Description
The Children’s Hope Scale is a 6-item self-report measure developed to assess dispositional hope in children aged 8 to 16 years. Based on Snyder’s cognitive model of hope, the scale evaluates two components: agency (goal-directed determination) and pathways (planning to achieve goals). Each subscale includes three items. Children respond using a Likert scale ranging from “none of the time” to “all of the time.” The higher a participant’s score, the more hope a respondent has for their current and future prospects.
AI/AN Communities where the measure has been used
Southwest communities
Demographics of AI/AN participants where the scale has been used
Children ages 8-16
Notes on adaptations or modifications
Adapted response scale to a 5-point Likert scale (compared to original 6-point Likert scale)
Modality and administration
Scoring
The total Children’s Hope Scale score is achieved by adding the responses to the six items, with “None of the time” = 1, “A little of the time” = 2, “Some of the time” = 3, “Most of the time” = 4, “All of the time” = 5. The higher a participant’s score, the more hope a respondent has for their current and future prospects.
Psychometric evidence
Cronbach’s alpha for the Children’s Hope Scale scores ranged from .72 to .86 with median alpha of .77
Citation(s)
- Snyder, C. R., Hoza, B., Pelham, W. E., Rapoff, M., Ware, L., Danovsky, M., Highberger, L., Rubinstein, H., & Stahl, K. J. (1997). The Development and Validation of the Children’s Hope Scale. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 22(3), 399–421. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/22.3.399
- O’Keefe, V.M., Haroz, E.E., Goklish, N.Ivanich, J., The Celebrating Life Team, Cwik, M.F., Barlow, A. (2019). Employing a sequential multiple assignment randomized trial (SMART) to evaluate the impact of brief risk and protective factor prevention interventions for American Indian Youth Suicide.BMC Public Health 19, 1675. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7996-2
