & Back, B. R. (1983) · Journal of Personality Assessment
The Depressive Experiences Questionnaire: Validity and Psychological Correlates in a Clinical Samples
Riley, W., & McCranie, E. J. (1990) · Journal of Personality Assessment · doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa5403&4_9 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Measurement of two social competence aspects in middle childhood.
Rydell, A., Hageküll, B., & Bohlin, G. (1997) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037//0012-1649.33.5.824 · Cited by 144 · see citing works
Development of the teacher rating scale of interpersonal problem solving in adolescents
Cong, K. N. (2019) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-019-00427-2 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Concurrent Validity of the College Adjustment Scales Using Comparison with the MMPI College Maladjustment Scale
CAMPBELL, M. H., Palmieri, M. L., & Lasch, B. (2006) · Psychological Reports · doi:10.2466/pr0.99.3.1003-1007 · Cited by 6 · see citing works

Authors: Kazdin, A. E., Rodgers, A., & Colbus, D.
ORCID: Kazdin, Alan E.
Venue: Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Published: 1986-04
Volume: 54
Issue: 2
Pages: 241-245
ISSN: 0022-006X (ISSN-L)
1939-2117
DOI: 10.1037/0022-006x.54.2.241
OpenAlex: W4295845830
Cited by: 396
References: 0
Citations by year: 2026: 6 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 31 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 19 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 14
FWCI: 9.64
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Locations: Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology (publishedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Optimism, Hope, and Well-being
Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
Keywords: hopelessness, children, psychometric properties, concurrent validity

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The hopelessness scale for children: psychometric characteristics and concurrent validity

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