The Hopelessness Scale for Children: psychometric properties with hospitalized adolescents

This study examined the internal consistency and factor structure of the Hopelessness Scale for Children with 201 adolescent inpatients (M age = 15.4 years). In comparison to the psychometric properties of the scale found with younger children, our findings suggest adequate, but lower, internal consistency reliability and a weak core factor structure. The results are discussed in terms of possible changes in the child scale or the alternative use of an adult measure of hopelessness with adolescents.