Understanding Dispositional Hope in General and Clinical Populations

Hope is a positive, future-thinking construct that is highly related to pursuing and achieving our personal goals. Considering its relevance for well-being and psychological adjustment, the purpose of this study is to explore the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Dispositional Hope Scale (DHS) (Snyder et al. in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60(4), 570–585, 1991), its relation with important psychological health indicators (depression, hopelessness, optimism, general self-efficacy and quality of life), and examine the possible differences between clinical (CP) and general populations (GP). Sample was composed of 290 volunteers. Measures of hopelessness, depression, optimism, quality of life, self-efficacy, and positive-negative affect were administered. Hope was assessed again 1 month later to collect test-retest data. CFA supports the unidimensional structure. In addition, good internal consistency and test-retest values were found. Further, based on the one-factor model, results revealed that the Spanish DHS has strong factorial invariance across populations (GP and CP). The differences in the hope levels detected between CP and GP appear to be mainly associated with positive affect and depressive symptoms. Results broaden the existing data about the Spanish DHS and support its usefulness not only for research, but also for clinical purposes.