Validation of a Dispositional Hope Scale for Chilean children and adolescents

According to Snyder's theory, hope is defined as a dispositional attribute consisting of two dimen-sions, agency and pathway thinking. This construct has been widely studied because of its association with quality and satisfaction with life. In the Chilean context, there is no valid measure adapted to the population of children and adolescents. Objective: To assess the psychometric properties of the Dispositional Hope Scale for Chilean children and adolescents (NNA, for its acronym in Spanish). Subjects and Method: The study was conducted on 331 NNA, aged 10 to 20 years, from different educational centers in the country. Reliability was tested with Cronbach's alpha coefficient. In addi-tion, one-factor vs two-factor models were compared using the Maximum Likelihood (MLR), while validity was analyzed in relation to other variables, specifically depressive symptoms. Results: The scale showed a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.89 and an adequate fit to the two-factor model, keeping the original structure proposed by Snyder et al. It is negatively related to depressive sympto-matology. Conclusions: The NNA Hope Scale shows appropriate psychometric properties for its use on Chilean NNA population.